With less than a week to go before Christmas, we thought we should send out a seasonal wish and also let you know what our holiday hours will be. And so …

We’ll be taking a breather over Christmas and giving our staff a chance to spend some time with friends and family. This means we’ll be closing Christmas Eve (Saturday, the 24th) at 3:00pm and not opening again until Tuesday, December 27th, at 11:30am.

For New Year’s, we’ll be closing at 3:00pm on December 31st (New Year’s Eve) and reopening Wednesday, January 4th at 11:30am. (Yes, on the Wednesday. Tuesday, the 3rd, we’re closed as we do inventory.)

And don’t forget, if you’re starting to panic about gifts for friends and family, drop by the Deli and ask us for a gift card — you choose the amount. They fit quite nicely inside a card. And an Urban Deli gift card can be used at anytime (no expiration date).

It’s a yummy gift idea especially if you have a food lover on your list. (And who doesn’t?)

Hope you’re enjoying the season. Be cheerful, merry and have a great time!

Time moves very quickly. We’re already less than a month away from Christmas! But we’re ready for it. We’re also ready to give you a hand with ideas. If you haven’t seen it yet, we have a Christmas menu.

But don’t feel restricted. Whether you’re a company or just someone looking to entertain friends with a tasty Christmas get together, we can help. The Deli holds up to 40 people comfortably and we also have catering if you prefer to have your get together at home or in the office.

Our Christmas menu is available but if it’s a less formal occasion and you prefer to simplify, we also have menus for those, like our Saint John Comfort Food or Maritime Kitchen Party menus.

Just give Urban Deli a call at 652.DELI (3354) and ask for Liz or Andrew and we can get started on your plans.

Have a great holiday season!

Urban Deli's chef, Andrew Brewer.

Urban Deli’s man behind the scenes – our chef – is Andrew Brewer, a long time Maritimer and New Brunswick native.

Born up the river a bit in Fredericton (1981), Andrew was raised close to the provincial capital in Stanley where he first gained cooking experience by helping out at his Aunt’s senior’s complex – at the age of 8!

But it was Andrew’s mom who inspired him most when it came to cooking.

She provided fabulous home cooked meals and what Andrew considers the best rolls and bread ever and so did the community. Andrew also worked at a dairy farm from the age of 14.

His first official cooking job was at the age of 16 when he began working at Keystone Kellys in Fredericton. Now his culinary journey was truly underway.

This was followed by culinary school in St. Andrews, where he graduated in 1999. This was immediately succeeded by a stint at L’Europe, in St. Andrews, where he spent two seasons working under Chef Marcus Ritter in his fine dining restaurant. Then Andrew ventured west.

He went to Alberta where he worked at Zenari’s in Edmonton, an Italian lunch restaurant and catering in the downtown core.

Long time Maritimer and New Brunswick native, Andrew Brewer - chef at Urban Deli.

But home is where the heart is and Andrew returned to New Brunswick where he finished his Red Seal Chef certificate in 2005 while working at Little Louis Oyster Bar under Chef Stephen Houston, CCC.

Andrew has also been employed at Cora’s for opening restaurants in the Atlantic Region, the Fairmont Algonquin in St. Andrews, Billy’s Seafood Company and as Director of Food Services at Point Lepreau Generation Station..

Andrew first began his relationship with Urban Deli when he returned to our friends at Billy’s Seafood while also working part-time at the Deli. In 2010, Andrew took some time away from working and headed to Costa Rica for the winter. He came back to the Maritimes and Saint John in May of 2011, and has been working at Urban Deli ever since as our Chef.

And we’re glad to have him!

It’s the final day of shooting in Saint John for John Catucci and You Gotta Eat Here! They’re here at Urban Deli today and we’ll be featuring our Uptown Big Beef Bad Boy and the Muffuletta.

We’d love to see you for today’s Food Network taping of the front of the house customer feed back session … We have space available for Noon and 1:30 pm. But please call to reserve at 652-3354.

It should be a fun day!

The Food Network is paying Saint John a visit for their new show, You Gotta Eat Here! And we’re way excited because we’re one of the restaurants they’ll be visiting for the show.

On Friday and Saturday they’re going to be taping at our friends, Saint John Ale House. On Sunday and Monday, they’re taping here at Urban Deli.

We’d love for you to join us for Monday’s taping (the 17th), during lunch 11:00 am to 3:00 pm. But please call us and make a reservation at 652-3354.

And what’s this Food Network show all about? Two words: comfort food. Here’s how they describe it:

You Gotta Eat Here! sends our charming, funny and food-obsessed host, comedian John Catucci, on a quest to find Canada’s most delicious, mouthwatering, over-the-top comfort food.  He’s visiting great joints, greasy spoons, and legendary restaurants to taste the food that made them famous, and to meet the colourful characters that make each one of them institutions.

It should be fun. John Catucci is a pretty funny guy and it sounds as if he knows his comfort food. We’re fired up with the idea of them coming to see us and we hope you’ll join us so we can give them a real Uptown Saint John welcome. Hope to see you Monday!

Yes, we finally have our new menu, which is not so much new as updated. We’ve added a few new things and removed the odd item.

One of the items we’ve added that we’re pretty happy about is our Quiona Salad (keen-wah) – ancient grain salad with ginger, honey, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, cilantro and chili flakes. That is one of the salads we have available. We’ve also added a Charcuterie Board to our appetizers. And that would be genoa salami, sausage, chicken liver pate mousse, caper berries, Deli mustard and Montreal light rye bread.

Under our specialty sandwiches you’ll now see the Uptown Big Beef Bad Boy and in the Deli Delight Sandwiches you’ll see the Mediterranean, Italian Meatball and Italian Cold Cut.

Of course, you’ll still see the popular ones like the Original Montreal Style Smoked Meat, Triple Decker Grilled Cheese and Deli Meatloaf sandwiches.

Please let us know what you think of the new menu and if you have ideas about items we should have at the Deli, please share with us.

We hope you like the menu!

The Urban Deli Original Montreal Style Smoked Meat. (Photo - Urban Deli)

Up until the first week or so of July 2009, Urban Deli only existed in the head of our owner Liz. Then, on July 13, 2009, it was real.

Yes, today is our birthday! It’s Urban Deli’s second anniversary!

We’ve had another wonderful year with the restaurant and our catering. It’s been a year filled with intriguing people and superb events.

We absolutely love being a part of Uptown Saint John. As with last year, we have oodles of people to thank: our fabulous staff, the tremendous vendors and suppliers we get to work with and, of course, the people of Saint John. Our customers are fabulous.

As small thank you, today we have free samples of our desserts with your meal. So we hope you drop by and give us a chance to say, “Thanks!”

And just in case your interested, below is a list of what visitors to the Deli appear to liked best from our menu in our last year.

Our top stuff in our second year!

Top sandwiches:

• Club Sandwich
• Montreal style Smoked Meat
• Rueben
• Deli Meatloaf Sandwich
• Ham & Swiss

Top burger:

• UD Veggie Burger

Top soups:

• UD Seafood Chowder

Top salads:

• Spinach Salad
• Romaine Chiffonade (seared tuna steak salad)

Top appetizer:

• Roasted Garlic & Artichoke Dip

Tops from the smoked side of house:

• Deli Ribs

Urban Deli Iced Tea.

Top Drinks:

• Urban Deli Iced Tea
• Coke products (in old fashioned Coke bottles)

Top Desserts:

• Carrot Cake
• Lemon Sour Cream Pie (came a close 2nd)

Top Breakfast:

• The Deli Breakfast
• Pulled Pork Eggs Benny

And that’s a wrap … Now we’re diving into year three.

Also see:

• We’re one year old – Whoo hoo! (2010)
• Yes, today is the day (2009)

From last year: Canada Day 2010, Saint John, New Brunswick. (Urban Deli photo)

We’ve opened for Canada Day and will be open till 4:00 this afternoon. So when you’re in the Uptown, pay us a visit and say, “Happy Canada Day!”

Come take a stroll down King Street and support all the vendors along both sides of street!

Inside at Urban Deli, we have our regular menu plus a breakfast sandwich feature. And outside? …

We’re also set up outside today on King Street and we have grilled English Muffin breakfast sandwich plus health bars, ice tea & lemonade…all made in-house.

As for lunch … We’re featuring deliciously fresh Lobster Rolls — selling them inside the Deli and outside on King. And outside only: pulled pork English Muffin!

It promises to be a great day in the Uptown and everyone on King Street would love to see you and celebrate the country we love. Have a safe and fun Canada Day!

The night was wonderful; everyone was gracious. Winners of the Live Life Awards were announced and as far as we could tell, every body attending had a sensational time. We sure did.

Congratulations to our friends at Thandi’s! They walked away with the award for Best Restaurant of the Year. There were three of us in the category — Thandi’s, Saint John Ale House and Urban Deli.

We’d be disappointed except we were thrilled. Thandi’s is a great representative of the Uptown’s best. As is SJ Ale House.

It was our second year being nominated in that category so we’re hoping third time’s the charm.

Apart from our congratulations to all the people and businesses that won (and all the nominees), we’d like to let everyone at Uptown Saint John know we truly appreciate all the time, effort and commitment they put into the Live Life Awards and everything they’re doing for the Uptown. Now, here are all the winners!

• 2011 Live Life Award Winners

(Photo via Manchester Shoes Salon)

We’re pretty pumped up about tonight’s Live Life Awards put on by Uptown Saint John. We’re excited partly because the evening proceedings will be held “… in the minimalist ‘white room,’ an architectural gem located on the second floor of 115 Prince William Street.”

And we’re excited because we’re up for an award.

In the ‘Best Restaurant’ category, the nominees are Saint John Ale House, Thandi’s and yours truly, Urban Deli. Best of luck to all three of us!

It’s worth having a look at all the nominees in all the categories. It’s a marvelous cornucopia of the Uptown’s great businesses and some of the exceptional accomplishments over the last year.

If you’re attending the glam event, we hope to see you there. We’ll be on hand and hope to say ‘Hi!’ to everyone.

See you tonight!