At a restaurant in Key West, I saw a sign promoting the restaurant's "prefix" menu.

Maybe it just features appetizers?

AnneB, I wonder how the nouns are there.

Oh, come ON !!! I KNOW I;'ve reccomended this one several times!

Here are the ones that should make any top 10 list:

- Attmans
- Cannella's (Harford Rd, north of Joppa. They might have mocved though)
- DiPasquale's in highlandtown
- Trinacria on Paca Street

Does anyon remember the old Homewood Deli near the JHU campus i Charles Village?

Yes, you have. But you never helped me make up a list. And remember, no Italian delis this time. EL

Many years ago, I lunched with an English actor named John Mills at the legendary deli/dairy restaurant, Ratner's, on New York's Lower East Side. He was looking forward, he said, to trying a Jewish delicacy he had heard about for years. "Bagels, cream cheese and lox," he told the waiter "...on whole wheat toast, please."

As a transplanted New Yorker, I work very hard never to think about delis in this town.

Attman's is the best. Both in quality of food, hot dogs with a bite, and great atmosphere, there is none to match the authticity of this wonderful deli. As good as any in New York City.

Mark's in Reisterstown is excellent. They go to New York to get pastrami and corned beef. My wife loves their hot dog wrapped in fried baloney. For me it is the pastrami on rye with mustard.

Suburban House - Pikesville
Miller's Deli - Pikesville
Edmart - Pikesville

Deli in Baltimore has really gone down hill. THe last good deli was the old Homewood Deli in Charles Village circa 1970's and early 1980's. But if I had to recommend one, it's the deli at The Markets at Highlandtown on Eastern Ave. They have the best in-store roasted turkey and roast beef. As a plus, The Markets bakes the best sub/sandwich rolls, and they have the best prices you will find at any deli in the area.

By far the best deli is Miller's deli on Smith avenue in Pikesville. they have the best bagel and lox platter! In fact you got me craving it so bad I think I need to go take a late lunch!

how about Snyder's cafe in owings mills

Remember, please hit post just once. It will eventually do it. Thanks. EL

In Columbia two good options are Joe's Place and the Charter Deli.

Once you've lived around the corner from "Sam's Appetitizing" in New York -- as I did -- any other deli is a tough act to follow. When you bought lox from Sam, you chose from "Mild," "Special," "Nova Scotia," "Extra Smoked" and a dozen other varieties, all laid out in giant slabs. Once you made your selection, Sam wielded a long, thin bladed knife, slicing your order with the precision of a Samurai warrior. There was also mouth watering smoked sturgeon and whitefish -- and for a change of pace from bagels, fresh onion bialys. I live in a splendid -- but deli-less --neighborhood here so maybe I'm out of touch. Are there any delis anywhere in Baltimore that offer that kind of variety?

Attman's, of course. But the length of the line between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. is pretty off-putting, at least for someone with gimpy legs like mine. Does that count as ambiance?

big jims in the cross street market has great hot dogs with fried bologna. their specialty sandwiches are also very good. super friendly service and beer and wine.

FHJ, I'd say it counts as ambiance.

Attman's is the best I've found, but it is mearly ok. And I'm not from New York City.

The deli at the Tremont is excellent. People rave about their shrimp salad. But I go because they have fresh pumpernickel bread and I can have whatever I want on it (ever try to ask any of the Korean mafia downtown if they have pumpernickel bread? tedious is the nice way to describe the conversation).

Miller's deli - in addition to all of the usual reasons for being a superb deli, I forgot to mention, they are importing their bagels and bialys from NY and baking them off in the shop. At least they were when I was there getting my sick GF matzoh ball soup last winter. And quite a superb bialy they had too!

In Lexington Market, D. Barron Deli or Krause's (not a deli per se, but the best fresh-roasted turkey anywhere!) The other delis I frequent are Italian, so I can't weigh in with them.

Java Joe's makes superior deli sandwiches. The bread is fresh, the meat is high-quality and not that cheap sodium-laden crap you get a lot of places. And they include a pickle slice in a little baggie.

Today I had baked turkey on toasted whole grain with LTM, and bacon. The bacon was real, not that pre-cooked flat no-taste stuff a lot of places use now. And the lettuce and tomato were equally high--quality.

Just be prepared to pay. $9 for sandwich, chips, and iced tea.

I've got a top 10 idea that probably sucks. How about the top 10 places to dine alone? A lot of places don't handle singletons gracefully, others are just more fun to people watch in, and a very few seem to go out of their way to pamper those of us dining with our books.

Does "deli" include those that spell the word "delly"?

Lissa and Lissa's book -- meet RtSO and Book.

RtSO and Book -- meet Lissa and Lissa's book.

Don't know if this falls into the true "deli category" and as someone who lives near Pikesville I feel a bit of a traitor, but Dogwood Deli in Hampden sandwiches are absolutely fantastic. Not a deli in the truest sense, but if they can put "Deli" in the name that count's right?

Other than that Miller's sandwiches are huge and lean like a good deli should be, except where it counts, like a nice hot pastrami!

That's an excellent point, but I think I'll say no because we already did Top Ten Places to Get a Great Sandwich (and Dogwood was one). I'm thinking of the traditional Jewish deli here. EL

Charmed, we're sure.

Lissa - If I am not mistaken there has been a post, or at the very least a discussion or two, on places that welcome solo diners. Peruse the archives. Or check with RtSO who is our resident expert in this regard.

Whilst it would be nice to claim insight or expertise in this (or anythig, really) but when Ms Lissa and her book raised the issue, I realised that I am too obtuse to notice if I am getting 'special' service. Maybe I give off a 'leave me alone' vibe or something, I don't see any difference in service when its just Book or I'm eating with someone else. Well maybe one difference is with Book its almost always a 2-top (which generally doesn't have enough room for a plate and Book) but with others its a larger table. Sorry.

Cahall's Deli on 23rd Street.

oh in Baltimore?

Is Mueller's on Harford Road still there, near Dead Freddies? They used be quite good awhile back.

I am still looking for a deli (or anyplace else) that has potato salad like I grew up with in New York: with sliced potatoes. Whenever I go up to New York I actually hand-carry several pounds back with me.

I am always wary of any deli that spells it "delly." Is that a Baltimore thing? I haven't sen it anywhere else.

Dahlink said "I am always wary of any deli that spells it "delly.""

Well, if it were located in a small valley it might be "dell-y."

I hate to be NY-Centric, but having grown up in the metropolitan NY area (actually NJ, but who's counting?) I must say that Baltimore has nothing that really compares with Katz' in NY or the 2nd Ave. Deli or Eppes Essen in Livingston NJ, or countless others.

Of prime importance is the utter lack of a decent Jewish rye bread, unobtainable in Baltimore. Those who rave about Stone Mill and other tony bakeries of that ilk, have obviously never tasted a fresh Jewish rye or, even better, an onion rye from NYC.

Rant over -- flame away!!

Edmart - Brisket. Any day. Bring it.

Excluding Italian delis is like exluding "diners owned or operated by Greeks" from a discussion about Baltimore's best diners. Under both scenarios, you're practically setting yourself up for a discussion of "not quite good enough to make the cut on a real top ten list" options in Baltimore.

I'm not sure what you mean, but I feel Italian delis deserve a category of their own. EL

Muellers is still there, though it looks like their imported mustard selection is better than their German style meats. Though I did bring home a little of the most foreign sounding ham and bologna that they had, three weeks ago, and was blown away by the latter (and forgive me for not remembering the style). One bite and I suddenly knew what my mother was remembering 45 years ago when she put just one slice of O---- M---- in a sandwich for my lunch.

On further reflection about delis (sp? Must be right, no funny red underline!) it occurs to me that supermarket delis have become much much better over the years. Short of some family recipe for pastrami, what doesn't a Wegmans have? Even my local Giant has decent enough roast beef.

Now corned beef is another matter. That I have to put up myself to get it right!

The Eddie's in Mount Vernon - or what my wife has always called "Ghetto Eddies", so as not to be confused with "Fancy Eddies" known as Eddies of Roland Park - has some of the best roast beef around. You have to ask for the house or "our" roast beef. It is always, rare with the just the right amounts of fat and seasonings.

Yes, Father Guido--what is it about diners and Greeks? Is this also a Baltimore thing? I haven't noticed it anywhere else.

Not only diners, but sub shops seem to be run more often than not by Greeks.
Two standouts (I think) are Olympia in Parkville Shopping Center and the one in Bay Forest Shopping Center on Bay Ridge Road in Annapolis, I forget its name but its probably Maria's. They both make excellent cheesesteaks and cold cuts. Usually a place will do one well, the other, not so much. These two places excel at both.

Did I miss it, or did no one parry Michael Gray's accolades for "Sam's Appetitizing" with a thrust about Greg's Bagels. No, you don't get to see the knife wielding, but such a variety of smoked salmon should be celebrated much more broadly.

And Ratner's ... in the 60's on a trip to NYC with my dad we started to walk into a deli for lunch and opened the first door to be encountered by two more and the traditional choice, meat or dairy. I don't remember the name or the location (I was 10 maybe) but that experience is still fresh. Was Ratner's a double door establishment? I wonder if that was the one we visited.

BALTIMORE Deli's Please.
We are sorry you dont live in NY anymore, but no one asked!

Luckily it's a big internet and there's room to discuss both. EL

Dahlink, you don't remember my post on Greek diners from January 26?

In the 1960s a popular television program in Greece was called γευματίζων. It was about a poor Greek family who moved to America and eventually became wealthy after opening a number of successful diners. Perhaps that has something to do with it?

how about a top ten list of kid friendly family restaurants with great food??NO CHAINS OR FAST FOOD types.

betsy -- it is possible that you are a fairly new D@L reader. Otherwise, you would be well acquainted with the general aversion of the Sandbox to the dreaded k-word. See, for example, this prior D@L entry.

If we don't include Italian deli's, we should not include Jewish deli's either.

Both are in a class of their own where a seperate top 10 could be made for each.

Why not kid-friendly crab cake chains, so that the streets will run thick with rivers of blood? I fear that some readers of the Mommy Blog are still sleeping with scissors, such was the rabid overflow of sharp wits upon their fecund gentle souls regarding the kids-in-restaurants theme. Crab cakes and chains being the other hot button issues. In fact, there was a kid-friendly restaurant post on that blog a couple of months ago.

I thought we've done kid friendly lately?

I'd be a lot happier with kid unfriendly, myself. Unfortunately, those places seem to be drunken jerk friendly, and I'm as unfond of hoards of drunk frat boys as I am of other children.

I recently had to suffer through breakfast with my sister at the Silver Diner in Rockville. We were surrounded by tables of families with screaming children. The kind of screams that vibrate in your head and give you the worst headache. But it was all normal to them. No one batted an eye or made any move to shut up or remove the screamers.

And then I remembered why I usually only eat out at bars. I couldn't wait to get back to our dirty little crime-filled, bar-filled town where I very rarely have to cross paths with any screaming children, though it is more difficult now with the smoking ban. There's nothing like a dark, dank, smoky bar to keep screaming children and their parents at bay.

perhaps the solution is children vs. no children sections, just like we used to have with the smoking (nuisance).

One room for babies, smokers, drunks, people who drink lite beer, whiny vegans and noisy people. Preferably a steel cage.

I always thought smoking should be allowed anywhere as long as it didn't bother anyone. Solution: The Smoker's Helmet. It's a clear bubble helmet that keeps all the smoke inside until your lungs naturally filter it out. It never caught on as an idea.

Similarly, I would propose the soundproof baby bubble, which is a lot like a hamster ball. I'm still working out the kinks in my Toddler in a Bag device.

Less philosophically similar is the Frat Boy Harness. This gives an electric shock of various strengths for high fiving, yelling woo-hoo for any reasons, saying bro-ham, or using beer in any time announcement, as in in "Its beer-thirty, man." Extra shock for adding "man" to the ending of any sentence.

LJ -- why not use the same solution for children that is currently applied to smoking? If you want to eat with the kids, just step outside the restaurant.

thats just SICK. Not even funny putting babies in plastic bags. What is someone relly did that? how would you feel THEN?

I always wondered why some plastic bags said "THIS IS NOT A TOY" printed on them. Clearly babies and toddlers can't read and parents surely know better.

... and then I went to Whole Foods and saw a young father with a baby in the shopping cart. He was on his phone and had given the baby a plastic vegetable bag to play with, thus teaching the baby "THIS IS A TOY". Priceless.

marco polo, we aren't responsible for other peoples' stupidity (or grammar, thank the gods).

There is nothing wrong with not liking children, mayonnaise or crab. Nor is there anything wrong with becoming homicidal after being exposed to a chorus of screaming children while trying to eat.