Rick and Kathy Visit Miller’s East Coast Deli

We wound up there for lunch yesterday because we ran out of Batampte mustard.

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Rick has a teeny Batampte mustard addiction issue.

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This unassuming little deli at Polk and Clay in San Francisco is our closest pusher. In fact, it’s one of the few places you can even find Batampte mustard in the whole Bay Area. It’s not terrifically convenient for us, but when the Batampte Beast hollers, you just ask “How much?”

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It’s busy at Miller’s East Coast Deli at 1 p.m. on a Saturday, which notched the ambiance to be as close to a New York deli as I’ve found outside of Manhattan.

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The biggest difference is that the staff don’t yell at you if you take longer than three seconds to place your order, and the customers all seem content to hang out if they have to wait a few minutes to get a seat.

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It’s nice to get out and people watch once in a while.

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There were some real characters on both sides of the counter.

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I had no idea that “highway traffic cone” was a popular look, or even a possible one.

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Time to order, but what to choose? They have every Jewish deli star on the cholesterol hit parade available. Eventually, we landed on a strategy: If you can’t believe a million bubbes about pastrami, what can you believe?

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We ordered the pastrami.

The mustard in the refillable yellow plastic squeezy bottle at each table? Batampte, of course.

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We also ordered the sweet and sour cabbage rolls.

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And the potato latkes.

I stopped licking the plates when it became apparent I was embarrassing Rick.

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We bought three jars of the mustard.

Don’t tell Rick, but I threw two of them out of the car on the way home. I can’t wait that long to have to go back.

Next time? Bagels, baby… bagels.

7 thoughts on “Rick and Kathy Visit Miller’s East Coast Deli

  1. Ginny

    I came across this while trying to find out where to find Ba-Tampte mustard in my new home. For the last 10 years we bought it at Saul’s Delicatessen on North Shattuck in Berkeley. They always have it. The Ba-Tampte beast is calling me, and I have now decided to take on making my own mustard.

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  3. Dushka

    I’m married to a man who can’t even go near mustard, so I haven’t had the stuff in over 10 years. Is that love, or what?

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