Saul’s Deli getting new owner after 25 years
Legions of matzo ball soup regulars received the news via a letter posted on the door of Saul’s Restaurant and Delicatessen in Berkeley.
“It is with a mix of excitement and sadness that we announce that Saul’s is changing ownership,” the note read. “We have enjoyed this project with all of our hearts and souls. But life is short, and it is a great big world, and there are things that must be done.”
The letter was writtten by Saul’s owners, Peter Levitt and Karen Adelman, promising that even with a new owner “Saul’s is staying Saul’s.” Time will tell what the new owner has in mind for the Gourmet Ghetto institution.
But as Adelman told the East Bay Times, customer favorites like the hot pastrami Ruskie will continue to be available once the change happens. She would not reveal the owner’s name — it’s Homa Enterprises on the change of ownership application — but says he is committed to maintaining the restaurant’s menu, flavors and team.
“He wants to introduce himself,” Adelman said. “I will say he was a regular customer and he wants Saul’s to stay the same.”
Levitt and Adelman, who raised the Jewish delicatessen’s profile over the years by ushering in an era of organic, sustainable and grass-fed eats, have been actively searching for a new owner since 2016.
“We went after a lot of people we thought could do the job but they had their own projects,” Adelman says.
Why close now, at a time when Jewish and Israeli food is having a serious culinary moment?
“I have been tethered to this place for so long,” she says. “It feels good to be open again to creativity and opportunities.”
Adelman says she hopes to finish a book she started years ago about her personal journey at Saul’s.
As for Levitt? He told Berkeleyside: “I have smoked and sliced a lot of meat these last 25 years. I hope to spend the next 25 years in a different setting, hopefully loving a new entrepreneurial adventure.” That may include riding a motorcycle through India and exploring what he called its “amazing meatless cuisine.”
The new owner will make a public announcement in March. Adelman says she and Levitt will stay on board through June to assist with the transition.
Chef Baca scores with San Jose Sharks, San Pedro Square Market
Chef Rodney Baca served his food at only six San Jose Sharks games in December and January for the Launch Test Kitchen, but that was enough to convince fans and SAP Center.
The Shark Tank needs his house-brined pastrami. And his Cobb salad with house-cured bacon. And his truffled macaroni and cheese.
So SAP signed up The Shop by Chef Baca to cook all season long. The booth is located near Section 220.
The menu puts a fine-dining spin on comfort food. It’s a venture that blends the backgrounds of Baca, a New Mexico native who has been a chef in top-tier restaurants from Los Angeles to Europe, and his wife, Madelyn, a San Jose native who brings the home-cooking sensibility to the equation.
“It’s an honor for us to come home,” says Baca, who was the final chef at The Grill at SAP before that upscale restaurant became the BMW Lounge.
At the Shark Tank, the pastrami — the brining and smoking take five days — is his top seller. The thickly sliced meat is topped with maple aioli coleslaw and served on a roll with pineapple molasses mustard, house-made pickles and caramelized onions.
If you get a craving for Baca’s smoked, pesticide-free meats when the Sharks are on the road, head over to the San Pedro Square Market. There, The Shop by Chef Baca has taken up full-time residence. The menu board is likely to change frequently but look for options like his vegetarian eggplant napoleon, BLT panini with truffled burrata and steak fries served with candied roasted garlic, Grana Padano cheese and Baca’s New Mexico green chile ketchup.
DETAILS » SAP Center, 525 W. Santa Clara St., San Jose; and San Pedro Square Market, 87 N. San Pedro St., San Jose. www.chefbaca.com
Out the Dough cookie dough shop moves to new digs in Concord
Two years after launching their edible cookie dough enterprise in Concord, the Out the Dough folks have moved their flagship to a larger location in the city, at the Olivera Crossing shopping center.
The edible dough niche was a natural for the Lonardo family because mom Jill, son Angelo and daughter-inlaw Marina had all spent years in the food-service industry, and Angelo is a pastry chef.
After opening in Concord in November 2017, they added a San Francisco shop with weekday hours and mail-order options. At this new location they’ll have more space — plus gelato.
The cookie dough flavors include OC (original chocolate chip), Jimmies Classic, Cinn-sational, cookies and cream, Twisted Chocoholic’s Dream and Grandma’s oatmeal chocolate chip.
DETAILS » Open noon to 8 p.m. Monday-thursday, until 9 p.m. Friday-saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday. 3375 Port Chicago Highway, Concord; www.outthedough.com