Local Spotlight: The Route 58 Delicatessen

So this place shows up and starts offering a "brown bag lunch" special at my place of business.  New York style deli, I says?  I've seen New York style delis on TV.  Like that Fööde Netwörken or some such.  Stuff looks good.  Huge, but good.

I like huge.  Huge is good.  (That's what she said.)

So I check out the menu.  It's here at this fancy link if you'd like to check it out for yourself.  And that starts me drooling like a homeless Ethiopian at a buffet profusely.  So, of course, I order.

Now, before you all protest about the prices (which are, admittedly, high), let me point out that I haven't been posting recently because I've been so bloody poor broke that I've been eating peanut butter & jelly sandwiches and ramen almost exclusively for the past two weeks.  If you really want me to put posts up about that, well, shoot, I'm a sell-out (that's why there's ads, now, to help me afford this stuff) and I'll do it. But they'll be very boring posts.  So I splurged.  Sue me.  

Actually, don't.  It'll be pretty much a waste of time and lawyer fees.

ANY-hoo.

Let's fast-forward to the good stuff.  Here's the almost before-and-after:

Route 58 Deli Corned Beef lunch box - Half gone :-)

The Aftermath

All over their menu and delivery van was plastered the slogan, "If you finish, we made a mistake!"  Well, clearly, they hadn't met me yet.  If a 2 1/2-lb. burrito with chips and salsa, a taco, and half a quesadilla didn't tackle me, this sandwich wasn't going to.

And, as shown by the aftermath photo (timestamped thirteen minutes and eleven seconds after the halfway point - plus an interruption to talk smack), they did make a mistake.  They didn't give me enough Russian Dressing.  (Note to your staff there, Mr. Owner Guy.)

(Russian dressing, by the way, is not Russian.  It was invented in New Hampshire by James E. Colburn.)

The corned beef was very lean, a little on the dry side, which was fixed extremely well by application of deli mustard and said misnamed condiment.  It came on rye bread, which was a little hard around the crust, but had a good flavor in the middle.  As for the meat?  Well, it was certainly loaded.  Hard to complain with two inches (that's NOT what she said) of solid corned animal.  Dead animals on bread is good.

The sandwich itself ran $6.99, which I'm down for.  The "lunch box" was $11.99... the difference was it came with a black & white cookie, halved pickle, and small tub of potato salad.  While the potato salad was decent, let's be real - it's still potato salad.  I find it hard to justify a $5 price hike for a pickle, tater salad, and a cookie.  Apparently, the pricing is a little different for what they serve in-restaurant, so I'll have to take that into consideration when I roll up there one day.  To put it in perspective, here's a shot from a coworker's visit where he ordered the Hot Pastrami Burger (yes, there is a burger underneath all that):

The Pastrami Burger

What does this mean?  In short, for the take-away lunch boxes, get just the sandwich.  It's enough for two normal meals or my gluttonous behind.  But the price jump for the box.. not so much.  In the restaurant, it appears that your money is WELL worth it to order, well, whatever you damn well please.

The Verdict

Due to the nature of my decision, I'm going to have to split this into a few parts.

Sandwich Only (Lunch Box Take-Away):  4/5.  Good stuff for your buck, and not skimping on the carved cow carcass.  Don't push the price too much higher, though.

Sandwich & Sides (Lunch Box Take-Away):  2/5.  The inclusion of some "side dishes" to jack the price up really knocked the  overall value down.  I can't say I'll get the box again (although I'll certainly eat it if someone else is buying!) but will definitely get the sandwich on its own.

Anything In Restaurant:  5/5.  That Pastrami Burger runs $14.99.  You couldn't get that much lean pastrami at your grocery store for that much.  Plus there's a burger and slaw and cheese and dressing and ZOMG brain hemorrhageeeeeeeee/////////////////////////////////