Deli Haus

I could be the only one out there who still thinks about this place. The Deli Haus was a real dive of a restaurant in the heart of Kenmore Square. I don't know who of my little group found the place, but I would suspect it was Sylkes, and what a find. In the later high school years when cars allowed us the freedom to escape the boredom of suburban life, my friends and I would head in to the Deli for a late night snack (whether we were hungry or not). A few friends never went, but there was a core group of Deli Hausers. A trip to the Deli was the right way to end the night. I don't remember it's exact hours though I can only recall one time we went and found it closed, and that was because of a holiday. We'd arrive sometime between 10PM and 1AM for a few hours of killing time with food and conversation. I still don't know why more people didn't take advantage of the place. Even after Red Sox games you could sneak in there and wait out the traffic for an hour in relative peace. It was tucked away under apartments, slightly set back from the sidewalk so that you had to walk down from street level to enter.

The menu (found here) showed surprising variety and wasn't all that cheap but you could always find a few gems. For my part, it was the $2.95 grilled cheese (with fries for an extra .75). It was delicous. Cool music was always in the air and the wait staff - which got so that they recognized us but never warmed to us - was adorned with tatoos, piercing, colored hair, and various alterna-garb that helped set a edgy tone to the place.

Some of the most interesting conversations I ever had up till that point took place in the smokey, loud, environs of the Deli. Now as I think back on the conversations, they seem the epitome of idealistic youth: future plans, ideas, where we wanted to go, what we hoped to do, dreams, ideas, dreams. If you got the same crowd together in the same atmosphere today I suspect our conversation would be a lot darker, perhaps a lot more negative. But it was light and fun and sometimes deep and somber and sometimes angry... It was us getting out, feeling away and free, and just being teenagers. I still remember looking across the table to see Bill and Pete digging into pizza bagels while Sylkes and Kurt slugged down about 4 cups of joe debating the hot topic of the moment. All the while, I with my grill cheese and fries soaking in the atmosphere and jumping in and out of debates. Not only that, but I can still recall the sounds and smells of the place, as well as the way I would feel sitting there bantering with friends. I think the biggest draw was that all of us felt... comfortable, there.

Sadly, Kenmore now has all kinds of new large buildings and hotels and has lost a lot of it's of-the-beaten-path-Boston character and charm. The Deli went away a few years back and is probably now a high end hair salon or something similarly as ridiculous. It produced as diverse a crowd or students, locals, visitors, and insomniacs as you're likely to find anywhere in Boston. Apparently these people haven't heard the news, which led me to hope that it had somehow reopened, but further investigation proved otherwise.

At any rate. The Deli Haus, an unforgettable dive - not just for itself, but also for the countless nights of my youth capped off with a trip there. I mourn its passing.