The subject line above should be sung to the tune of "Hello, Dolly!" We're bidding a fond farewell to Jerry's Deli, a favorite place to dine out in Studio City. It's closing today after 42 or 43 years, depending on which news story about it you read.
If you live (as I do) in L.A. proper and want to meet for a meal with someone who lives in The Valley, Jerry's was a good place to meet. It was not only well situated as a middlepoint, it had a big menu, decent food, decent prices, decent parking…and if you had the urge to knock down some ten-pins, there was a bowling alley in the back.
I'm sitting here, thinking of lots and lots of lunches — business and social — I had there as well as a few Power Breakfasts, some dinners and a lot of late night dining. But I have to admit those were all quite some time ago. I gave up on the place at least five years ago as a result of too many poor meals with poorer service.
The whole Jerry's chain — which once included something like eight or ten locations — had shrunk to just the one. The closing of this one is being attributed to the decline in business because of COVID-19…and I'm sure there's a lot of truth to that. But Jerry's Delis have been closing all over the Southland for many years now. I think there was something else going wrong there.
But I do remember a lot of great sandwiches and great times at the Studio City location and also at other Jerry's Delis. The one other unpleasant experience I had there was because of a very rude bus boy who was screwing up everyone's orders and staging little hissy-fits over polite complaints. It was Andy Kaufman, who for some reason enjoyed working there and at another restaurant I went to — the Posh Bagel — long after he was recognizable from television.
As a bus boy, he was a real dick and please note that I am not saying he was a funny real dick. He was just a real dick. It apparently amused him greatly but I can't say it amused anyone else, at least the times I saw him do it at the two restaurants.
Sad to say, he's gone and when it closes this evening, Jerry's will be gone as well. True, I hadn't been there in years but I kept thinking of going back, hoping it would be the way it used to be. Because when it was good, it was real good. Unless your table was being bused by Andy Kaufman.