Bay Cities Deli, still going strong after 93 years!

I grew up on the Westside and I’m embarrassed to admit that I’ve never been to Bay Cities Deli. Open since 1925 and featured in the media both locally and nationally, my excuse was always “the line is too long”.

At 10:30 a.m., there was already a line.

Fortunately, a friend of mine recently learned about the Godmother sandwich at Bay Cities Deli. He told me about it in excitement (yes, those of us interested in food get excited about new finds). Our schedules meshed and we recently paid them a visit.

If you haven’t been there, the best advice I can give to you is to provide you with some tips that will make your experience a good one.

• Limited free parking is available in a lot just south of their building.
• Don’t visit them at their peak hours (e.g., noon) – they are known to have extremely long lines.
• When you enter, take a number!
• They won’t serve you if you are on your cell phone.
• If you are in line to order a sandwich, be prepared to order it, otherwise, they will skip you and go to the next person in line.
• They sell alcoholic beverages but they can’t open them at the register. Be prepared to bring your own bottle opener.
• Backpacks and large purses will be checked. They are extremely vigilant about shoplifters.
• You can avoid the line by pre-ordering your sandwich online.  

While we waited to order, we stared at the number of salads available. Antipasto, Artichokes, Four Bean, Greco, Greek Coleslaw, Macaroni, and Potato Salad are just a few of the prepared salads. My friend was impressed at how “fresh” the salads were and that they did not appear to have been sitting there for hours.

The Godmother with the works

Pesto pasta with green peppers

Bay Cities Deli is famous for the Godmother sandwich. It is made with premium Boar’s Head deli meat: salami, prosciutto, mortadella, capicola, and ham. Of course, provolone is the featured cheese. The bread is baked on-site daily and is crisp on the outside and fluffy and chewy on the inside.

The “hot” version of the Godmother turned out to be “hot” because of the chopped chili pepper blend that was included in his sandwich. My friend kept nodding to me about how good the sandwich was and he liked the heat of the chili pepper blend.

Little Don Lorenzo

The Little Don Lorenzo was comprised of Prosciutto di Parma, water mozzarella, roasted tomatoes, olive oil and fresh basil on a mini baguette. It’s the meat eater’s version of the caprese. The combination of olive oil and basil provided a pesto-like flavor to this sandwich.

I also ordered two sandwiches to go: another specialty sandwich, the Spaniard, and of course, a Godmother for my wife. The Spaniard is a Spanish cousin of the Little Don Lorenzo. It consisted of Jamon serrano, copa seca, honey ham, pamplona chorizo, parsley, extra virgin olive oil, black pepper and rosemary on a mini baguette. The cured meats were of very high quality and I enjoyed the rosemary that was baked into the baguette.  

We ate our sandwiches with a beer and we went back into the market to see what they had to offer. We were both impressed by the incredible selection of basic Italian staples: olives, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and cheese. Accessories like tableware, cooking gadgets and pots and pans were also on sale. In the back of the store was a selection of Italian wines and sparkling wines.

I highly recommend visiting them. If you do so, make sure you visit during off-peak hours. Google’s peak times feature is an easy way to check.

Bay Cities Deli, 1517 Lincoln Blvd, Santa Monica, CA; 310.395.8279
baycitiesitaliandeli.com