I stumbled upon the City Deli when looking for lunch a few weeks back after a site inspection. It had been nearly 8 hours since I ate breakfast and I was famished. Everything on the menu sounded good. And so did all the baked desserts I passed on my way into the joint. What's a boy to do?The expansive menu left me waffling between several different choices, but I eventually settled on the grilled eggplant sandwich, which was deli-sized BIG and complete with potato salad and a pickle from the tableside bowl. The discerning deli diner will be happy to know there's also an assortment of mustards on the table to customize your sandwich "just-so". Although the pickles were not quite the spiced-up half-done affair one might expect from a true NY Deli, this ain't NY and I still give them an A for effort. It's rare to encounter a deli in Souther California that still puts pickles on the table.
The menu has a full compliment of homestyle offerings (Stuffed cabbage, shortribs, chicken pot pie, brisket), traditional deli faves (double and triple decker deli sandwiches, reubens, rachaels, knockwurst), and a few SoCal additions (Spinach lasagna, Mahi burger, Meatless reubens and veggieburgers, steamed veggie plate).
I also need to comment on the great redskin potato salad. I had been craving redskin potato salad since July 4th, but apparently it's hard to find it the way I like it (and used to find it easily back East): no bacon, minimal to no pieces of hard-boiled egg. Thank you City Deli for finally satiating my potato salad craving!
I washed it down with a Dr. Brown's cream soda (how can you not?) But if I were there for dinner, I might be tempted to try one of their handful of Israeli wines.
As I finished eating, I realized that big, ole sandwich platter had been delicious but left me with two regrets.
1) Why did it have to taste so good that I'm now too full to eat one of those incredibly tempting brownies from up front?
2) Why can't there be delis like this in central/southern Orange County?
So, I ended up buying a brownie to have after dinner later. And ya know what? It was worth the wait. Because it lived up to the anticipation which built all afternoon AND because I made sure to eat a small enough dinner to leave room to savor the brownie afterward. And savor it I did- with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!
City Deli is a convenient location in trendy Hillcrest for a casual meal with friends (or alone, like I was.) The servers were friendly, upbeat, and displayed a pretty good sense of humor, which you might underestimate until you have one that seems pained even to smile. Not so at City Deli!
City Deli - go have yourself a nosh!
City Deli is located at:
535 University Ave (on the corner of University and 5th)
San Diego, CA 92103
619-295-2747
