Wow! So glad you posted. I was so hoping you would post!
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Stopped by Delirama today. Ordered the OG Husky (large) and split it with my niece. Definitely very good to excellent. I donāt eat pastrami often so no reference point but the pastrami was above and beyond the usual. I mentioned Langerās and Kanterās in LA because the niece is from LA. Definitely way better than either. Iād definitely go back. $25 for a sandwich is a bit pricey but itās a very good sandwich and they make their own pastrami and not even an annual thing for meā¦and everything has gone up. No surprise really.
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Well made pastrami, though salty; bread thickly and unevenly sliced. Chips had Old Bay ?-ish taste, or something incongruous to our expectation. Staying tuned to see if menu expands. If The Refuge had an East Bay presence . . .
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is this still some kind of crazy line situation or can you go there and eat/take out? I can see this being a good lunch for me and my friends/family but not worth a huge production. i remember the craziness over some bagel shop on college ave and it wasnāt worth it! i wouldnāt mind getting a loaf of bread and a few lbs of the pastrami and trying it out. Way better than Cantors is an ez objective - way better than Langers Iām curious enough to try it. Im skeptical based on the picture of the bread and the sandwich but good pastrami is good pastrami and good bread can be sliced (and not toasted) however one wants.
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We arrived around 2 on a weekday to one or two occupied tables and one person ahead in line. It appears DIY is unavailable. As for the fertile LA DeliLand, somehow we came to believe that Langers et al. rely on RC Provisions for pastrami (no retail consumers) ; so itās all about the how the deli handles the product.
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Only one way to find out, try it. That said, I wouldnāt drive far, or over a bridge for itā¦but then I wouldnāt for most things.
As for better than Xā¦take that with a grain of salt. So many things go into āthe bestā equation, personal preference/background, experience with, off day, yada, yadaā¦I just skip that. Also as I said, I rarely eat pastrami. Itās not a big west coast thing. Didnāt grow up around it.
Sure the bread was thick but better that then it disappear into that thin mushed up piece of wet, soggy doughā¦but thatās personal preference. I donāt like that with a burger either. Yes, could get into toasted, density, yada, yadaā¦or not.
If youāre into pastrami and want to know if itās the best, or how it ranksā¦then go. I was curious and it was convenient and I had to take my visiting niece to lunch. Tasty, enjoyable but didnāt change my life.
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P.S. Itās against our religion to buy a $3.00 unadorned bagel. Knowing the price of everything doesnāt matter; itās knowing the value of what matters that matters to us.
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i called in an order for pick-up today, the Dadās Mustard, Husky. weād wanted it on a bagel but the ordering site said they were all sold out, before they even opened. and it said it would be 45 minutes. for one sandwich. this was 20 minutes after theyād opened. i arrived 15 minutes before it was due to be ready, just in case, but no such luck. there were maybe 4 parties eating inside, and a couple people ordering ahead of me, and a couple people waiting for online orders. i was told that they had lost their baker so no bagels for a while. The place just wasnāt that busy to warrant how long orders were taking. that said, one of the women taking orders and serving tables was incredibly welcoming to everyone who came in, and i think she may have been one of the owners. it felt like they were struggling.
the pastrami was great, delicious. the bread was quite oily - too much so for my sister (we were splitting it), but i had no problem with it. the chips were so oily they literally squirted oil into your mouth. the order came with cole slaw that tasted strongly (not overly) of tarragon but not much else. but it was a good crunchy addition to balance the fattiness.
iāll keep going back for their pastrami, which i saw online you could purchase by the lb., though i didnāt see anything about that at the place itself. but i forgot to ask. iām curious to try the lox and pastrami ābaconā once they get their bagels back. iām also going to find out if you can get the sandwich on untoasted rye.
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Thanks for taking one for the team. Iāve been wanting to go, but I think Iāll give them some time to work out the bugs.
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thanks! i loved it the first time (posted above) and Iāll be going back again for sure. the pastrami is just too good.
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Delirama was in that very long upper Solano power outage last month, and they lost all of their prepared pastrami and other perishables, to the tune of $100k. With insurance and a GoFundMe, their pastrami is back now. There was no wait at 1:30 this afternoon. Iām glad to see that they are offering smaller-portioned sandwiches, 3oz of meat, which is just about right for me.
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yes, wonderful! i donated to that GoFundMe - couldnāt stand the thought of such an already well-loved business going under so soon after they opened. I like the sound of that change of portion size, too.
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I was really looking forward to their pizza, which was recently added to their menu. I had slices the other day for lunch, and I guess it still needs work. The crust was great, slices of pastrami were crisp, but the sauce was too thick and gloppy. It was a little odd because the trend here is for lighter sauce, and not too much of it. They have whole 12" pies at dinnertime, and if I got one Iād ask for half the sauce. The slices were a surprisingly low $2.50 each for good-sized slabs. I think the pizza is available only on Friday and Saturday.
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good to knowā¦ thanks!
Bummerā¦ but not over yetā¦
Which isnāt to say that his dream of a pastrami empire is necessarily over. The deliās planned expansion into Oakland, Delirama Jr., appears to still be on track for later this year. For now, Caris and Cann havenāt given up the Solano Avenue space either, but are instead planning to transition it into some new, non-deli restaurant concept. And who knows? In the past, Caris has said he would love to bring Delirama to San Jose, where he grew up.
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Dang. The article says theyāll still be selling their rye bread and pastrami by the pound, 11-3 Friday-Sunday. Time to fill up the freezer!
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Oh no! I havenāt tried it yet!
Delirama had little in common with the delis weāve known and still know for a proper pastrami on rye. That out of the way,
āArtisanā pastrami isnāt much of a business plan, when supply and service were hiccuping. It was a pretty good product, and the drive to San Carlosās Refuge is forbidding to many. The LES sandwich at Batch and Brine in Lafayette is very peppery, but a fair deal, if anyone asks . . .
Chopped liver, pickled tongue, corned beef, all manner of deli salads, . . . the Bay Area remains a deli desert.
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Very sorry to hear thisā¦
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