Deli

Danny Rovner is presented with a choice that calls for the wisdom of a Solomon. If he were to be judged by only two of his creations, which of his Coventry Market delicacies would he offer? "My potato pierogis," he says firmly. Bookkeeper Deehna Felsher looks up from her work: "My mah-jongg girls die for them. " Then thoughts turn to sesame chicken and barbecued pastrami. "It's extra-lean meat that we barbecue and throw onions on," he says. "It's out of this world.

South Philadelphia deli worker Eric D. Jackson wound up with a murder rap after trying to break up an early-morning fight between two customers on May 4. Jackson, 23, allegedly shot and killed one of the men at the store at 15th and Federal streets. After a preliminary hearing before Municipal Judge Harvey W. Robbins this week, Jackson, of Darby, was ordered to stand trial on a general charge of murder. Bail was set at $135,000. Defense lawyer Everett A. Gillison said Jackson might have acted in self-defense in the shooting of Clark Corprew, 42, of Moore Street near 17th.

The Zoning Board yesterday voted to halt the sale of beer and malt liquor at a take-out deli in West Philadelphia. William G. Schwartz, lawyer for the deli, the Purple Fox, on Baltimore Avenue near 48th Street in the Cedar Park neighborhood, said its owners would appeal the decision. Schwartz said the city's recent enforcement action against such delis appeared to be aimed primarily at Asian-owned shops. Thomas J. Lee, primary shareholder of the firm that owns the Purple Fox, is Asian.

Frances Koch, 82, the goodnatured founder with her late husband of Koch's Take Out Shop, a Locust Street deli that became a West Philadelphia institution, died yesterday of a heart attack in her Havertown home. Although it had been more than 12 years since Mrs. Koch stood behind the counter slicing sandwich meat for the customers patiently lined up in the tiny shop, she remained active with the deli, her son Bob Koch said. "Even when she couldn't stand behind the counter, her brain worked fine," Koch said.

A Sandwich Express delicatessen wants to move into the Prudential Business Campus in Horsham, but a neighboring corporation is opposing the venture because of the traffic congestion it could cause. The Jackson-Cross Co. informed the Horsham Zoning Hearing Board Monday night of its plans for 222 Lakeside Drive in the industrial park, according to zoning and company officials. The real estate company wants to rent the office to Sandwich Express, which has similar operations in Fort Washington and King of Prussia business campuses.

Alfred Gaspari last week received the city's blessing to expand his deli and produce business in Holmesburg. Thanks to the city, that expansion is sure to cost more than he first expected. "The only conflict I have now is the additional cost," Gaspari said on Friday. "It's going to cost quite a bit more. " Gaspari revised his original plans after the city Zoning Board of Adjustment in February told him to get rid of two truck trailers he currently uses for storage at Al's Corner, Rhawn Street and Torresdale Avenue.

An Evesham policeman who found body hair in his bagel sandwich last year has sued the deli where the meal was purchased and the cook who admitted he sabotaged it as payback for a previous run-in with the officer. Jeremy Merck, a six-year veteran of the department, alleged in the suit that Good Foods to Go was negligent for failing to keep its premises safe and to properly examine the sandwich Ryan J. Burke served him on Feb. 20, 2010. The Marlton deli also failed to properly hire, train, and supervise its employees, the suit alleges.

ZONING decisions in Philadelphia are like orders in a deli as imagined by Kafka. Obnoxious customers shout with little regard for who's next in line and a self-important man behind the counter tells people they can have anything they want, as long as it's corned beef on rye with a little slaw. The Barnes is a 47-story tower proposed for 21st and Hamilton between Benjamin Franklin Parkway and the Spring Garden neighborhood. I've twice expressed support for the tower, especially with recent improvements to the Spring Garden and 22nd Street sides of the design.

So what has retired Gen. Colin Powell been up to lately? Working behind a deli counter, and the pay is good. Powell got $60,000 for a one-hour speech Tuesday night to about 1,000 owners of Schlotzsky's sandwich shops, a chain based in Austin, Texas. The dais at the hotel where he spoke was set up to resemble a Schlotzsky's deli, complete with cans of jalape no peppers, sacks of bun mix, and jars of hot sauce. "I've never given a speech from behind a deli counter," Powell told the group.

Charles H. Taylor was having lunch at his Center City eatery with actress Julie Harris when a poignant moment intruded. The pianist on duty realized that Harris had starred in the film East of Eden with the troubled James Dean, who died in 1955, the year the film was released. "He shifted into the music from East of Eden , and she began to cry," Mr. Taylor told an Inquirer interviewer in 1988, suggesting that Harris was comfortable enough to show emotion with him. Though a small lunch place, Taylor's Country Store had its fans, even some marquee names.

Police in Cheltenham are searching for three men in an armed robbery and shooting of a West Philadelphia deli owner outside a Cheltenham bank. Around 11:40 a.m. Tuesday, police responded to the Woori America Bank, on Front Street near Cheltenham Avenue in Melrose Park, and found Peter Ly, 55, with gunshot wounds in his legs. Ly owns the Rainbow Deli, under the El tracks on Market Street near 52nd. Police said Ly parked his car and began walking toward the bank when a black Volvo S60 with tinted windows cut him off. Ly was forced into the car and was shot in his legs.

Shortly before noon every weekday, people in long cotton jackets enter the cinderblock break room at the Dietz & Watson meat plant in Northeast Philadelphia, spread out sheets of white paper, and lay out a picnic-worthy spread of cold cuts, including roast beefs, hams, salami, maybe London broil, and Muenster and American cheeses. Minutes later, about 150 dayside plant workers on their lunch breaks, many still in safety helmets, hairnets, and heavy overcoats, pick up tongs and divvy it up. For those who need bread, there's a vending machine filled with hot dog rolls packaged in plastic bags, two for 50 cents.

An Evesham policeman who found body hair in his bagel sandwich last year has sued the deli where he bought it and the cook who admitted sabotaging it as payback for a previous run-in with the officer. Jeremy Merck, 30, a six-year veteran of the department, alleged in the suit that Good Foods to Go was negligent for failing to keep its premises safe and for failing to properly examine the sandwich that Ryan J. Burke served him on Feb. 20, 2010. The Marlton deli also failed to properly hire, train, and supervise its employees, the suit alleges.

BACK in the early '90s, Jay Cohen was pondering whether to sell the popular Latimer Deli in Center City, which he had owned for 15 years. The neighborhood around the deli, at 255 S. 15th St., was changing and night business was decreasing. Potential buyers were lined up, but Jay resisted. "Then I had a real bad day," he told an Inquirer food writer. "Employees didn't show, two compressors went. I said, 'I'm selling.' " So he sold the deli in 1993, and he and his wife, the former Kelly Green, took a year's vacation.

Entering a deli through the front door is not unusual - unless you're still in your car. This morning, a red Subaru Forester with slammed into Gaetano's Italian Deli at Second and Christian Streets. The driver and his wife, both 78, suffered minor injuries and were taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital to be checked, according to police. The Subaru, which had handicap plates, apparently also took out a pole on its way into the shop. Why the driver lost control was under investigation.

Felix Fezzuoglio, 64, founder and owner of the popular F&M Deli Restaurant & Caterers in Mount Laurel, died after minimally invasive back surgery on Wednesday, Sept. 1, in Phoenix. While Mr. Fezzuoglio was growing up, he worked at a Jewish delicatessen in Cherry Hill. There, he "picked up Jewish traditions," said his sister, Joanne Schley, such as what is eaten during Jewish holidays and how certain items are prepared. Popular and outgoing, Mr. Fezzuoglio was full of ambition. When he heard from his father about a shopping center opening on Church Road in Mount Laurel, Mr. Fezzuoglio decided he knew enough about the deli business to open his own store.

A 21-year-old Philadelphia man was ordered held for trial on charges that he murdered and sexually assaulted a woman behind an Olney deli on March 24. A clerk at the deli testified Tuesday before Municipal Court Judge Patrick F. Dugan that he saw the defendant, Sharod Graham, "standing over the top of the body fixing his clothes. " Graham, of the 6000 block of Callowhill Street, has been held without bail. The victim was Eraine Merritt, a mother of four. The two apparently did not know each other before they ended up in an alley behind the Olney Steam & Beer on the 5600 block of North Broad Street.