4 ms·

I'd associate pastrami more with NY Jewish delis than NJ delis. Actually, being from NJ, I didn't even know "NJ delis" were a thing, besides for Wawa. I'm going

I'd associate pastrami more with NY Jewish delis than NJ delis. Actually, being from NJ, I didn't even know "NJ delis" were a thing, besides for Wawa. I'm going to just include delis that are in hoboken/newark/the rest of the NJ-side of the NY metro region as NY delis. The closet thing I think we have are hoagie shops, but those aren't particularly special apart from the fact that we call them hoagies and not subs or even just sandwiches.

tyingq 6y ago
Maybe just me, but a place with the word "deli" in its name, without at least one of a Rueben/Corned Beef/Pastrami is weird, anywhere in the north east.
- OJFord 6y ago
  I can't speak for NE USA at all (I'm from SW UK, ha) but for me that's not at all a requirement, it'd almost be exceptional. I don't even know what Rueben is. I gather it's quite different in the US though. (A 'deli' there being probably culturay Jewish? Whereas to me it's just a place that sells.. I don't know, cheese, olives, oily antipasti, anything it wants really just with an emphasis on fresh and nice and prepared or preserved in some way. Greek or Italian if anything, rather than Jewish.) Honestly the Street View photos someone posted look like a sandwich bar in a war zone!
  - unanswered 6y ago
    One has to distinguish between a grocery-store deli and "a deli". The latter is strictly a type of restaurant (or walk-up food counter, if you want to distinguish that from a restaurant). Some of them might sell meats and cheeses and such but you wouldn't expect a random deli to do so. As for a delicatessen shop, there are surely some not actually attached to grocery stores, but, for example, I'm unable to convince google maps to show me any in a region of 2MM+ people (in the [US] South) no matter which term I use containing "deli". If I needed to find one I'd probably search for "butcher", "grocer", or "market", and Google Maps confirms this is a good start for finding the right kind of store.
    - OJFord 6y ago
      In the UK some supermarkets (as in, some branches of some chains) do have what you might call 'a deli counter', but that isn't what I mean. Stand-alone delicatessens here tend to be only barely 'a restaurant' (even then more 'only barely a café', really) with one or two tables for two. They sell cheeses, biscuits, olives, other antipasti, pickles, perhaps some select nice sandwiches or bruschetta, etc. Some sell probably higher margin items like boxed teas, coffees, and biscuits, related merchandise like cafetières, cotton bags, and tea strainers. They are decidedly not 'diner' type venues, the place linked on Google Maps would be called a café in the UK. (To be clear I'm not saying anything's right or wrong, just that it's interesting, terminology, and something that's very loosely the same but also really different.)
  - tyingq 6y ago
    Yes, it's a regional thing there. You can confirm with google, though. Search for places with the name "deli" in it in the northeast US. You'll see most of them serve pastrami and corned beef sandwiches.
    - nerdponx 6y ago
      This is not my experience at all, and I've eaten from at least one deli in every state between PA and ME except RI, and grew up surrounded by Italian delis. The two Jewish delis in the area were called "kosher delis" and were attractions specifically because they were not the typical kinda-Italian-ish suburban deli, or the white-bread-American rural deli.
  - xsmasher 6y ago
    War zone? The street could use paving but it looks like typical suburban neighborhood to me.
- kcb 6y ago
  Not true for an Italian deli.
  - nerdponx 6y ago
    If anything, I associate "deli" with "Italian deli", and "Jewish deli" is the exception that needs qualification.

tyingq 6y ago

Maybe just me, but a place with the word "deli" in its name, without at least one of a Rueben/Corned Beef/Pastrami is weird, anywhere in the north east.

OJFord 6y ago
I can't speak for NE USA at all (I'm from SW UK, ha) but for me that's not at all a requirement, it'd almost be exceptional. I don't even know what Rueben is. I gather it's quite different in the US though. (A 'deli' there being probably culturay Jewish? Whereas to me it's just a place that sells.. I don't know, cheese, olives, oily antipasti, anything it wants really just with an emphasis on fresh and nice and prepared or preserved in some way. Greek or Italian if anything, rather than Jewish.) Honestly the Street View photos someone posted look like a sandwich bar in a war zone!
- unanswered 6y ago
  One has to distinguish between a grocery-store deli and "a deli". The latter is strictly a type of restaurant (or walk-up food counter, if you want to distinguish that from a restaurant). Some of them might sell meats and cheeses and such but you wouldn't expect a random deli to do so. As for a delicatessen shop, there are surely some not actually attached to grocery stores, but, for example, I'm unable to convince google maps to show me any in a region of 2MM+ people (in the [US] South) no matter which term I use containing "deli". If I needed to find one I'd probably search for "butcher", "grocer", or "market", and Google Maps confirms this is a good start for finding the right kind of store.
  - OJFord 6y ago
    In the UK some supermarkets (as in, some branches of some chains) do have what you might call 'a deli counter', but that isn't what I mean. Stand-alone delicatessens here tend to be only barely 'a restaurant' (even then more 'only barely a café', really) with one or two tables for two. They sell cheeses, biscuits, olives, other antipasti, pickles, perhaps some select nice sandwiches or bruschetta, etc. Some sell probably higher margin items like boxed teas, coffees, and biscuits, related merchandise like cafetières, cotton bags, and tea strainers. They are decidedly not 'diner' type venues, the place linked on Google Maps would be called a café in the UK. (To be clear I'm not saying anything's right or wrong, just that it's interesting, terminology, and something that's very loosely the same but also really different.)
- tyingq 6y ago
  Yes, it's a regional thing there. You can confirm with google, though. Search for places with the name "deli" in it in the northeast US. You'll see most of them serve pastrami and corned beef sandwiches.
  - nerdponx 6y ago
    This is not my experience at all, and I've eaten from at least one deli in every state between PA and ME except RI, and grew up surrounded by Italian delis. The two Jewish delis in the area were called "kosher delis" and were attractions specifically because they were not the typical kinda-Italian-ish suburban deli, or the white-bread-American rural deli.
- xsmasher 6y ago
  War zone? The street could use paving but it looks like typical suburban neighborhood to me.
kcb 6y ago
Not true for an Italian deli.
- nerdponx 6y ago
  If anything, I associate "deli" with "Italian deli", and "Jewish deli" is the exception that needs qualification.