There is some delicious irony in the fact that we went to a deli for lunch after visiting the…read morenearby Vegan Center. And there is some delicious food in this review.
It's a rather blustery day out, but it's also my playdate with one of my besties. I've been eyeballing this place since the "coming soon" sign had gone up, and today was the day I was going to step foot inside, with any price reservations getting stuffed. Because sometimes you need to dig a little deeper in your wallet to get a little more out of life.
The door chimed to alert a bored looking girl that we had arrived. She disappeared as we poured over the multiple menus to decide what to eat. An older woman came out to take our order. I made the breakfast cutoff, which is noon, so I ordered the breakfast tacos. For 9.99, you get two soft flour tortillas filled with scrambled eggs, sauteed red onions and green peppers with melted pepper jack cheese. The menu claims you save a dollar if you forgo the meat, yet I noticed on the receipt that instead she opted to add an egg instead of docking the cost.
She asked if that was all, and I mistakenly thought that she meant for my order so I paid her my cash and gave her my name. She immediately disappeared. My bestie and I shared a confused look. We had obviously been talking about what she had wanted to order and the place isn't that large for the conversation to get lost. Big enough to have a few tables with chairs and a booth inside.
There's no bell to ring. We puzzled over what to do before yelling "excuse me" over the barrier to get her attention. She did apologize, claiming she thought we were going to share the dish. I get that it comes with a hashbrown too, but that's not a lot of food between two hungry stomaches. It was enough to fill me alone. My bestie ordered a patty melt with onion rings and a can of soda with her card. The sandwich comes with a pickle spear and 50 cent bag of Lays.
Ten minutes passed as we watched Spongebob on tv. The food was brought directly to our seats as we were the only people in the room. (Another two parties would arrive as we were leaving shortly after noon, so I think it was a matter of timing, which given their abbreviated hours is a small miracle.) I made haste in taking bragging right pictures before grabbing a tableside napkin to tuck in.
Consider the pricing reservations officially stuffed, because this plate was stuffed with all the right stuff. While service does unfortunately drag this review down at least a star, the food saves it. I was presented with two beautiful tacos and a hashbrown, complete with two packets of ketchup and one of Franks. I first bit into the hashbrown. I did need to wipe grease from my fingertips a few times, and the salt is definitely in the foreground. I don't often treat myself to authentically fried food, and this was hitting all the right tastebuds. I took a bite of the taco. The onion and pepper are present, getting sprinkled on the entirety of the dish. The eggs, the star. I've been avoiding them with the recent uptick in grocery prices, and I'm not going to say that is entirely why my stomach was smiling, though it probably did help. Usually scrambled eggs are on the bottom of my ranking. These, however, were creamy and eggy, balancing perfectly with the veg, cradled in a super soft tortilla. The melted cheese was a half promise, full slice, with it still retaining some shape, at no detriment to the meal. I appreciated that the only time I experienced leakage was when I chose to add the hot sauce to the second taco. Personally, I think the flavors work well enough without the sauce. Both work; merely a personal preference.
My bestie was working on her patty melt, which was served on garlic buttered sourdough. She did remark that she wished the bread was thicker to better contain the wet, and that she felt the second angus patty was a bit extra, otherwise enjoying her investment. It comes with cheese and onion, again a side of ketchup. Hers came in a container.
The onion rings looked and tasted unlike frozen ones. The inconsistency of shape (there was a hunk!) and mighty stick power of the coating led her to happily believe that they were authentically homemade. It came with a boom boom sauce that she didn't bother to dunk them in, claiming they were great enough without it. I pocketed the sauce to take home, as well as her small bag of chips, as after her delightful pickle, which held up to her three part standard of audible crunch, flavor and lack of wobble, she was quite full. We wanted a to go box for the rest of her meal. Unable to find anyone, even after calling over the barrier again, we made a makeshift box out of the serving plates to shield her food from the snow.
So my curiosity is sated, as is my appetite. I feel like I would want to give this place a second chance, perhaps with a to go order to avoid the feeling of being a burden to the staff. Sorry, not sorry, my vegans.