Strip mall deli delights with its traditional and untraditional fare, offering food to go and a dine-in menu.
Tucked into the corner of a relatively standard strip mall is a rather un-standard deli.
Cured Delicatessen definitely offers the sausages, smokies and salamis one would expect from a neighbourhood spot. Salads and side dishes, housemade cabbage rolls also fill their extensive cases that run along one side of the establishment.
It’s in the more unusual items — the chocolate chorizo, black truffle salami and blood mortadella — that owners Dale and Shaine Greene are setting themselves apart. On top of these, the pair also offer nitrate- and phosphate-free ham, bacon, wieners and bologna.
All told, Cured produces more than a ton of house-made meats and sausages per month. I mean that literally: 2,000 pounds’ worth.
Once the site of the European Delicatessen & Bakery, Dale and Shaine took over last year with a plan to honour the business’s history while also offering their own take on traditional meats.
Alongside the cured meats and side dishes, the deli sells food products from Fiasco Gelato to condiments from Salt Spring Kitchen and spices from Szeged.
Everything is ready to go, but this little spot is also great for its dine-in menu, featuring hearty sandwiches (like deli classic, the Reuben along with a “Roundie” — topped with cold cuts and veggies for just $5), daily sausage specials and, my personal favourite, the Schnitzes get Stitches sandwich with a breaded chicken cutlet far bigger than the bun it’s set on, topped with a tangy horseradish mayo, mustard, lettuce and tomato.
Start with a charcuterie board and you’ve got yourself a fine lunch.
(Those starting a little earlier, take note: they also have a breakfast menu.)
Find Cured Delicatessen at 8409 Elbow Drive S.W. and online at curedyyc.com.
Gwendolyn Richards is a Calgary-based food writer and the author of Pucker: A Cookbook for Citrus Lovers. She regularly contributes to Avenue magazine, the Calgary Herald and is the restaurant writer for Where Calgary.