A new big sandwich is in town. Meat piled high like delis in New England is drawing sandwich lovers from all around to Gold’s Deli in the Columbia Arts District.
Co-owner George Kougias has hopes of serving up the meanest deli-style sandwich in the city, he says.
The fierce fare reaching inches high is flying off the New England-style lunch counter and can keep feeding customers through dinner – depending on appetites come time for lunch.
No matter what sandwich one might fancy, the tiny location on Depot Street in the Columbia Arts District packs a sizeable punch that will certainly thwack that midday “hangry” feeling.
So what makes it a New England style deli?
“The bread is sourced from a place that started in New England, we use pepper relish, oil and vinegar dressings,” Kougias, a native Bostonian said. “All our sauces are from a company called Ken’s out of Massachusetts. Our glass soda bottles are from New York and our chips are popular in the North. It’s a mix of things.”
Kougias grew up working in delis of the same style, so the transition to Columbia is an extension of home for him, complete with side items and drinks from nearer his native Boston.
With a brief four-year stint in Nashville, running the comedy club, Zanies, Kougias appreciates the transition to small-town life.
“It went from more chaos, to chaos, to no chaos,” Kougias said of his transition from Boston to Nashville to Columbia.
He has a few employees helping to garner small-town appeal with a big-town sandwich, but also, his business partner and fiancé helps him run the business.
The overhead cost of a bigger location would be too much to guarantee he can pay workers when business is slow so the smaller spot is ideal for keeping business successful, the Kougias says.
The most popular sandwich and a favorite of Kougias is the classic Italian.
“It’s the Italian Hero by a long shot,” Kougias said. “That and our Reuben are the two best sellers.”
If the restaurant doesn’t sell out early, Kougias said that they will stay open through posted hours but they do often run out of popular items like hot pastrami and corned beef, simply because he limits his daily prep to prevent food waste.
The Gold’s Deli “Original” also aims to topple over even the heartiest lunch-lover with piles of pastrami and Swiss on rye.
Sandwich can be paired with a choice of chips and a refreshing line of cane sugar sodas.
Lemonade fans will be spoiled on the crisp Sparkling Lemonade, which seems to match up with honey sriracha kettle chips.
Be prepared to drop a bit more change than normal for the high caliber chow, upwards of $15, though Kougias stands behind his sandwich, saying that he makes sure customers get their money’s worth.
“A lot of people have sticker shock when they see the price,” Kougias said. “But when they get their food, they say, ‘Oh, that makes sense.’ And that was our goal,” Kougias said. “I don’t want people to come here because it’s cheap or not to come here because it’s expensive. We want people to say it’s worth it.”
Food sourcing was a carefully selective process for the shop and came from sampling a variety of meats from his distributor.
“We had a taste test with five or six people,” Kougias said. “And we all picked out what we felt would be the best traditional style deli options.”
Gluten-free bread is offered when “good gluten-free bread” is available, he added, though there is always a risk of cross-contamination from working with traditional breads, he cautions.
Ultimately, he keeps his operation simple, aiming to excel at great lunch sandwiches in-house and carryout.
Catering is an option
In lieu of DoorDash, Kougias said catering is another way that he can make many customers happy by bringing the food to them.
“We can cater for up to 25 people with 24 hours prior notice,” he said. “But we can cater for up to 100 depending on the situation and advance notice.”
For local businesses, large group orders do come with a bit of a discount and the response and community welcome has been very favorable so far.
“We’ve done no advertising but I’ve seen our food in pictures everywhere [on social media],” Kougias said. “During the Cars and Coffee event it was a little rough. We had a line out the door for about an hour.”
Even with a busy lunch rush, it might only be a 15-minute wait for your food, Kougias said.
The restaurant plans ahead and will take call-in orders for days in advance and hopes to be able to handle capacity for even larger orders in the future.
The shop is closed on Tuesdays but is open on Sundays. Hours are from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and from 11 a.m. to 5 the other days of the week, except Tuesday.
To find your sandwich of choice, check out their lineup on social media, and Gold’s Deli can be reached at 931-922-9923.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Herald: Columbia deli provides big lunch chomps with New England style sandwich
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