ROUTE 58 DELICATESSEN

Jeff Goldberg may be “just a kid from Jersey,” but he isn’t kidding around when it comes to sandwiches. The most popular item on the menu at his Route 58 Delicatessen, “The World’s Best Reuben,” is so fat with layer upon layer of thinly sliced red meat that the upper piece of grilled rye bread looks like a doll’s hat balanced precariously on top of a giant’s head.

OPEN UP "The World's Best Reuben" resides at Route 58 Delicatessen

The only things bigger and rounder than these two sandwich halves are the customer’s eyes when he or she gets a good look at a plate so heaped with food it would have made Henry VIII blush.

It’s easy to get why the servers at Route 58 don black T-shirts emblazoned with sayings like “Will Work for Pastrami” and “If You Finish We Made a Mistake.” It’s also easy to understand why Goldberg spends a lot of his time manning the meat slicer behind a glass-cased deli counter that runs the length of his space at Loehmann’s Plaza in Virginia Beach.

This is the second incarnation of Route 58; it used to be called 58 Deli Diner and was located about 5 miles east on Virginia Beach Boulevard. Goldberg split from his former business partner after the property at the old location was purchased by the city.

He opened the new, deluxe version in mid-August. The idea of owning a deli like the ones of his childhood remained, but he kicked it up a few notches, creating more of a restaurant/deli with more menu items and serving dinner and desserts. The warm mustard-yellow and ketchup-red walls are covered with memorabilia and photos of “Meshpuchah” (family).

The mountain-sized Dagwoods, he says, are part of his marketing plan.

DINER DINING ROOM Down-home and delicious

“That’s my advertising budget,” says Goldberg of the monstrous portions. “Even if they can’t finish it, the first thing they say when they see somebody else is, ‘You won’t believe the size of the sandwiches.’ It’ll coast me a fortune in to-go boxes, but what the hell.”

The word-of-mouth approach seems to be working. During a Monday lunch shortly before Christmas, Route 58 was jammed. A handful of diners crammed into the small waiting area near the front door eager for the next available seat, an enviable problem for any restaurant owner in the current economy.

Goldberg says his secret for survival during these challenging times is simple: perceived value. Most of the sandwiches at Route 58 cost $10 or more. That famous Rueben is $12.99. But sometimes you really do get what you pay for.

“I don’t know about everybody else,” Goldberg says, “but for me, it’s being different. I mean I’m the only game in town. I’m the only one that does what I do, and we do it right. And we give people a lot of bang for their buck.”

Goldberg orders a lot of products from the world-famous Carnegie Deli in New York, and it’s that great New York deli tradition he emulates at Route 58.

“My philosophy is to be as good or better than they are. People come in here with the expectation that it can’t be everything it’s cracked up to be. They’re so used to places that have opened up around here that used good products but they didn’t prepare them the right way. So people come in here and say, ‘Prove it.’ And so you say, ‘Here’s a sample and we’ll make a believer out of you.’”

ANY 'WICH WAY Route 58 brings a little bit of Jersey to the heart of Virginia Beach at Loehmann’s Plaza.

The menu is certainly authentic. Deli sandwiches and basic breakfast items (pancake with two eggs for $8.99) share equal billing with traditional Jewish fare like matzo ball soup (cup $3.99, bowl $4.99), potato knishes ($5.99 plain or $11.99 with corned beef pastrami or beef brisket and brown gravy) and hand-sliced nova and salty lox platters ($14.99 each).
Of course there are all-American burgers ($9.50 with bacon/cheese or $9.99 for a “New Jersey Pizza Burger” with red sauce and provolone) and all-beef hotdogs ($3.25 a piece with basic toppings or $9.99 for “Uncle Pete’s Pistol Pups,” two dogs topped with corned beef and pastrami and served with coleslaw and potato salad).

“My Big Fat Greek Salad” ($8.99) is just that, large and in charge and topped with dice-sized hunks of feta and kalamata olives. And you have to ask, but the Caesar salad ($6.99 plain, $9.99 topped with grilled chicken breast) will come with anchovies.
The “58 Garbage Plate”($12.99) features hot roast beef, turkey or beef brisket served with grilled onions topped with a mound of crinkle cut fries and smothered in brown gravy. And the “Stuffed Cabbage Rolls” ($14.99) come with Yukon gold mashed potatoes, rye bread and butter.

And what New York-inspired deli would be complete with a ginormous slice of cheesecake to top it all off? Hey, we never said this was health food.