Restaurant Review: Stopsky’s Deli

This past weekend I was in Bellevue (across the lake from Seattle) visiting my mom. For many years, Seattle has been lacking in delicious Jewish food. I know this because 1) I grew up in Seattle and we would always go try the new deli only to be disappointed and 2) I am a Jewish food connoisseur because I grew up helping my mother and grandmothers prepare food for Passover, Channukah, and Break Fast on Yom Kippur. There is nothing a Jew loves more than their food. But this past weekend, my mom suggested we go to Stopsky’s Delicatessen (Stopsky’s Deli), a new(ish) deli on Mercer Island. So we went.

Stopsky's Deli
Waiting to be seated. My mom might kill me for posting this, but hey, they all look so happy!

First, let me say, the wait on a Sunday morning was long. We waited about 45 minutes, and by the time we sat down I was crazy hungry (it didn’t help that I had gone to the gym to run about an hour and a half before we even left for breakfast). But I would say it was worth it. The menu has some Jewish classics and some Jew-infused breakfast standards. I settled on the Latkes Benedict, while my sister got the corned beef hash, mom got the cured fish plate, and David got a good old egg plate with latkes and “steak-on” (their kosher version of bacon).

Sadly, when the food arrived, we realized the waiter had mis-heard my order and brought me a pastrami sandwich. It was ok though because my actual order came quickly after they discovered their mistake and they even brought me an apology cookie (which made a perfect snack on the drive home to Portland). I was also ok with my food taking a little longer because by the time I got it I was so hungry that I was able to eat the whole thing. And I would have been sad if I hadn’t been able to because it was SO GOOD. Delicious lemony hollandaise sauce, really nice latkes (which are hard to do), and perfect thinly sliced pastrami. Yum.

Stopsky's Deli
Not my food. But the dish on the right is what my sister got.

So the food was great, the service was pretty good (they were very apologetic about bringing me the wrong food), and the space was very cool too. Lots of big windows to let in light, and the main wall in the dining area was covered in black and white pictures of Jews. Pretty great. If you’re in the area, I’d highly recommend it!