Restaurant review: Solomon’s Delicatessen aims for wide audience, finds narrow success
In the Biblical judgment of Solomon, the king of that name orders that a child over whom two women are arguing bitterly be split in two to prove its parentage. While the gambit works to reveal the true mother, if really applied to a baby it would obviously be horrific. But in the case of the restaurant Solomon’s, cutting it in half – or at least down – might actually do it a favor.
Solomon’s Delicatessen, the new but (very, very) long-awaited Jewish-style downtown deli, had a long and winding road to its opening this past July 1, including opening (and recently closing) a much smaller Davis branch, which I reviewed last fall. I won’t belabor the restaurant’s history here, as it’s been extensively reported in The Bee. Suffice it to say there’s been a lot of hype and lead-up, building up big expectations – especially about the bagels and the pastrami, both of which went through extensive and well-publicized development phases.
The Solomon’s concept seems simple, at first blush: Jewish deli. Sacramentans have been saying we need one for years, and it’s also become a commonplace to say there are no decent bagels on the West Coast. Solomon’s attempts to fill both of those desires. But it also wants to be a tribute to Tower Records, a retro cocktail bar, an event space (the upstairs Russ Room, which you can glimpse if you head upstairs to the restroom, is very cool), and a hip, ’70s-throwback hangout that can anchor the revitalized new downtown. It’s a lot, and I’m not sure all of those things can coexist. Throw in Israeli touches like now-trendy shakshuka, breakfast all day, and a vegan tilt to some of the menu and it’s head-spinning.
As an ex-New Yorker friend who came with me to lunch said, “Is this a deli or a bagel shop?” The two aren’t necessarily the same. She was pleased to find Dr. Brown’s sodas and an excellent modern pastrami hash of golden potatoes topped with the house-cured meat and a fried egg. The hash was excellent, with both a spicy red harissa-like dipping sauce and a fresh green one alongside, and enormous.
Breakfast is available all day, as are bagels, unless they run out. In my experience, service and supplies were both a little shaky. On one of my visits, I ordered bagels to go along with my lunch. My bagels were provided, after extreme confusion about the varieties I wanted; ultimately they gave me sesame seed instead of the poppy seed I repeated to our server three times. My dining companion also ordered bagels to take home – but after we sat down, instead of bringing out the bagels, a different server came out to tell my friend they could only sell them toasted, not whole.
We both found this statement baffling, since a bag containing a half dozen whole, untoasted bagels, just sold to me, was sitting on the table. My friend asked to have the order cancelled, and the server said she would cancel it out, but never provided a receipt. Indeed, it showed up on my friend’s credit card statement, and it took her some extra phone calls to the restaurant to have it refunded.
Meanwhile, the manager came out to our table to explain at great length that Grateful Bread, which makes and supplies the bagels (as well as rye and other breads) according to a Solomon’s recipe, had failed to deliver bagels that day and thus all they had in house were day-olds. They were fine toasted, she explained, or served in a sandwich, but couldn’t be sold as whole bagels.
Not wanting to make a fuss – and also, I confess, curious whether anyone would notice the contradictions – I forbore to point out that a half dozen of the sesame bagels had just been sold to me at $2.50 a pop (though they’re listed on the menu at $1.99 per) and were sitting in front of her during the entire conversation. I quietly took my old bagels home, where I found that indeed their texture was cottony and dry. (As promised, they toasted up okay.) On another visit, a bagel with lox, The Russ from the breakfast menu, was unremarkable, without any particular heft or chew; the silky, subtle lox was the star. After three visits to Solomon’s, I wondered what the bagel-driven fuss was about. At a restaurant with the motto “no bagels, no life,” I shouldn’t have to wonder.
Mixups and supply issues happen, of course, but everyone in a restaurant needs better training on how to handle them seamlessly; rushing out to tell one customer (but not another) the bagels she just bought aren’t actually available isn’t that. On every one of my visits, I found I had to repeat my order multiple times or undo confusion about what I wanted, follow up with servers about missing items or hunt for cutlery.
The dining room, including the sleek boxes that are supposed to hold the cutlery and napkins but often don’t, looks very cool, with Tower Records calendars (I swear I had the 1984 one) as wallpaper and vintage record memorabilia at the large bar. The entrance, too, is magnificent, with its restored and gorgeous murals. It does, however, feel like a thematic mishmash, trying to be clever and pull in something for everyone but getting a little out of hand. According to the menu, the tie-in between Tower Records and this Jewish delis is that both are “a community gathering place with soul where culture and music is celebrated and everyone is welcome.”
The inclusion of a cocktail bar in a deli seems particularly confusing. Craft cocktails like the Brooklyn Egg Cream (it has bourbon in it), the fruity and bourbon-based Strawberry Fields with rhubarb bitters, or various tongue-in-cheek Manischewitz-based cocktails are a fun idea, and there’s a happy hour. But it feels like an uneasy pairing. I can imagine grabbing the odd drink before a downtown event, but the place closes at 9 p.m., so it’s unlikely to pull in a serious bar crowd
Maybe everything needs time to settle in, so that these odd-couple juxtapositions just seem more familiar. Solomon’s still seems to be tinkering with the menu; on my first visit, I ordered an excellent whitefish salad that had disappeared by my later visits, sadly. My friend had a salmon salad with little gem lettuce, cherry tomatoes, avocado, an egg, and a light mustard dressing that was also very good, but had disappeared by the following week in a seasonal menu change.
Sandwiches, named for former Tower employees, include the Stanley, a simple but very good affair, with hot, thick-sliced pastrami on rye. I got it as a half, with a cup of matzo ball soup, the latter with a nice clear chicken flavor and a not-too-dense matzo ball. It was a filling enough plate, but $16 for a half sandwich combo and a tiny cup of soup seems a little steep. Prices in general may feel a little on the high side to some; all the sandwiches (except a hot dog) are over $10, though portions are generous. Every sandwich is heftily stuffed, including the “Love in this Club,” with a mound of turkey and a couple slices of chewy pastrami bacon on very Cali sourdough. Sandwiches come with just-fine coleslaw, an excellent sour pickle spear, and a handful of bagel chips – most crisp, a few chewy.
Corned beef, A.K.A. “The Bud,” which I ordered as a reuben, was not quite as succulent or interesting as the pastrami, but the griddled rye stood up better to the fillings. The pastrami is the star of the whole show, and I wouldn’t mess around on return visits: I’d go straight to a reuben with pastrami. (The menu offers the regular sandwiches, and “make it a reuben” is an option for an upcharge of $1.99.) But for non-pastrami lovers, sandwiches include roast beef, egg salad, chicken salad and a vegan smoked mushroom reuben.
Sides, such as a pickle plate, fried pickles, latkes, and schmaltz (chicken fat) fries are also on offer. I hoped for an extra punch of flavor in the schmaltz fries, but though the portion was very large, the fries themselves tasted basic. A bakery case displays various sides and sweets as well, including petite knishes. I don’t normally complain about a flaky crust, but the dainty potato knish I tried seemed more like a potato puff, with no chew or resilience to the wrapper. A pastrami-sauerkraut one had an oddly gooey filling. There are also black-and-white cookies (decorated as soccer balls on one of my visits, which coincided with the Sac Republic announcement), various wrapped baked goods, and chocolate rugelach, the latter dry and hard when I tried it.
Breakfast is, happily, more than just the bagels. Challah French toast was excellent, light and fluffy with a crisp buttery edge and sweet-tart applesauce alongside. I don’t want to start any fights, but this restrained version might give some of the other French toast in this town a run for its money. Scrambles, an upscaled version of the New York classic egg and cheese on a roll, and sweet blintzes, plus Pachamama coffee, round out the offerings. If you like to day drink, the bottomless mimosa, at $12.99 on weekends, might be the best deal on the menu.
There’s plenty to like at Solomon’s, especially anything with pastrami in or on it. I’d go back for a pastrami reuben on rye any time. Some other elements of the restaurant, however, feel like overreach. That’s a feeling not helped by a huge buildup, followed by still-wobbly delivery on its claims. Now, for Solomon’s, the wisest course might be to get those service issues worked out, streamline a little, and settle in to acquire the kind of patina and always-been-there atmosphere that can make delis so beloved.
Email Kate Washington: beediningcritic@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter: @washingtonkate. For an archive of all her reviews: kwsacdiningreviews.com
Solomon’s Delicatessen
730 K Street. 916-857-8200. solomonsdelicatessen.com
Hours: 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
Cuisine type: Jewish deli
Price range: Breakfast dishes $8-17, sandwiches and salads $9-16.
Rating: ☆☆1/2
Food: Solomon’s nails some deli standards (a reuben, pastrami hash) and offers several more California-leaning items: cauliflower and kale salad. The pastrami is legitimately great. The touted bagels, however, are only so-so.
Service: Counter service should be relatively easy to make smooth, but is very iffy at Solomon’s, where servers are friendly but confusion over orders and frustrating mixups were frequent. Be prepared to check up on your orders and repeat yourself. Also, cutlery is stored on the tables in cool boxes, but they’re unreliably restocked; go ahead and steal from an adjacent table.
Ambiance: Is it a deli? A tribute to Tower records? A groovy bar with nods to the 70s? A lovely patio with restored murals and a gritty view of K Street? Yes. It’s also a bit confusing in spots. For instance, water and coffee fixings are offered at a hard-to-spot station, yet there’s a water jug and no glasses much more visible next to the register.
Accessibility considerations: Parking is difficult nearby, especially with construction. Counter ordering, but there’s space for a line to the registers. All-gender restrooms are upstairs but there is an elevator. Inside, larger parties will have to push tables together as there are only two tops and counter seating at stools that may not be accommodating for some.
Noise levels: Moderate to loud when the restaurant, with its high echoing ceilings, fills up. The patio can get loud with construction and other city noise but may be a better choice for conversation, depending on how full the dining room is.
Drinks: Full bar with specialty cocktails (if you’ve always longed to try Manischewitz in a mixed drink, now’s your chance), and a short wine list and beers. For nonalcoholic options, egg creams and Dr. Brown’s sodas.
Vegetarian options: Salads and interesting vegetarian sandwich choices, such as smoked mushroom, are available. Vegan items are marked on the menu.
Allergy and dietary considerations: Although the deli is Jewish in style, diners should be aware that the food is not necessarily kosher, including the meats. Gluten-free bread from Pushkin’s is available for sandwiches and a gluten-free bagel is also on offer.
