Dining Preview: Da Leo is Da-licious

“I mean, this is completely unacceptable.”—Miami Beach Assistant City Manager Christina Cuervo, during the Labor Day Weekend planning meeting.

Dining Preview

Local Deli Landmark Readying for Fiftieth Successful Deli Season

Jason Starkman, director of operations at Rascal House

In one 13-year period the 600-seat eatery served almost 4l million meals, seven million of those involving corned beef.

By Randy Abraham
Contributing Writer

Photos by Eppie Vega

It opened its doors at a time when cars had tailfins and local hotels were emulating the jaunty style of Hollywood’s Rat Pack.

Almost a half-century later, the Rascal House shows no signs of slowing down. For 49 years, the landmark eatery at 172^nd and Collins Avenue has been an institution, serving up deli fare seven days a week, starting at six a.m. to past midnight for an eager clientele that has numbered in the millions.

While it may look like a plain diner from the outside, the food and the desserts are Hall of Fame material and it takes just one foot inside to get used to the atmosphere. A bit noisy and seemingly crowded on first glance, as soon as you’re seated and the appetizers roll in, you’re oblivious to everything but your food. The first thing you see when seated is the pots of beets, pickles and cole slaw resting alongside the huge baskets of breads and many kinds of rolls.

Do you like your Jewish deli New York style? This is it – corned beef, pastrami, or roast beef piled high, Reuben sandwiches, stuffed cabbages, potato pancakes, brisket, matzo balls and stews. The food servings are huge. The sandwiches are about six inches high and so are the pies.

The numbers on the wall and the menus tell you it’s in a class by itself. In one 13-year period the 600-seat eatery served almost 4l million meals, seven million of those involving corned beef. In that same period they made 210,000 cheesecakes and l8 million bagels. They serve in the range of 8,000 meals a day. During the winter season the line-up to get in routinely goes down the street and around the corner – every day.

Eat here once and you’ll now why it’s been in business for so long. If we could all offer a product this great we’d all be millionaires. Casual 50’s New York deli anyone?

Originally founded by restaurateur Wolfie Cohen, who also founded Wolfie’s on South Beach and the now-closed Pumpernik’s using the same formula, Rascal House today is owned and operated by Jerry’s Famous Deli’s, which has developed a mini-empire in the industry.

Wisely, the new owners did not stray from the proven formula. “Everything is the same, we just updated it and expanded the menu. Corned beef and pastrami are still big sellers, but turkey and other lighter foods are becoming favorites too,” said Ike Starkman, chairman and CEO of Jerry’s Famous Deli. “We’re like the last of the Mohicans; everything is still cooked fresh each day on the premises. All the cooking, baking, food preparation and butchering are done here. It’s more expensive than running a regular restaurant operation, but we’d never change it. And our customers won’t let us. Business is very strong.”

Since buying the Rascal House in 1996 and making it the base for his Florida operations, Starkman – who grew Studio City, California-based Jerry’s Famous Deli into eight locations including seven in the Los Angeles area – built a new Rascal House in Boca Raton in 1998. In 1999, he acquired the long established Epicure Market on Miami Beach, and in the last year he opened a Jerry’s Famous Deli in South Beach – in each project, careful not to veer too far from an established and successful model.

He’s currently considering locations in Coral Gables or Fort Lauderdale, but said the nature of his operations is more complicated to develop than, for instance, a fast food restaurant. “We move very deliberately. We focus our energies into building a strong, independent local operation that can function autonomously and we don’t micro-manage it. We build on what we have and the location has to sustain itself. The Rascal House is a landmark, an institution, and it’s a very hands-on operation, very hard to recreate. There’s no other way to do it. That’s why a huge chain of authentic deli’s wouldn’t work, everyone wants to see the owner there at the deli,” said Starkman.

And their customers keep coming back, said Starkman’s son Jason, who serves as director of operations at Rascal House. Although he says he sees more health-conscious orders for chicken, salads, and other lighter foods, the traditional favorites are still in demand. “We won’t fix what isn’t broken,” he said.

Some of the Rascal House’s staff has been there over 20 years, and Starkman credited that with the sense of loyalty to the institution. The restaurant’s manager, Arkady Naroditky, had once been manager of the famed Carnegie Hall Deli in New York. “I’ve been in this business for 37 years, and they are the most wonderful people to work for,” said Naroditky. “Very hands-on, and everything to the highest standards. They care very much about what they do.”

Since buying the Rascal House, Starkman said that over $1 million was spent upgrading the almost cavernous food prep area, which includes rooms for kitchens, bakeries, butcher shops, meat lockers and rooms for pickling. The lobby, dining rooms and booths also got a recent redecorating, but trust me, you won't care. You will be so focused on the immense quantity of food in front of you that your surroundings will fade away. You will leave with a smile on your face, and a doggie bag in your hand.

Rascal House offers a breakfast menu as well as a casual whole day menu. But the real star of the show falls in the deserts category. Your choice depends on your tastes, and they have many choices including their legendary cheesecakes. They bake many international desserts, like Napoleons and éclairs, Bobkas, and Hamantash; as well as traditional American deserts, like apple and cherry pies. The cherry pie is baked with fresh cherries, instead of canned and almost plastic looking ones. Meal prices average from $11 to $14.

“Every year, our friends come down to stay, and they always asked us to take them there,” said Rose Sovik, who said she has frequented the restaurant since she and husband Herb retired over 25 years ago and moved from New York. “There’s no other place like it down here.”

The Rascal House was built when the older Sunny Isles Beach hotels were all named after the greats of Las Vegas. The Thunderbird, Dunes, and the Sahara dominated the beachfront in the 50’s and 60’s, but by the mid-seventies Collins Avenue went into a decline. All of the great names in hotels by then seemed a little run-down. Also gone from that period are Jahn’s Ice Cream Parlor and the Castaways with its Wreck Bar and the glamour it once knew: The Rascal House stands alone.

However, changing demographics have transformed the community, formerly a retirement haven for northeasterners and budget conscious motor travelers. In 1997, the community broke away from the county’s unincorporated municipal service area and created its own city government. Around the same time, a favorable real estate market and the area’s appeal as one of the last developable oceanfront locations led to a building boom and a community revival. Today, sleek condos marketed internationally are drawing larger numbers of Europeans and Latin Americans, and the affordable motels that gave rise to the area’s former moniker “Motel Row” are being replaced by modern high-rise towers.

Starkman commended Mayor David Samson for his vision for the community and said he sees great potential for the Rascal House. “With all of the new projects going up, and the new residents coming in, Sunny Isles Beach is in the middle of a transformation. When it’s all done, we believe this city will be phenomenal. We’re seeing a more international crowd and we’re constantly re-introducing ourselves to, but we still have our regular clientele, and we make everyone here welcome.”

The Rascal House also caters and has bakery and deli take-out. For more information, call 305-947-4581.

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