Brent's and Barbara

One of the well known rules in my family is "don't eat before going to Grandma's".  Every time Family P visits Grandma Gutman's house in the valley we leave with very full bellies.  Barbara will stuff your face with bagels, locks, salami, potato salad, and her legendary bundt and ice cream bar cakes (yes, she literally stacks up ice cream bars between cool whip and serves it in massive proportions).  One of her favorite restaurants right downy the street from her is the renowned Brent's Deli.  If Grandma does prepare the giant feast herself, she almost always has a Deli Platter toppled high with locks, white fish, onions,  capers, tomatoes, and spread from Brent's in Northridge.

On our most recent family visit to California we picked up Grandma and took her out to the restaurant for brunch.  Brent's had your classic deli atmosphere.  Vibrant vinyl booths and hanging tubes of salami are always present.

Dad drinking his Dr. Browns
Cream Soda

Zoe eating one of the pickles!

After being seated in our red corner booth, a middle aged blonde waitress greeted us while smacking gum between her teeth (how stereotypical).  A complimentary plate of assorted pickles was served to the table.  I like the very mild ones.  They don't have much of a vinegar taste and are similar to their original state as a cucumber.  I glanced over the menu and confidently chose my order.  You can never go wrong with a pastrami sandwich from a good deli.  My dad ordered the same dish.

As we waited for our late breakfasts/early lunches we talked with Grandma about her garage sale coming up.  The food was out in about 10 minutes.  This was a very quick delivery time for the bustling restaurant.  My dad did mention that this was the only time he's ever seen the place NOT completely packed.  Not typical for a late Saturday morning.

Hot Pastrami Sandwich
On Double Baked Rye Bread
with a side of coleslaw

My sandwich was piled high with thinly sliced pastrami on top of the Double Baked Rye Bread.  Thinly sliced and smokey meat is the way to go.  I'd way rather have layers of meat than one giant slab.  The stone ground mustard on the table was the perfect finishing touch to spread on with my fork.  The sandwich came with a side of coleslaw.  My dad actually put his in the sandwich, but I just ate it on the side.  It was quite creamy, a little runny at the bottom of the dish, but a good and classic deli side.

Potato Latke

Lulu was so excited when she saw that they had latkes on the menu.  My mom always makes latkes during Hanukkah.. and we might have them on one more occasion throughout the year, just if we feel like it.  She gobbled them up with sour cream and homemade cherry apple sauce.  They were much denser than my mom's because the potato was homogenized rather than shredded.

Mom and Grandma shared the smoked white fish platter, what Grandma usually orders when we come over.   It comes with two bagels and lots of extra sides.  They built their bagels with cream cheese, tomatoes, bermuda onions, lox and white fish.

Smoked Whitefish Platter
Whitefish, Lox, Cream Cheese, Tomatoes, Bermuda Onion,

Olives, and a side of Coleslaw.

Before leaving the restaurant, my dad wanted to get a salami to go.  About once or twice a year he will have my grandparents send him a Brent's salami all the way to Seattle.  We haven't been able to find a deli quite like Brent's in the Pacific Northwest.