Schmaltz Deli gearing up for move to Lisle next month
The original Schmaltz Deli in Naperville was filled with pictures of the old-timers.
Immortalized in photos on the mustard-yellow walls were ladies who lunched, a man in a “pastrami is my favorite color” T-shirt and the late Naperville Mayor George Pradel, who had the honor of a salami sandwich named after him.
They all waited in the same line at the Jewish delicatessen for the real-deal menu and the liveliness of the place. Servers wear red shirts with a checklist of the sensory experience at the deli, starting with a “Welcome to Schmaltz” they have to shout over the din of the lunch rush.
Schmaltz will still keep those traditions when the family-owned deli moves to a larger restaurant building in Lisle, just about a half-mile east of its former home base.
“There'll be some pride behind it. There'll be a lot of energy,” said Michael Goodman, who runs the day-to-day business of the deli. “I mean, that's just who we are. And it's going to be nice to say, 'Welcome to Schmaltz' in that space. It really will.”
The flagship is relocating — and expanding — after 17 years tucked in a strip mall storefront. In Lisle, barring any additional supply chain issues, Schmaltz will be opening in stages beginning the week of Feb. 14.
It's a necessary change for the deli, the Goodman family says. Father-and-son Mark and Michael Goodman took over Schmaltz in late 2019, months before the pandemic struck.
“It was very tough to keep the deli going,” CEO Mark Goodman said. “It was very tough to have it survive. We had PPP money and the things that many restaurants needed to survive. But in our current location we just couldn't grow anymore. We didn't have the room.”
Schmaltz will grow into the new space, gradually at first. The Goodmans will start with the operation they have now and open up a retail area: about 26 feet worth of deli cases offering a bounty of smoked fish, bakery goods, cream cheeses and New York-style, boiled bagels.
About a week or so later, Schmaltz will welcome customers through a drive-through — a first for the deli — at a stand-alone Ogden Avenue building now undergoing renovations.
“The key for us is really opening at a pace that is going to continue the service that we've always been able to offer and make sure that our employees have adapted to the size of the restaurant,” Mark Goodman said.
At 5,700 square feet, the building's size will allow the deli to expand its hours and serve sit-down breakfast, lunch and dinner.
“We've got a full kitchen to be able to offer a much more expanded, both traditional and exciting, menu that's under development right now,” Mark Goodman said.
A hefty menu will see a few twists, but stay true to the classic cuisine. Among the new additions? Smoked short ribs and, on the sweeter side of things, blintzes.
But the No. 1 seller is the “Sloppy Paul,” the Schmaltz version of a Reuben, piled high with corned beef or pastrami and slathered with Russian dressing.
The Lisle kitchen will be big enough to support smaller deli stores envisioned around the Western suburbs. If all goes as planned, the family is looking to launch at least five stores by 2025, replicating the “express” concept of a Wheaton outpost that opened two years ago.
The interior of the flagship also will look more like the Wheaton store, with black-and-white tile floors on the retail side and the Matzah ball logo on the walls.
“It will still seem Schmaltz though,” Mark Goodman said.
Before closing the original Naperville location closer this month, Schmaltz invited regulars to take their photos down from the walls. But digital copies will be used for a collage and to re-create the family feel in the deli's new home.
“As a father getting to work with his son side by side, I can tend to get emotional about it,” Mark Goodman said. “It's wonderful.”