Rosenfeld’s Deli: Now That’s a Reason to Drive to Ocean City!
We are very lucky in Rehoboth to have Baltimore Avenue’s Lori’s Oy Vey Café. Her whitefish salad and corned beef are legendary. She will always be our hometown Jewish deli of choice!
But nowhere in the area has there been a place to get chilled Dr. Brown’s Cream Soda, Egg Creams, Chopped Liver, or Sablefish for Sunday mornings.
Ladies and Gentlemen, rev your engines. Rosenfeld’s Jewish Deli has opened on 63rd Street off Coastal Highway in Ocean City, and it’s the real, well, not McCoy, but the real Rosenfeld.
With a huge outdoor patio and a small indoor space, the deli offers meats and cheese by the pound, smoked fish—including herring, sable and kippered salmon, as well as lox by weight. You can get Challah, real Jewish rye and meats, including corned beef, pastrami, bologna, brisket and tongue by the pound, too.
We sat at a table by the dessert counter and almost started our meal with cheesecake and Brooklyn Black and White cookies, but refrained.
We did start with a delicious chopped liver appetizer served with crisp pita chips and some plump dark green “new” pickles—I felt like I was beamed up to one of Manhattan’s legendary eateries. We restrained ourselves from also sampling the noodle kugel, potato knishes, cheese blintzes, and Kishka (ask somebody what it is, I defer).
For her entrée, Bonnie had the stuffed cabbage and potato latkes (although it was a tough choice, as other traditional dinner favorites included Flanken (a slab of beef like short ribs) in the Pot, and two, naked quarter pound hot dogs with sauerkraut. She loved the cabbage dish and everyone at the table agreed that it harkened back to their grandma’s cooking.
I went for the traditional Reuben sandwich, piled with eight ounces of corned beef (seriously), plus Swiss cheese, Russian dressing and sauerkraut on grilled marbled rye. Yes, it was a religious experience.
Like most delicatessens this one has its monument to excess—a menu of triple decker sandwich combos, like The Chutzpah (Corned Beef, Pastrami and Chopped Liver), the Yenta (Tongue, Pastrami and Chopped Liver) and The Mensch (which means grown-up and offers Turkey, Corned Beef and Liverwurst.)
For thrill seekers (and perhaps Angioplasty seekers) there’s The Whole Mishpuchah, which is roughly translated to mean “the whole family.” With this you get a choice of up to eight deli meats (two pounds total) on rye. According to Mr. Rosenfeld, it has been ordered several times already in the few weeks the place has been open. I presume it comes with a Tums chaser.
I know, I haven’t even mentioned the Matzo Ball soup, Tuna, chicken, or egg salad sandwiches, or the Tammy’s Jewish Guilt sandwich consisting of eight ounces of Corned Beef between two slices of Potato Knish. Oy!!!!
By the time we got to dessert, it was not possible. But the menu sparkles with NY Cheesecake, Bread Pudding, Eclairs, and Ruggelach (Jewish Danish), and something they call “Noah’s Ark,
a Dessert of Biblical Proportions.” Four scoops of ice cream between two hot waffles, chocolate sauce and whipped cream. I could only dream.
And lest I forget breakfast and brunch, there are lox, egg and onion combos, omelets, pancakes, French toast, smoked fish platters, and bagel combos too. And if you’ve never tried Matzo Brei (Scrambled eggs and matzo) it’s waiting for you as well.
Now that I’ve lovingly described all this, I’m ready to get back in my car and return to Ocean City. Nothing else has prompted that in years.
So check out Rosenfeld’s Jewish Deli. It’s well worth the drive and the calories!
Rosenfeld’s Deli, 63rd Street and Coastal Hwy. in Ocean City, Maryland, is open from 8 a.m. until 8 p,m. daily. Call 410-520-0283 for more information.