Calling all sandwich lovers: a new deli concept restaurant has opened on Sherbrook St., and it’s sure to satisfy any appetite.
This isn’t your local grocery store deli counter. Sherbrook Street Delicatessen has taken the business back to the golden age of delis (think New York circa 1990) to show Winnipeg what sandwiches are really about. Serving kosher deli fare, Sherbrook Street Deli is about more than your average ham and turkey.
The menu features a variety of sandwiches, most with no more than four ingredients, along with soups and salads. The restaurant offers both sit-down and take-out options, as well as “cuts” or “scoops” for at-home sandwich making.
Owner Jon Hochman hopes to “stay true to the concept of the deli and how it originated.”
A single sandwich equipped with meat, bread, and mustard may seem a bit stingy for its $8.75-$10.50 price tag, but it’s stacked high enough to give anyone the meat sweats.
“Our most popular sandwich has three ingredients,” said Hochman. To him, the key to success is to “focus on the simple things and do it really well – that’s how classics are made.”
Hochman has a do-it-all attitude when it comes to food preparation, with all ingredients, from mustard to smoked meat, hand-crafted in house. Anything he can’t make is locally sourced. For Hochman, this is more than a business; it’s a “labour of love.”
The restaurant business has been Hochman’s bread and butter long before the opening of his deli.
Hochman’s passion progressed from washing dishes in the kitchen at summer camp to helping his Zaida and Baba cook at home to completing the Culinary Arts program at Red River College.
Hochman’s first venture into the restaurant business was Fitzroy, an American-style restaurant featuring tapas and bar food. Fitzroy closed after three years when Hochman decided to turn the space into the new home of Sherbrook Street Deli. Opening a deli has been Hochman’s dream since he was 12 years old, and he is not looking back.
“Fitzroy was fun, but it wasn’t well received,” said Hochman.
“[The deli] is a better move – sandwiches are very approachable.”
Winnipeg’s West Broadway neighbourhood is no stranger to sandwich shops, with a Stella’s, Subway, and The Tallest Poppy surrounding Sherbrook Street Deli.
Hochman sees no conflict between the restaurants, saying “everything is very different, each with their own specialty.”
For Hochman, the difference comes with respecting the tradition of the delicatessen and adding his passion and experience. The most important thing, Hochman says, is to “show love of the product. If [the ingredients] were store-bought, it would just be a business.”
Located at 102 Sherbrook St., Sherbrook Street Delicatessen is open 10 a.m.-10 p.m. daily.
