Gramercy Deli

I had some frozen grapes at around 4:00 pm.

My friend Sandy had recently moved up to Delray Beach and this was my first opportunity to go and see his new apartment and go out to eat to further celebrate Birthday Week.

After visiting for a while, I announce that I was hungry. He had already scoped out Gramercy Deli and pronounced it a fine place to eat. It turns out that he uttered the Understatement of the Century.

It's your classic South Florida Deli... a counter with Smoked fish, deli salads, knishes, etc. I saw the prices (not cheap, but not a fortune either) and was surprised by the crowd of, ahem, older folk entering the place. Main dishes were in the $14-$20 range, and the Early Bird crowd usually looks for someplace more, er, inexpensive.

Meals at the Gramercy come with an appetizer, beverage, and dessert. Both Sandy and I opted to start with the Matzo Ball Soup.

This was excellent. Sandy doesn't eat a lot, and he wanted to leave room for his main course, but he downed almost the whole bowl of soup. I don't have that problem, so I just demolished it.

Like all Delis worth their salt, they trotted out the bowl of Sours. I had a couple of pickles, some pickled tomatoes, sauerkraut, and some red peppers. Awesome.

Sandy had the Hungarian Goulash, and in a surprise move -- I opted for the Turkey Leg Dinner. Someone had it at the other table, and it looked delicious. The waitress assured me that it was a popular item, so I went for it.

Sorry about the blurry photo -- I was so excited, I was shaking.

Seriously, this is worth driving to Delray Beach for. This leg would give shame to the large ones that they sell at Disney. And, the meat was tender and fell right off the bone. I stripped that baby clean. My side dishes were tomato salad and mushrooms & barley. It was a well-rounded meal. Here's the two of us ready to dig in (that's the pickle bowl in front):

From left to right: Sandy, Turkey Leg, Me.

The meals came with dessert. We ordered two slices of cheesecake and Sandy took them home, along with most of his dinner. We finished it off with tea (Sandy) and coffee (me). The whole thing came to $36 plus tip. It felt like we were stealing.

Here's another picture of Sandy. I miss that he doesn't live as close any longer; he's a lot of fun.