Delicatessen. The American Heritage Dictionary defines it as “a shop that sells cooked or prepared foods ready for serving.”
But the fine print tells us that “delicatessen” came into English from French and Italian after a detour through German. In those languages, it originally meant “delicacies.”
Significantly, delicatessen also is related to Latin words for pleasure and deliciousness.
Lucy’s Delicatessen calls itself “the real deal deli.” With this phrase, owners Deb Linc and Cindi Pulver don’t mean they’re trying to re-create an old-time New York Jewish delicatessen, kosher or not.
Lucy’s serves a changing menu of soups, salads, sweet baked goods, sandwiches, even a sort of pizza — most things more or less familiar to the Midwestern palate. Lucy’s doesn’t sell knishes, kugels, lox, blintzes, chopped liver, smoked whitefish or, alas, gribenes — crisp strips of fried chicken skin.
Linc and Pulver coined the phrase “the real deal deli” in part to underline their pride in serving only Boar’s Head deli products. A company that got its start in 1905 supplying New York City delicatessens, Boar’s Head still offers, meat for meat, perhaps the best nationally available line of cold cuts.
“The real deal deli” also emphasizes that Lucy’s is both an “eat-in” restaurant and a takeout-food counter. Customers can order any of Lucy’s approximately 25 Boar’s Head deli meats and cheeses custom-sliced in any amount or take home containers full of the day’s salads or side dishes. There’s also always an entree of the week.
Here’s strong advice for your meals at Lucy’s: Ignore the pizza, maybe try a soup, definitely split a salad, and — over time — eat your way through the whole big wonderful sandwich menu.
1. Ignore the pizza. Lucy’s piles its pizzas with fresh vegetables and herbs, good cheeses, great meats — including Boar’s Head’s splendidly spunky pepperoni — and a flavorful if somewhat dry garlicky red sauce.
But toppings can’t improve the purchased pre-baked crusts; they’re thick, bready and chewy. The resulting inch-thick pies are essentially just warmed in a conventional oven until the cheese melts. Our server tellingly offered to rewarm ours “if it’s not hot enough in the middle.”
2. Try a soup. Lucy’s soups are house-made. Reuben Chowder had a refreshing sauerkraut tartness but included odd clumps of chewy Swiss cheese swimming throughout it. Potato- Leek Soup and Chili Con Carne were tasty but also thicker, unfortunately, than most stews. Wisconsin Cheese Soup offered good Cheddar, onion and celery flavors without being excessively rich.
3. Split a salad. Lucy’s salads have a good mix of fresh greens, crisp raw vegetables and excellent house-made croutons. The Garden Salad adds blue cheese; the Famous Greek Feta Salad adds feta, pepperoncini and Kalamata olives. Both the half-salad, $3.25, and the whole, $6.50, are generously portioned — big enough to share. All salad dressings are made in-house. Standouts are the superb cilantro-ranch with its effusive fresh garlic, the clingy raspberry vinaigrette and the blue cheese.
4. Relish the sandwiches.
Item: Grilled Blue Cheese and Pear. Menu description: “Blue and havarti cheeses, sliced pear, sunflower seeds and sprouts with a honeysage aioli. Served on toasted honey-wheat bread.” Comments: a vegetarian masterpiece of tangy, salty, sweet, tart, fragrant, smooth, crisp and crunchy. Beautifully moistened by mayonnaise and melted cheese, $7.29.
Item: Lucy’s Famous Reuben. Menu: “Pastrami, sauerkraut, caramelized onion, Swiss cheese, Louis dressing. Grilled on kosher rye.” Comments: excellent take on the classic sandwich; good balance of flavors and textures; superb glop factor. Best when well-grilled, $6.99.
Item: Chippewa Hot Beef. Menu: “Lucy’s house-roasted beef, provolone cheese, a thick slice of raw onion, our special horseradish sauce on a fresh baked roll.” Comments: a fat fistful of succulence and beefy flavor on a bakedfrom- scratch soft kaiser roll. A sandwich to lose yourself in. Ask for more of the housemade sauce on the side, $6.49.
Item: Moroccan Carrot and Goat Cheese. Menu: “Moroccan- spiced carrots, olive tapenade and goat cheese grilled on rye.” Comments: brightflavored sweet carrots, crunchy-soft, marinated in lemon juice and warm spices. Paired with the smooth, tangy unctuousness of warm goat cheese and house-made olive relish. A rich sandwich; best shared, $7.29.
Item: Spring Turkey. Menu: Oven-roasted turkey, dried cranberries, Parmesan cheese, spring greens, pesto mayonnaise. Served hot on a demi-baguette.” Comments: perfectly realized. Mild, moist meat enlivened by tart fruit, salty cheese, garlic, fresh basil, $7.29.
Item: The Miller. Menu: “Tavern Ham, grilled chicken breast, provolone cheese, honey-creole mustard sauce, walnuts. Served hot on a whole wheat demi-baguette.” Comments: Lucy’s meatiest sandwich. A great combination of smoke, salt, tangy, sweet and nutty suffused with some mustard warmth, $7.59.
Lucy’s best side items are currently a creamy redskinned potato salad lightened by capers, red-onion dice and dill — and a magnificent salad of crunchy wheat berries, dried cranberries, walnuts and minced scallions in a cumin-spiked dressing. Pleasure and deliciousness. Lucy’s Delicatessen.
Main Course, the Leader- Telegram’s restaurant review column, runs the fourth Sunday of the month. Diners’ Notebook, a sampling of favorite restaurant offerings, runs the second Tuesday of the month.
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