"GET BACK HOME, GILBERTO, YOUR DELI'S WAITING FOR YOU..."

By Juan Montoya
One of our favorite places to eat, meet, chew the fat and shoot the breeze was always Gilbert Rendon's New York Deli on the frontage road off Price Road.
Now, after being faced wtih a steep increase in the rent there, he has made a move back to the previous site just a block east on Price Road across from El Globo supermarket.
Surrounded by Beatles memorabilia, it is the place where locals have gathered to trade political gossip, catch up with old friends and trade notes on the political goings on around town.
For visitors from out East, it is probably one of the few places where they can ask for a corned beef Reuben and not get a blank stare from a waitress accustomed to get asked for taco of carne guisada or barbacoa de cabeza con frijoles (pa' amarrar).
We last visited Gilbert with the crowd from the Municipal Court downtown over homemade broccoli soup and a pastrami sandwich. The average deli cognoscenti from New York would probably tell you that pastrami, although it originated with the Turks, has been totally overtaken by Yiddish kitchens to the point where many think it's a Jewish dish.
"When my dad came to Brownsville after running a deli in New York, he got bored and wanted something to do in his spare time so he opened a deli here," said Rendon. "It took us a while to educate the locals to what a Reuben sandwich was or what pastrami and other delicacies were. A lot of our first customers were tourists from up north and the northeast who were here for the winter."
Over time local professionals have made it a favorite gathering point and anytime between 8 a.m. when its doors open for breakfast and 8 p.m. Monday through Friday when it finally closes, you see familiar faces like former school board members, local politicians, cops, and "half of the gringos in the city," Rendon said. On Saturday the deli closes at 5 p.m.
"We have been in a lot of places in town and they have always followed us wherever we go," he said.
A casual first-time visitor to the deli will be surprised to see the first Beatles album cover (Introducing the Beatles), an then see the evolution of the Fab four from mophead clean-cut cuties to longhaired, bearded hipsters. Look closer and you will find that the Beatles memorabilia includes Yellow Submarine coffee cups, Let it Be clocks, and even a Beatles Monopoly edition.
There is even a wall poster of the late John Lennon in a performance in New York City after the separation called the "One to One" concert.
"You may be a Beatles fan," said Rendon, "but not a bigger fan than I am."
Rendon said the cuisine at the New York Delis (there's one in McAllen and another in Harlingen run by family) has branched out from traditional deli and now offer burgers, seafood and salads and soups. That fare has kept the Rendon's busy. During our chat in the Brownsville restaurant, the callout orders coming in on the line (550-0025) kept him hopping (and cussing).
And so the New York Deli is back home again.
We asked a diner whether he would continue to patronize the restaurant after the move and he nodded in the affirmative.
"With the Beatles stuff and the same people, it's like visiting an old friend," he said. "The only thing juicer than their grilled chicken salad is the gossip."