Cecils Deli

Oh, you poor, poor Minneapolitans / Saint Paulites [and since we live here now, poor us too], you guys don't seem to have a proper Jewish delicatessen... 

I had a hankering for smoked fish the other day; I don't think Jamie and I have gone to a Jewish deli since we left New York. A quick search on the internet brought up a few places: Brothers, Cecils, Mort's, and Rye Deli. Based on reviews and location, we decided to give Cecils a try. The deli counter / takeout area is in the front, you have to walk through shelves lined with kosher foods to get to the restaurant in the back. 

Looks were promising. The restaurant was packed [we arrived, I wanna say, noon-ish on a Saturday], we had just missed an open table, two old Jewish ladies had walked in steps in front of us. We waited for about 10 minutes, and were seated at a cramped two top in the middle of the dining room, with servers skirting by us holding large plates of food.

The menu was extensive. I had not checked it out prior to our visit [my bad], there was only ONE fishy item on the menu, the Loxburger. I was expecting a fish bounty, where's the whitefish, sablefish, trout, mackerel, sturgeon...? They're more focused on meats here, I guess. Damn you, landlocked state. So I ended up ordering said Loxburger [more of a bagel sandwich, really], Nova Scotia lox and cream cheese on an egg bagel, served with sliced onion, tomato and sweet pickles. And a chocolate malt. We also ordered Latkes to share, the potato latkes are homemade and served with applesauce and sour cream. Jamie had one of the hot pastrami sandwiches, I don't remember which.

So, we have been spoiled by New York delis, such as the Carnegie or 2nd Ave Deli. We're used to getting mile high sandwiches, piled with heaps and heaps of sliced meats. Granted they charge something like $20 for each sandwich, but you order one sandwich and get two meals out of it, leftovers are a given. At Cecils, you get maybe four to five thin strips of pastrami on the sandwich. You can barely even see the meat if you don't lift up the bread. The pastrami also didn't taste right. It was too sweet and wasn't as flavorful or fatty as pastrami should be. My smoked salmon had a mushy texture, and was rather flavorless as well. Latkes were good, it's not something I usually order, so I don't really know a good latke from a bad one. Three large pancake sized latkes, they barely fit on our table with the sandwich plates.

Maybe Cecils can redeem themselves with dessert. We were too full, so we got desserts to go. A large slab of lemon meringue pie, and a slice of cheesecake. The lemon meringue had a weird taste, like it had been sitting in the refrigerator for too long and absorbed all the funky fridge smells. The cheesecake was fair, I can make better.

So what is up with all the 4 out of 5 star reviews?! I know you have to take Yelp reviews with a grain of salt, but there were good ratings on Google, Urbanspoon, TripAdvisor, et cetera websites. Either we ordered the wrong thing, or Cecils was having an off day, or people just haven't been to a good New York deli and have no idea what they are talking about. I certainly hope the other delicatessens on my list are better.