Saturday, June 17, 2017

This Week's Counter: Danny's Deli

While it's not nearly as well known as Slyman's, Danny's Deli on St Clair at 17th downtown has an equally long history and great reputation for serving massive corned beef sandwiches.  I used to eat here fairly often when I worked in the area ages ago, but never for breakfast.  It's only open on weekdays, so we took the opportunity to stop in on a Thursday morning after Cam picked me up at the airport when I landed back from India.

It was mid-late morning, so we had missed the breakfast crowd and it was too early for the massive lunch business they do, both eat in and take out, driven primarily by corned beef. So it was no problem getting seats at the counter.  They have a surprisingly good breakfast menu given they focus on lunch and takeout sandwiches.  I had a western omelet and potatoes, and Cam went with chicken and fries for lunch.  

The food was hot and fresh and all around very good -- lacking a little in crispiness of the potatoes but otherwise better than expected. Counter service was just OK -- friendly enough but not really very attentive.  And they can definitely use an upgrade in the quality of their coffee.  But not surprising as everything takes a low priority behind lunch and corned beef.

If you want a place with local Cleveland flavor, quick and fairly inexpensive, and pretty good food for breakfast, give it a try.  Or go for lunch -- get the CB on rye.  You won't be disappointed.  Or hungry.









Cam says: "Great food quality, but average service and lacking in atmosphere.  I'll give it 7 frying pans."


Ted says: "Hadn't been here in literally 30 years, and first time for breakfast!  Surprisingly good omelet. Weak coffee, and potatoes could have been a bit better.  A pretty good (but not great) 6 pans."