The Jewish Community Centre is reopening its popular kitchen on Monday, the Lox, Stock and Bagel Deli.
It will be takeout only, served from the side door, and it couldn’t come soon enough for some members of the centre who are happy to come back as they were going a little stir crazy waiting to volunteer again, said the centre’s president Larry Gontovnick.
“We rely on grants and membership and sales from our mobile food stand that we set up at the Saanich Fair and along the Inner Harbour for Canada Day,” Gontovnick said. “We’ve been in the same place on Belville Street for Canada Day for 25 years, hopefully we’ll be back there next year.”
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The menu will be a smaller version compared to the deli’s usual but is the same as they offer from the food trailer at Saanich Fair.
“We’ve looked at other takeout models and our volunteers feel safe,” Gontovnick said.
It means the return of many food popular items to a section of Shelbourne that has a foodie reputation with Fujiya sushi restaurant next door. As a place to eat nearby, the Gore-Peace Memorial Park has been renovated by Saanich and is much improved as an attractive place to sit an have lunch, Gontovnick noted.
“We have a wide customer base not just from the Jewish community but also return customers who come regularly, locally and from around the region, and we think they’ll be back,” Gontovnick said.
Cheese blintzes are always popular and so are the pastrami sandwiches. All takeout containers are environmentally friendly and made of non-plastic materials, said the president.
“If we are still running like this in November, then Latke [Mania] will be takeout as well,” Gontovnick said.
Visit the menu here jccvictoria.ca/deli. Hours are 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday to Friday at 3636 Shelbourne St.