Josh's Deli: Reubens, Jewbans, and More

By Alex Rodriguez Tue., Apr. 24 2012 at 10:20 AM

Josh's Delicatessen and Appetizing, in the old Chow Down Grill Surfside location, is just right for the spot.

In an effort to bring the old Jewish-deli concept back where, surprisingly, there isn't one like it, Josh Marcus and his second in command, Jason Suttmiller, offer all the favorites: pastrami, corned beef, Reubens, and tongue sandwiches, among plenty of others.

It's a perfectly quaint deli, and though it's not Kosher, it's completely Kosher with us.

I made it to Josh's Deli after a full night's travel the previous day. Exhausted and functioning on four hours of sleep, I was greeted by a warm welcome. "Look at you. You look like a flowy vision," Marcus said. I then asked Suttmiller to hit me up with a "Jewban." I was on my way to sandwich salvation.

"Jewban" Sandwich

Out popped my Jewban ($9.95), a pressed sandwich consisting of pastrami and roast pork, house-made pickles and mustard, Swiss cheese, and crunchy Cuban bread.

Each sandwich arrives with a small side of homemade coleslaw and a dill pickle spear. The cheese was gooey, the pastrami and roast pork meaty, and the sandwich was pleasantly hot.

I asked for a pastrami sandwich ($9.95) to go. Suttmiller requested that I let him know a few minutes before I planned on leaving so he could prepare it then.

Pastrami Sandwich

The pastrami sandwich was like a not-so-little piece of heaven. The meat was tender and immensely tasty. The rye was soft with a slightly crunchy crust. (While Marcus and Suttmiller negotiate with the bakery next door, working on things like reliability, Pepperidge Farm rye was perfectly suitable.)

There isn't anything like Josh's Deli around here, unless you trek to Aventura. But even if there were delis everywhere around Miami, Josh's would be the one where you'd find the best experience.

Follow Short Order on Facebook and Twitter @Short_Order.

Location Info

Venue

Map

Josh's Delicatessen and Appetizing

9517 Harding Ave., Surfside, FL

Category: Restaurant

0 user reviews	Write A Review
Save to foursquare

Tags:

Jason Suttmiller, Josh Marcus, Josh's Deli

We Recommend

Hamish Liddell

Pastrami and roast pork with Sweden cheese. I'm pretty sure you’ve hit the right button with that combination. The ooey-gooey texture of the cheese definitely complements the smoked flavored meat of pastrami and roast pork. That combination would be blast for your taste buds.

Elad

I love that the Jewban includes pork. I can't wait to try this place out!

anon_e_m00se

Magic City has me longing for a good deli meal. I'm excited to check this place out... and the fact that Josh cares enough to respond to comments here says a lot about his dedication to seeing the resto succeed.

ZacharyFagenson

Wow this is the most productive comment thread EVAR!

But honestly, Josh, I think you really messed up by not doing a Sushi Samba-style grand opening. You know, hire some model to lay on a table and drape her naked body with an assortment of cured and smoked meats, pop your matzah balls in her mouth, you get it...

Josh

Zach, shhhh your gonna ruin the suprise.

DRod

Shame they didn't send Doss or Lee to cover this. Josh doesn't deserve the D team who wouldn't know good rye bread or pastrami from bad.

Alex Rodriguez

You sound silly criticizing me of not knowing good pastrami from bad. Have we met?Pity. - The D team captain

momo

You know nothing about good pastrami. I am willing to bet the house. Generic Jewish Name versus Generic South Florida Spanish Name, hmmmm, who knows more about what a smoked jewish meat should taste like . . .

ConcernedEater

Ai agree with everything you said harvey. What do you mean about hearing about this on NPR?

Harvey Goldzimmervitz

If these roles were reversed then it would be anti-Semitic...I know this game. Clever yet annoying. I wonder how well it would go over if a Hispanic told a Jew not to opine on Hispanic food. I stumbled upon this after hearing about the sandwich on NPR. I was excited and told my friends about it. Momo is clearly an a-hole. But after reading this thread I wonder if momo is representative of the clientele. Are we mere Gentiles marginalized? Should I have a list of buzzwords ready to prove my worthiness?

Aicrag

D writers? What exactly makes a person a D Writer? I'm curious.

Momo, (fabulous name by the way) not only is saying "generic Hispanic name" borderline racist, culturally insensitive and rude, it also shows how impeccably ignorant you are. Because although at first glance Ms. Rodriguez appears as a generic Hispanic, she actually comes from a long line of Ashkenazi Russian Jews. And yes, I obviously know Alex personally an can attest to that. So I implore you not to judge a "generic Hispanic name" by its cover. Also, if you feel so displaced in Miami, I urge you to return NY seeing as this city is crawling with us pesky generic Hispanics. As we say in Miami, VPLP.

momo

I would preface my comment with the fact that Josh is doing his best to make his clientele happy and they were overall pleased (at least the two jews from New York sitting at the counter chatting away with Josh while the rest of us at the tables were being completely ignored by the wait staff) (I am jewish so I can say that) With that being said, let me first start with the service. My buddy and I tried vehemently to get served a cup of coffee, and after asking six times, we gave up. I understand that being understaffed doesn't make it easy but its really poor customer service to have to give up because your server can't mentally make a note when there are only three tables of customers totalling eight people. We were not the only ones dissastisfied with this issue. Highlight was the corned beef sandwich. It was very tasty. I really enjoyed the texture of the meat and the fact that it wasn't sliced paper thin like most places do. It reminded me of the pastrami at Mile End in brooklyn, but nowhere near as good. I suggest taking a trip up there to talk with those guys because they are doing exactly what you want to be doing. Not so good: The matzah ball soup (broth). The broth was watery, had no chicken flavor whatsover, and needed a ton of salt and pepper. The ball was hard, which is not my cup of tea, but did have nice flavor. The "pastrami" lox lacked all necessary spices to be designated "pastrami" lox. I undersand this was still week one and the kinks need to be worked out but this is not a first time at the rodeo. My two cents.

Josh

thank you for your comparisons to one of the best smoked meat houses in the country. We def had service issues in our opening week, sorry about that.

momo

I hope I was not being too harsh. As a displaced in Miami thorough-bred Jew from NY, I was hoping to offer some constructive criticism. So much potential, keep up the good work. Will come back with my parents this weekend to try some other goodies.

Rye bread was really good. Maybe try pumpernickel rye also? That is where it's at.

Josh

i am all ready pulling teeth from the kosher butcher next door to make me my fresh rye... give me some time on the pumpernickle, (but i want some too). The beautiful thing about the restaurant biz is the vast array of opinions that you receive, weather you were harsh or not is not important, that you took the time to say anything is... so thank you.