Brother's Deli R.I.P.

[rednails]

Brother's Deli in Millbrae, formerly of Burlingame, finally closed for good. Of course they were on a downhill slide for a long time, but when it was good, it really was the place to go for what I fondly refer to as "kosher soul food." Looks like Pete's Diner, currently on ECR in Millbrae, will take the spot.

[mcb]

Agree that it had gone downhill, pretty much ever since the move. And clearly business dropped off dramatically. I think what happened is that the patrons like elderly people in Burlingame and San Mateo (I liked to take my dad - age 89 - there) would be able to walk to the old place in Burlingame, or take a short drive, but Millbrae was too far, plus the parking on Broadway was difficult, and to top it off, the majority of businesses (restaurants at least) in Millbrae tend to cater primarily to Chinese-speaking people.

Is Pete's *moving* there or opening a second location? If they move I think it's the kiss of death; the present location is on a major corner, next door to BART, and there's a parking lot. Broadway has lots of competition, crappy parking, and the primarily Asian clientele mentioned above. Dunno, maybe they're getting forced out of the El Camino location.

I still have a wee bit of hope for Brothers, since when they announced the closing in Burlingame they said they'd be looking for a new place there as well as the Millbrae location. But they probably lost too much money to reopen. So... where's the nearest Jewish deli on the Peninsula now? Are there any at all? (Not counting the Max's chain.)

[Nancy Berry]

Why don't you count the Max's in Burlingame as a Jewish deli? I'm Jewish and their corned beef and pastrami sandwiches, matzo ball soup, cabbage soup, chopped liver and brisket taste quite good to me (and their rye bread is very good.) I especially like their relatively new Max's Trio that's served with the sandwiches -- cucumber salad, cole slaw, and red potato salad.

[K K]

I think most of us (former) Max's fans feel that even the Burlingame location has not been the same since the 90s (I've been there since 89 at least once or twice a month up until 2004 or so). There has definitely been a big drop in quality and quantity over the years. It's still good to some extent at least for me, but not mindblowing enough to warrant frequent returns.

The Redwood City and Stanford locations are REALLY really aweful (food and service).

[mcb]

I've eaten many, many meals at the various Max's over the years, plus Dennis Berkowitz's Max's Son up in Daly City (this was in the '70s), and they have their ups and downs. They do have reasonably good pastrami and corned beef, and their versions of Jewish deli classics are sometimes good (and sometimes not), but none of them really ever had the authentic Jewish deli feel like the places I grew up with (or even Brothers); at heart they're still just a (small) chain-type restaurant trying to appeal to a wider market.

I've been kvetching about deli food in the Bay Area for a while, in any case: http://www.berchonfood.com/cgi-bin/bl...