Here’s an interesting comment coming from someone who, I am guessing is from New York — or maybe not:
Dheena wrote:I REALLY HATE DELI’S. DO YOU EAT IN THOSE PLACES?
Dheena, depends on which deli. I think your concept of a deli is confined to the run-of-the-mill corner deli store which sells odds and ends (much like our own sari-sari stores) but who sell hot and cold food. Delis or delicatessens also have different grades and levels of service. Yes, I eat at “those places” — like Zeytuna (downtown near Wall Street), Mangia (both by Wall Street and on 57th), Dean & Deluca by Rockefeller Center, Cucina Express (both at Grand Central and Rockefeller Center), Cafe Metro, Europa, and ordinary delis alike.
A delicatessen, by definition, is a place that offers ready-to-eat food products — and by New York standards, that can be anything from your Boar’s Head Roast Beef sandwich to your Norwegian salmon with feta cheese on focaccia bread with the chef’s special dressing.
If you’re from New York, try the places I mentioned above, and your concept of a deli will be greatly modified by the difference in quality of food, price (!), ambience and service. Just like pizza — you have to make a distinction between Domino’s and Naples 45.