If you love a good deli, then get yourself to Pastrami Queen at 7132 Beracasa Way in Boca Raton. (561-391-8989). Yes, pastrami is a specialty. Sandwiches are $9.95 and meat is hand sliced on request.
But last weekend, we started with fried kreplach with fried onions ($5.95) before moving on to Home-style Fried Chicken in a Bucket ($13.95) and a Triple Platter ($14.95) of pastrami, brisket and corned beef. You can’t eat like this every day.
Just about everything is made in-house, including rugalach, rye bread and cheesecake. The house-made knishes can be pressed panini-style ($11.95), a nice riff on the sandwich trend.
Pastrami Queen is owned by Denise and Gary Zinger. Gary’s a former commodities trader. Denise?s mother, Joy Harrison, owned Pastrami King in Queens and Pastrami Queen in Manhattan. Harrison and the Zingers famously catered former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani?s inauguration party. The entire family moved to Florida five years ago. The Zingers had Zinger?s Bageland in Tamarac for a few years, but sold it to open in Boca.
The diet conscious have already discovered the Beverly Hills Chopped Salad ($8.95-$11.95). The less diet conscious are on to Broiled Roumanian Tenderloin with Fried Onions ($16.95).
While Harrison is pretty much retired, Denise says she stops by to talk to customers. ?She comes in to chat and yell at us if something doesn?t look up to her standards.?
Denise calls the decor a ?work in progress,? but there are three crystal chandeliers and a couple of flat screen TVs. Art work and silk window treatments are on the way. A beer and wine license should be in place by now.
They want to Pastrami Queen to be a kind of upscale destination for Friday night. It works for me.
