A Guide to NYC’s Best Delis
There are a couple joys in life privy exclusively to the residents and locals of New York. Groundbreaking pizzas, subway performances, and,of course, the occasional mid-August block parties, all make living in New York worthwhile. But the one, incomparable, beauty that outshines every other in the city will forever remain the abundance of corner delis and bodegas.
It is nothing less than a challenge to walk more than two blocks without seeing a deli perched on the edge of a street. To the outside eye, the neon sign and worn down exterior of every quality corner store may seem repelling and worthy of malign, but to the adapted, New York eye, these traits are the bright flashy signals of good food and hospitalitty. Because of their absolute cultural significance, I took it upon myself to travel around the city, neighborhood by neighborhood, in order to find New York's best bodega. After collecting my research on the price and quality of each deli's bacon-egg-and-cheese and coffee I have narrowed the top deli’s down to three final winners.
One of the first deli’s I visited was the Sunac Natural Deli in Williamsburg. While the interior of the deli took me by surprise with its spacious, almost market like appearance, its $4.50 bacon egg and cheese roll did not fail to deliver. In between the two buns were two, perfectly rationed, thick layers of bacon egg and cheese. The bacon was crispy, the egg was fluffy, and cheese was perfectly melted. Even as a typical repudiator of American cheese, I still dream of this roll when I go to bed. As for the coffee, I chose to go simple with an iced coffee with milk, no sweeteners or creamer, and was unphased by the result. The coffee did taste slightly watered down but the cheap $2.00 price made up for any potential flavor that may have been lost. Overall both price and quality lived up to my New Yorken standards and the Sunac Natural Deli has just found another dedicated customer.
Another personal favorite of mine is the Skyline Gourmet Deli in Hell's Kitchen. As the receiving end of many loud and chaotic high school students from The Beacon School nearby, the employees of the Gourmet Deli remain admirably calm and helpful. Aside from their affability, the Deli also excels in its iconic sandwiches and coffee. Their bacon egg and cheese sandwiches specifically, amaze in their expertly crafted pile up of beautifully melted cheese, egg and perfected plenitude of bacon. Of course their coffee is all the same in its craftsmanship. For an even $2.00 the Gourmet Deli provides customers with 16 oz of deliciously proportioned caffeine. As I’m sure almost every Beacon student will agree, The Skyline Gourmet Deli will always stand as an oasis away from the heat of Times Square and will remain an iconic landmark for all passionate $4.49 bacon-egg-and-cheese zealots.
The last but most definitely not least of my holy grails of NYC bodegas, is the Lower East Sides Happiness Gourmet Deli. Admittedly, I was at first skeptical of the deli’s ability to live up to its name and bring me it's so-promised “happiness” from a bacon-egg-and-cheese and iced coffee, but with only one look at my food I knew that my skepticism was anything but necessary. The $5.00 rolls' generous helping of egg completed the taste, setting it apart from the haze of other bacon-egg-and-cheese rolls in the city that lose their egg in the strength of cheese and bacon. On top of the tasty sandwich my meal was fulfilled with the deli’s $2.00 iced coffee. Not only did it taste good, Wren Fisher, a regular at Happiness Gourmet Deli, remarked, “I’ve been going here almost everyday for the past three years and have never gotten a bad coffee”, surprising seeing as most deli’s in New York struggle to stay consistent in their coffee making. Nonetheless, surprising or not, I will happily support any local bodega that I can rely on for concordance in my coffee.
As the gastronomic icons of the city, deli’s have given New Yorkers bacon-egg-and-cheese, iced coffee, chopped cheese, smoothies, salads, sodas, and so much more and as the primary supporters of these local stores, it is our consumerist duties to give back. Yes, there will always be the visually aesthetic, well renowned, $10.00 coffee from another hipster cafe somewhere in the neighborhood, but next time you want to give back to your own community, treat yourself to a warm local bacon-egg-and-cheese and refreshing iced coffee (or hot if that's how you like it).