Day 3
All American Deli
42 Water St.
Oct. 12, 2006

Due to an extremely late night with very loud music, Day 3 will be revealed as a bulleted list of marginally connected impressions, appearing in the order in which they were remembered:

• I couldn't figure out whether the chalkboard was really a chalkboard or not; the artwork was too good. No one spends time on such things these days. (Closer examination revealed that it is only a real chalkboard in the prices section).


• 8 hotfood/salad bar items, 2 soups


• no beer


• atm


• right by the water - it's at the end of Coenties Slip, which is like a miniature version of Fulton St. as it leads into the harbour


• many of the sandwiches have names of famous american figures: the harry truman, the franklin roosevelt, the great american hero. I ordered the cuban sandwich, a special of the day. That's what makes the all-american deli so all-american - it's willing to acknowledge the existence of cultures that originated outside of it's geographical borders.


• the cuban sandwich was not very cuban; not enough butter, salt and garlic, i.e. all-american.


• I had company today - felix, a co-worker who noted that although the signage inside was poor, customers immediately fell into the deli's unusually efficient service system.


• there were 4 lines for ordering and even though there was only one register, the fact that ordering and paying were completely decoupled allowed for the only wait being food preparation time, which was minimal.


• Felix also noted that the register guy's name was Guy as advertised by a sign above him complete with the Guy's photograph; the photograph of Guy portrayed Guy holding a baby - the caption read "a baby for Guy".


• The décor was dominated by 3 giant but separately framed mirrors; perhaps an attempt to make the place look bigger that was negated by the frames.


• $7.25 - an average deal on an all-american cuban hero (sandwich). They have better deals on the standard non-special selections.


• 20 people present around 12:25, yet practically no wait time which makes this an ideal deli for time-sensitive foraging trips.