Transplants will enjoy East Coast Deli

Knowing blue tortilla chips couldn’t satisfy the hunger built up

during a five-hour flight from Boston to Long Beach, I picked up my

starving parents and whisked them to lunch at East Coast Italian

Deli.

Located near the corner of Magnolia and Garfield, East Coast

Italian Deli serves a scrumptious variety of hot and cold hoagies, as

well as grilled panini, inventively dressed all-beef hot dogs, savory

homemade soups, and freshly made potato chips. And in an attempt to

set a new family feasting record, we gorged on all of them.

I absolutely loved their pastrami sandwich. This isn’t some

thick-cut, fatty, boiled pastrami sandwich. Instead, East Coast takes

lean, thinly sliced and chopped pastrami and fries it with a tasty

proprietary sauce before placing it in a fresh hoagie roll, precisely

spread with deli mustard and modestly layered with provolone cheese

that melts under the warm pastrami.

Another standout was the meatball sub, featuring juicy,

well-seasoned meatballs served on a hoagie roll made crisp from the

oven. East Coast properly uses restraint when dispensing the marinara

sauce and mozzarella cheese, allowing the meatballs to take center

stage.

My eyes lighted up when I saw Boston barbecued beef on the menu. I

practically lived on Bill & Bob’s roast beef sandwiches back East but

had never encountered anything comparable out West. Had I finally

found an authentic one? Ahh ... no.

These roast beef swatches in a pool of sauce reminded me of the

barbecue pit at the O.C. Fair. Not that that’s bad, it’s just not

what I hoped for.

Among the East Coast-style sandwiches we didn’t get a chance to

try was an Italian BLT in which pancetta is substituted for

traditional bacon, as well as a sweet pepper and egg hoagie.

They’ve even got a sandwich named after my mother-in-law. The

“Beast from the East” is ham, Genoa salami, mortadella and capicolla

on a full loaf of Italian bread. It feeds four people.

East Coast offers an array of grilled panini -- everything from

ham and Swiss to a classic Italian. We opted for the grilled chicken

pesto, which turned out to be a wise choice. Grilled chicken chunks,

sun dried tomato and a zippy pesto sauce came on buttery bread with a

side of macaroni salad.

Hot dog aficionados can get a Coney Island dog, the Godfather dog

with marinara sauce and provolone cheese, or a German dog with kraut

and deli mustard. Fans of Archie comics might try the Jughead dog

with chili, onions, peppers, tomatoes, mustard, relish and pickles.

My dad steered us to the New Jersey dog (Joisey dawg), covered

with grilled peppers and onions. This strapping, all-beef dog was

great.

Along with our sandwiches, we munched on Dominick’s famous taters

-- sturdy, coaster-size, house-made potato chips served with pepper

butter for dipping or drenching. Very cool. We also enjoyed Italian

fries sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.

The soup of the day, cream of chicken, fell out of favor with us

due to an overpowering spinach taste. The full-flavored chicken with

rice soup, on the other hand, was fantastic.

My mother was so delighted with her strawberry smoothie (they also

have mango, peach and pina colada) that she said it would be her

final drink choice if ever sent to the electric chair. I personally

found it a bit icy, but who am I to argue with someone talking about

going to the chair?

For dessert, we split a first-rate cannoli in which a crisp shell

housed a sweet filling that mixed in a few chocolate chips.

East Coast Deli made my parents feel right at home, far from home.

* JOHN VOLO is the Independent restaurant critic. If you have

comments or suggestions, e-mail [email protected].

f7