Urban Deli Tag Saint John Page 13 | Urban Deli

Posted on July 11, 2009 Posted by Urban Deli

A bit of entertaining

Tonight we’ll be entertaining a number of people we’ve invited to the Deli for a little evening sampling of some of our menu – yes, we do have one (ta da!) and we’ll be posting it shortly.

We’ll have things like Montreal Smoked Meat – we are a deli, after all.

But also our split pea with ham soup, roasted garlic and artichoke dip – seasoned pita chips for dipping, our schnitzel sandwich – breaded pork, warm sauerkraut, swiss cheese and dijon aioli … and so on. (All those we’ll be on our regular menu.)

And we’re still busily working for tonight’s entertaining and for our Monday opening.

It’s beautiful in Saint John today now that the fog has lifted. It’s so nice we noticed on King Street today that across from us there’s a crosswalk sign and the little guy appears to be walking, with a determined stride, right to the Urban Deli!

Maybe he knows something …?

Posted on July 10, 2009 Posted by Urban Deli

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It has only been quiet online

If we’ve appeared to have become oddly quiet it has only been here, on the site. At the Deli it has been anything but. In fact, it’s been a madhouse! But …

It’s been organized, purposeful bedlam as we work to get everything in place for our opening – which is in just a few days! This is Friday? We’ve only 3 days to go before Monday.

Yes, we’re working our buns off (no pun intended).

By the way, we have most of our staff but we are still looking for some help in the kitchen – line cooks and prep cooks. So if that’s your line, or you know someone who might be interested, let us know!

(By the way, all those italics and exclamation marks? That just refects our high level of excitement and the adrenalin running through us. We’re usually much more calm. Really.)

Posted on June 29, 2009 Posted by Urban Deli

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Because you asked, our hours will be …

Dan left a comment asking what our hours would be so we went to Liz and asked, “So, what will the hours be?” (We thought it would be good to know when we’d be working.)

So here they are, though this is tentative. (see update at the end of the post). Hours (for the first week, at least):

Monday – Saturday 11 a.m. – 8pm

And that’s the plan. We’ll try to make these official very soon, so we don’t have to say “tentative” anymore. Think of the Deli, when it opens, as being in a “beta” stage, as the software people like to say. As we get feedback from people, we’ll likely make changes to make it better and as close to what you expect as possible.

An update:

Thanks to the comments, we realized we should provide a more for information on our hours.

One of the reasons we say “tentative” is because things like the hours the Deli is open could change. Originally, Liz had the Deli going to be open till 11:00pm. But we decided to have it 8:00pm, at least for the first week, to get a sense for how things are operating and what people like and/or don’t like, and what is actually practical.

After the first week, Liz is thinking of having the Urban Deli open till 11:00pm Thursday through Saturday. It’s a bit of a balancing act though between what people would like and what the economics allow us to do. But we definitely would like to be open and available later in the evening for those people looking for somewhere to drop in after a show or other engagement.

Posted on June 24, 2009 Posted by Urban Deli

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Yes, we have an opening date

With so many things that can (and sometimes do) go sideways, we’re been reluctant to nail down an opening date. We’ve had a few in mind, but they all depended on certain things being done, delivered, installed and okay-ed etc. We were worried we’d announce a date then have to apologize and postpone it.

Well, now we can say when we’ll officially open: July 13 (that’s a Monday).

The sigh of relief you may have heard was probably from Liz, the owner and mastermind behind the Urban Deli.

Although it’s only mid-week, it’s been going great. This has been inspector week: fire, health, city and so on. So far, the fire and health people have been in and everything’s thumbs up.

So all systems are go as we make our way to the opening: July 13.

We hope to see you here (Urban Deli, 68 King Street, Saint John). We’re very anxious to hear what you think, what suggestions you may have and so on. And if you think something is not quite right, could use some tweaking or whatever, please be kind! 🙂

Posted on June 22, 2009 Posted by Urban Deli

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Going local in New Brunswick

To the extent that we can, we’d like to do things locally — as in eastern Canada and, more specifically, New Brunswick.

Now, you when you think “coffee” you may not immediately think New Brunswick – but you should!

Last week, one of the many things we did was get our coffee machine in place. The machine is one thing, but the coffee is another. When it comes to java, we’ve arranged to get ours from Sean and Dawn — and that would be Red Whale Coffee Inc., just up the road in Rothesay, near Quispamsis.

The local idea will also be true of the beer we serve. We’re lined up to carry Saint John’s Moosehead and Moncton’s Pumphouse and we’re hoping to be able to have Fredericton’s Picarroons on board.

We may be a deli, but it’s our hope to be a distinctly New Brunswick deli!

(Okay so not 100% local … we did get our plates at Fishes Eddy on our New York trip. But our communal table is local!)

Posted on June 12, 2009 Posted by Urban Deli

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Our communal table

Liz is particularly excited about the Urban Deli’s communal table (sometimes referred to as a “sharing table”). And what’s a communal table? As the name suggests, it’s a table where anyone and everyone can sit down to enjoy, not simply the food, but each other’s company. Some people are reluctant to try it because it’s not the way they are use to dining. But once they do try it, most love it.

At the Deli, we thought, “Atlantic Canada is famous for how friendly everyone is. Where better to have a communal table?

Our table was built by Christoph Malinowski of CM Woodcraft Inc. And the craftsmanship that went into it is amazing. If you see Liz and ask her about it, be ready to sit down for a while because she’ll go on and on about the table, Christoph and how thrilled she is to have it.

As for communal tables, they’re new but not really. According to an item from the Seattle Times, “Across Europe, in bistros and beer halls, tavernas, trattorias and tapas bars, people are accustomed to eating at large shared tables.”

You don’t have to go to Europe to see them, however. They’ve become increasingly popular in places like New York, Seattle, Montreal, Los Angeles and most other major centres. A story about communal tables in San Francisco from the San Francisco Chronicle provides a good sense of what they are like (including the romantic aspects!).

So … we’re pretty excited, especially Liz, with the possibilities of our table. And don’t fret, there will be other, more traditional tables for those reluctant to give it a try. We suspect, however, when you see how others are enjoying the communal dining experience, you’ll want to give it a try too.

Posted on June 11, 2009 Posted by Urban Deli

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Preparing ourselves (and our deli)

Yes, we’ve neglected urbandeli.ca as we’ve been busily getting the Urban Deli (the actual restaurant) ready for the opening, which we’re hoping will be the end of June. And it will be, barring the unforeseen … You know, like earthquake, alien invasions or similar unplanned for calamities.

It hasn’t all been hammers and nails over here on King, however. A week or two ago Liz and her compadres made a trip to New York City (where her sister, Michael-ann, lives). It wasn’t a pleasure trip (though it was loads of fun). Liz was doing some “research” of NYC delis and picking up some necessities for the restaurant, like a steamer, plates and bowls and other equipment. We’ll do a separate post on the New York trip soon. Today, we’re just letting you know that while we’re working on getting the restaurant ready, we’re also getting our bums in gear as far as the site goes.

By the way, you’ll find a nice piece about us in the June edition of Streetscope, the monthly newsletter from Uptown Saint John. It’s the “New Business Feature – The Urban Deli.” It’s great feeling we’re a part of the city’s uptown!

Lastly, we had an absolutely fabulous time at the Fundy Food Festival here in Saint John last Saturday. We were giving people a taste of our ribs but at the same time we were tasting some of the foods other restaurants and food related businesses were providing. The chefs in SJ are absolutely incredible.

Does everyone in Saint John realize how good the food is here? As the saying goes, “To die for …”

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