San Diego's premier full-fledged Jewish deli, D.Z. Akin's Delicatessen, has experienced several expansions since its 1980 debut. Despite its popularity, you should have plenty of elbow room. You'll need it, given the triple-decker corned beef sandwiches on fresh-baked rye and pumpernickel, oversized bowls of matzo ball or chicken soup, and gargantuan breakfasts. Breakfast highlights include Belgian waffles, cheese blintzes, the lox and whitefish platter, matzo brei (fried matzo and eggs with applesauce or sour cream), omelets, potato latkes, and steak and eggs. Good luck choosing from the 134(!) sandwiches from the menu, although chopped liver and sliced tongue will always please the traditionalists. Featured entrées include corned beef and cabbage, beef brisket, and stuffed cabbage roll. A lengthy soda fountain menu includes egg creams, floats, shakes, sodas, and sundaes.
Beer and wine available. Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner daily.
San Diego magazine: Best Deli, 2011 readers' poll
San Diego City Beat: Best Deli, 2010 readers' poll
The sandwiches we got were fantastic: hot, fat-striated corned beef radiant with flavor, cut thick and piled between two slices of the best rye we've had in years: soft inside with a nice sour smack and a hard savory crust. Roast beef – soft and luxurious – was presented in a poppy-seed spangled hard roll that was also impeccably fresh. And the kosher salami (Vienna brand, of course) packed a garlic wallop.
– Michael Stern, Roadfood.com
San Diego's premier full-fledged Jewish deli, D.Z. Akin's Delicatessen, has experienced several expansions since its 1980 debut. Despite its popularity, you should have plenty of elbow room. You'll need it, given the triple-decker corned beef sandwiches on fresh-baked rye and pumpernickel, oversized bowls of matzo ball or chicken soup, and gargantuan breakfasts. Breakfast highlights include Belgian waffles, cheese blintzes, the lox and whitefish platter, matzo brei (fried matzo and eggs with applesauce or sour cream), omelets, potato latkes, and steak and eggs. Good luck choosing from the 134(!) sandwiches from the menu, although chopped liver and sliced tongue will always please the traditionalists. Featured entrées include corned beef and cabbage, beef brisket, and stuffed cabbage roll. A lengthy soda fountain menu includes egg creams, floats, shakes, sodas, and sundaes.
Beer and wine available. Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner daily.
San Diego magazine: Best Deli, 2011 readers' poll
San Diego City Beat: Best Deli, 2010 readers' poll
The sandwiches we got were fantastic: hot, fat-striated corned beef radiant with flavor, cut thick and piled between two slices of the best rye we've had in years: soft inside with a nice sour smack and a hard savory crust. Roast beef – soft and luxurious – was presented in a poppy-seed spangled hard roll that was also impeccably fresh. And the kosher salami (Vienna brand, of course) packed a garlic wallop.
– Michael Stern, Roadfood.com