Now it's College Hill Deli
Review: College Hill Deli & Catering
Rating: Two and a half forks out of four
Where: 3407 E. Douglas, 316-687-0202
Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays; 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays.
Type of food: Salads, sandwiches, pastas, Mediterranean dishes
Alcohol: Not served
Smoking: Not allowed
A little College Hill culinary corridor has developed over the past few years on Douglas, where a number of neighborhood restaurants and cafes have opened and closed and reopened as something else.
One of the latest reopenings is College Hill Deli & Catering, a tiny eatery that now occupies the space that formerly housed Krazy Kaz, a burger place, and Papagiorgio's Pizza.
Owned by Kassem and Ali Yassine, who formerly had Old Town Martini, the restaurant has about 30 seats and a menu featuring lunch-friendly fare.
ON THE MENU: Affordable salads, soups, sandwiches, a few pasta dishes and some Mediterranean dishes.
DON'T-MISS DISHES: We asked our server what to order on a recent lunch visit, and her suggestions were mostly solid.
We loved our tropical spinach salad, a color explosion of a dish made with fresh spinach, strawberries and mango slices and topped with a sweet poppy seed dressing. The salad was $5.99, and for an extra $2.50, we added a nicely cooked, 4-oz. piece of salmon — a perfect complement.
The bierock, titled "bierock pie" on the menu, also was a treat, featuring seasoned chopped steak, cabbage and cheese baked inside a flaky homemade crust and served with a side of sweet potato fries that rival The Anchor's. The meal was $5.99, and though tasty, it lacked presentation. The brownish bierock and orange sweet potato fries looked lonely and uninteresting plopped on an oval white plate.
We asked for a pasta recommendation, and our server suggested the beef lasagna, which was fine but overall unremarkable, if you don't count the giant island of melted cheese that oozed out of the pasta and hardened on the underside — a tasty but potentially lethal discovery. At $5.99, the lasagna was served with a side of garlic bread.
The only real disappointment also was a server recommendation — the Philly cheese-steak sandwich. It looked great, but the slices of beef were dry, and the sandwich desperately needed some sort of dressing. It was $5.99 with a side of sweet potato fries.
We also sampled some desserts, many of which are made by local bakery Bagatelle. The best was a double-layer lemon cake, nearly neon yellow in color and singing with citrus flavor.
AMBIENCE: The dining room is tiny but cheerful and bright, with floor-to-ceiling windows that look out onto the restaurant's outdoor patio, which looks out onto Douglas.
PRICE RANGE: Salads are $4.99 to $5.99. Sandwiches are $5.99. Entrees, which also include kebabs and other pasta dishes, are $4.99 to $7.99.
SERVICE: Good.
This story was originally published June 25, 2010 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Now it's College Hill Deli."