New Ownership; New Hope

by Jeff Friedlander

Brookside Beat Reporter

Hi, avid B-Side Deli fan here reporting in on the recent changes to the East Irvington Deli.

Coming down Taxter road from 119, I was surprised to see the brookside parking lot on the right full, something I'm not used to. I had to pull into penny bridge, turn around, and squeeze into a spot on that strip to park parallel to Brookside. As I got out of the car, I was pleasantly surprised to even see a display of candles, flowers, and holiday ornaments in the window.

As I walked in, I noticed a different feel to the place. Not only were there a good amount of people in there, but the tables had table cloths, and there was a nice picture of Ray Rice hanging on the wall. I first noticed the surplus of beverages they had in stock. Over at the snack department there was some stuff, but not too much. There were two plain pizza pies in the display, and a lack of boars head meat. At this point I had mixed feelings, but took it with a grain of salt because they were new owners. Behind the counter were a bunch of people: A young kid, a young guy, and a young women. I later found out this was their first day, which explained the lack of stock.

When it was my turn to order, the guy informed me that starting tomorrow, on a daily basis, they would have soups, hot food (Chicken, chicken fingers, rice, etc), and all the boarshead meet and cheese. He also asked if there was anything I'd like for them to get. He said he was the owner, but it appears to be a whole family that is involved. If it's a family running this, that definitely means they are probably more committed to Brookside than previous owners (I could be wrong that it's a family running it though).

Overall, it definitely seems to be on the right track, but as always, that's the case with every new owner. Considering that today was their first day, not bad, but I'm definitely going to go back to see how everything turns out.

Stay tuned for Brookside, Volume V for more.