Pizza, lasagna and subs are staples at Smith’s Deli
For Jack Smith, retirement just isn’t an option right now.
Working in his family business, which evolved as Smith’s Restaurant & Deli, since he was 11, he’s stymied as to what he’d do next.
“I would like to work a lot less,” said Smith, 69. “I don’t know what else I’d do.
“I never planned too far ahead, anyway.”
A Clintonville classic, Smith’s started as a meat business and then began offering deli meats. It turned into a fullfledged restaurant about 40 years ago.
Smith’s has made a name for itself with pizzas built on homemade dough.
“I make the dough by hand,” Smith said. “I don’t ever have a mixer.”
The sauce is fortified with dried oregano, basil, chopped garlic, sugar and a few other seasonings. A white sauce using olive oil and garlic also is an option.
Specialty pies are not part of the pizza lineup at Smith’s. Customers build their own pizzas, which come in 7 inches (cheese starting at $3.95 with toppings costing 75 cents each); 12 inches ($9.45, $1 per topping); 14 inches ($10.45, $1.25 per topping); and 16 inches ($11.45, $1.50 per topping).
Pineapple, grilled chicken and bacon — considered premium toppings — cost $1.75 each for the small, $2 for the medium,
$2.25 for the large, and $2.50 for the extra-large.
“Whatever you want, order it and we’ll put it on,” said Smith, who added that calzones and stromboli also are available.
Smith’s is all about the sauce. The traditional sauce offers ground beef, garlic, basil, onion, oregano, sugar, salt and pepper, and simmers for a couple of hours.
It can be found in dishes such as the lasagna ($7.89), a heaping portion layered with ricotta, cottage cheese, provolone and pasta.
“It’s probably at least 15 to 16 ounces,” Smith said.
A vegetarian option is available for $8.29 and uses pasta, mushrooms, bell pepper, spinach and squash, ricotta, cottage cheese and provolone, and a house-made marinara, a meatless sauce that has a little more garlic flavor.
“I started making that 12 years ago, maybe 15, for Lent only,” Smith said of the veggie lasagna. “It’s a good seller. It’s hard to make because it takes so long.”
Smith’s also is known for its subs and sandwiches.
Perhaps the bestselling sub is the Super Smith ($6.89), loaded with spicy capicola, Genoa hard salami, pepperoni, provolone, mozzarella, Romano cheese, oregano, onions and hot peppers on a toasted bun.
The meatball sub ($6.39) is lavished with pizza sauce and provolone cheese and toasted in the oven.
“It’s easier to eat,” Smith said, because the meatballs are sliced thin and rest better on the bread. “It’s a good sandwich. It’s messy but it’s good.”
For the roast beef deluxe ($5.89), Smith cooks an eye of round in-house and shaves the meat thin for the sandwich, layered with Swiss cheese. Customers have their choice of sourdough, wheat, white or rye.
Smith has strong roots in Clintonville , having lived in the neighborhood most of his life, and graduating, as did his wife, Suzanne and their seven children, from Bishop Watterson High School.
He said he’s been reluctant to raise prices but knows it’s coming in the near future, given the supply-chain shortages and the current rate of inflation.
“I just feel like I don’t want to lose any business,” he said. “But I have customers saying, ‘You’re cheap.’”
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