City discovery: Jewish deli.

The other week I was in this mall-y and semi-industrial part of the city just south/southwest of downtown, and I hadn't had dinner and remembered about this one deli I'd seen for years in a one-story building just off the strip with a sign out front for corned beef.

So, I go in, and it's actually cafeteria style, and Jewish.

Their stuff was about $4-5 pricier than you'd think since it's kosher, and the hand-painted menu above the cafeteria line had stuff like tongue on it, and in the cafeteria dishes one of them was just this huge pile of matzoh balls in really fatty chicken broth.

The (older) (mustachioed) (Jewish?) pulled out a plate and gave me a strip of corned beef, a strip of pastrami, and a strip of brisket to help me decide between them if I wanted a sandwich, and then he said that he could actually mix up meat on the sandwich if I wanted it, and there was a half-sandwich-and-soup deal that wasn't on the menu, but was good if you weren't up for a whole dinner.

"And I can't even finish half of one of these sandwiches," he was like.

So, I got half a sandwich with mixed corned beef and pastrami, and a bowl of matzoh soup, in the half-sandwich-and-soup deal.

At the end of the cafeteria line, too, this (younger) (Mexican) guy pointed out a bowl of donuts and was like, "Jewish donuts for dessert?".

"Those look good," I was like, "But I'm trying to lose some weight," and at that I patted my stomach and pulled out a roll of fat like I always do when I say that.

At that, he just started laughing, and pointed at my pastrami.

"With that?!", he was like.

The inside was incredibly homey, too, and they had a sign up how every Saturday for a couple hours around lunch a magician comes in and walks around and does tricks, which I take that they do so that people bring their kids in to eat.

I was struck by how vestigial the place was, and marvellous.  Both its storefront and its schtick were like something from decades and decades and decades ago.

I couldn't believe I was in the same world that I live in, and that I'd walked by this place forever and that reality had existed for years right near me without my knowing it.