The Deli-Blog #1

     If I had a nickel for every time someone asked Teresa and me if we missed operating The Big Apple Deli in Snyder, I could be writing this post from a balcony overlooking the Caribbean or maybe at my desk in a converted lighthouse balancing on the cliffs of Dover. The short answer is NO!
     The story behind the story is, The Big Apple Deli or B.A.D. or The deli as we called it really wasn't supposed to happened. It came about after my ex-wife and kids left Snyder. The original plan was for my ex-wife to operate an antique store in what's now Uncle A's Tavern and for me to operate our family ranch, The Windmill Ranch Preserve. Meantime, Jack and Joe would go to school at Snyder while Jeff and Georgia went off to college.
      Well, life happens. So, my mom opened The Manhattan Coffee House in 2006 and together we opened B.A.D. Christmas of 2008, the night of Snyder's annual Christmas parade to be exact. How we got there, what happened over the next eight years and where we are now will likely be the featured topic of many blogs to come.
   
     The deli's not an original idea. I borrowed the blueprint for daily operations from an old watering hole of mine called The Caterie in Baton Rouge. I worked there as a teenager. I played there as a young adult. Everything from the way customers ordered to the big walk-in cooler in the dining room to the measurements for our portion size to the butter on the bread, I borrowed from my Caterie days.
     But before we could think about opening the doors, we had a 1916 building stuck in about 1975. We had to demo the 30'x50' room practically from floor to ceiling. We had to create the new 'bones' all the while hoping to stay true to the building's nearly 100 year old skeleton. Thank goodness we had a willing contractor, a creative city inspector and a few amazing local craftsmen and artists.

     Our goal was always restore and then renovate. That was particularly difficult because we didn't have any pictures from the building's old days. We had to rely on the 'seams' we found when we demolished the 1975 stuff because underneath the ugly drop ceiling, the tile floors and the paneling was 1916!
      Still, old age and deterioration took a toll. We simply had to renovate and that's where our 'funky rustic' motif came into play. A few examples are:
      -The old doors for the deli counter came from an estate sale in Snyder.
      -The blue paint on the wood around the inside stage came from an old trailer. A wonderful craftsmen, Terry Huestis, donated the wood to the project. The paint came from when his wife, Linda, spilled it while painting the trailer.
      -The 1953 newspaper articles on the bar came from another estate sale. The day we laid those on the bar, the process stopped all work. Every electrician, plumber and carpenter wanted to read the articles before I dropped them in place.

     As for the décor, things like "Rusty" the old metal horse, the scoreboard on the wall, the half boat sticking out above the door and even the old boxer shorts on the beer can Christmas tree, came from customers. We didn't buy a single decoration. But each one comes with a story.
      -A little girl named the horse "Rusty." She made the sign with her dad. She's a grown woman now. Her dad has since passed away.
      -The half boat was supposed to be our dove retrieving boat. But when Teresa and I put it in the water, it took on water like the Titantic. Our friend Terry Huestis put the bow on our wall.
      -A customer said, "Bill, you want a scoreboard"? I said, "Sure, who doesn't want a scoreboard." The next thing I knew... we had a scoreboard on the wall.
      -The boxer's belong to a great customer and a good guy. By the way, he brought them in. He didn't take them off and then give them to us.

     There are so many 'deli stories' to tell you. I'll get to them over time. The highlights, or lowlights, depending on your viewpoint include:
     -Customers calling me at home demanding we stay open later
     -Good friends enjoying a meal but working the bar for us at the same time
     -The explosion in business called "Tuesday Night Trivia."
     -The kitchen manager telling me to "get the "F&%K out of the kitchen"
     -"Mary Jane's Closet," the employees smoking dope on the job... INSIDE THE BUILDING
     -The blind saxophone player
     -Calling employees on Sunday night to confirm they were okay, their kids were okay and their babysitters were okay.
      -The customers we called only by code; Sauerkraut Lady, Grumpy, Mean so-in-so, Big so-in-so, etc.
      -CODE BLUE!!!!

     I hope you'll read along. Please share any memories with us.

     Bill Robertson, not worrying if everybody's going to show up, if the coolers will hold their temp or about meeting payroll.