July 2, 2004

Time to eat: New deli opens on Delmas

By Carol Rosen
Editor

Willow Glen’s newest eatery opened last month to thronging approval. The Willows Smokehouse Deli, located at 883 Delmas Avenue, sells meat, fish, poultry, sandwiches and salads to an enthusiastic audience of food lovers.

Leased from Ralph’s Smokehouse, which has been in Willow Glen for more than 40 years, Willows opened in June and as of June 21 started selling sandwiches and sides. Owners Bill Rankin and Annette Boyer are leasing the deli space from Montana Hutton, who has owned Ralph’s Smokehouse—it’s building and meat plant—for 32 years. Hutton produces all the meats that Willows sells.

Rankin, who has lived in Willow Glen for the past five years, has a staff of one full- and one part-time employee. He manages the delicatessen while Boyer, who works full time for PalmSource, uses her marketing skills to help promote the restaurant when she’s not working her day job.

“A number of people know about our business because they’ve been coming to Montana’s shop for years. He processes game, such as deer and other hunted animals,” Rankin told The Times. Rankin worked as a kitchen and bar manager on the East Coast prior to moving to San Jose, and he’s also opened and run another delicatessen.

Everything Willows sells is homemade on the premises. The shop offers hot and cold sandwiches, green salad, cole slaw and a host of retail meats and fish to go. The list of foods includes smoked salmon and trout, smoked chickens and turkeys, 15 to 20 different types of sausages; four types of bacon—old fashioned, pepper, Cajun and country style—smoked ham; corned beef; and pastrami.

Down the road, Rankin says he plans to serve coffee, possibly espresso and maybe in the future, breakfast, including pastries. “If we begin to get early morning business, we will start to add things like pastries,” he said.

The deli also offers a full catering menu, with a range of prices; $6.75 per person for hamburgers and hotdogs, $10.75 per person for chicken and ribs, $13.75 per person for tri-tip and $17.50 per person for an entire roast pig. Box lunches for meetings also are available.

Sandwiches range from $5.50 to $6.75 with sides (cole slaw, potato salad and assorted chips) at $1 each and green salad at $3.50. Grilled onions and peppers, cheese, avocado and bacon can be added to the sandwiches. It also offers Del Monte fruit cocktail or peaches to “taste a bit of San Jose’s history.” Desserts include chocolate chip cookies and brownies, and drinks also are available.

The deli will be selling barbecue Fourth of July weekend at the Northern Willow Glen Neighborhood Association’s Fourth of July block party on Delmas between Fuller and Atlanta.

The deli is open Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. During the spring, summer and fall, the deli also has a booth at the Willow Glen Farmers’ Market located at Willow Glen Elementary School.

If you’re interested, Willows Smokehouse Deli is located at 883 Delmas Avenue, between Willow and Virginia near the train tracks, phone 295-5550.