Deli Day in Los Al!

Katella Deli

4470 Katella Ave. 

Los Alamitos, CA 90720

Well you can cross another city off of our list of cities we have yet to venture to. After our visit to Katella Deli in Los Alamitos, we are now down to six more cities that we need to hit before we can honestly say that we are eating our way through all of OC. It was a real toss up as to where we were going to hit in Los Alamitos. I had five or six choices staring me in the face, but a highly rated deli almost always gets my vote, so Katella Deli is where we ended up.

I have been hearing about Katella Deli for almost as long as I have been writing this blog. I know this place has been around forever, and the clientele here looks like they have been around just as long. We arrived on a Saturday after what we thought would be the lunch rush. Wrong. We had a thirty minute wait at 2pm. Maybe this is the new dinner hour for the elderly. Talk about your early bird special!

Since we were going to have about a half hour wait, we took some of that time and went to the attached service deli and bakery, just off the main lobby of the restaurant. Just like the restaurant, the deli and bakery were busy helping lots of customers. We did not get anything here, but it everything looked great.

After being seated I was amazed at how large this place is. They have counter seating, booths and tables. For as crowded as it is, the pace of the workers was nice and relaxed, while getting the orders out pretty quickly. After checking out the very large menu, this is what we came up with.

Almost one hundred percent of the time when we are in an authentic deli, and Matzo Ball Soup is on the menu, Katie will order it. Katella Deli was no exception. She described the matzo ball as velvety, and the noodles were cooked well. According to Katie, this was a very filling soup, that could stand on its own as a meal. This was served with a choice of bread, so she selected the cornbread. This mini loaf was pretty moist and was served with a sweet honey butter. Not much of a cornbread fan, but this one was pretty good.

I selected a soup that I have never had before, a cup of Sweet and Sour Cabbage Soup. This soup was like two tastes in one. At first I got the sweetness, and then it turned sour. This soup also had chopped up tomatoes, bits of brisket, and of course cabbage. Very good soup that is only served on Saturdays here. For my bread item I ordered the Zucchini Muffin. This muffin was very fresh. It was moist with a spongy texture. The muffin had little bits of zucchini that you could see. I was very tempted to get some of these in the bakery on the way out.

I don't know what it is about delis, but they make Katie a creature of habit. Like at Benjie's, she ordered a Tuna Sandwich on an Egg Roll. The tuna was served cold, finely chopped, and very fresh. She liked the egg bread, and called it, "delicious". The sandwiches are served with one side item, and she went with Macaroni Salad. She felt this salad was very mellow tasting, but still decent.

I guess I should not chastise Katie about always getting the same thing in a deli, especially when my, "go to item at a deli I have never been to",  is a Reuben. At Katella Deli they offer their Reuben with either corned beef or pastrami, I went with the corned beef. The sandwich overall was good, but the meat was a little on the dry side. I did order some Russian dressing, which did help a lot. The sauerkraut was a little overpowering here, and really took over the taste of the sandwich. The rye bread and Swiss cheese were very good on this sandwich. For my side item I got the potato salad, which was mild tasting, with some bigger hunks of potato for texture.

I liked our trip to Katella Deli, but it can not match the sandwiches at Benjie's. The bakery items and soups were very good, but the sandwiches were just a step below those of other delis we have been to recently. The menu at Katella Deli is very large. Visitors will easily find something that they like on this mammoth menu. Service during our visit was polite and very efficient. They got the food out to us quick. Prices were not overly outrageous. No sandwich on the menu is over $11, and that is something that a lot of delis of this type can not claim. Glad we made this the first Los Alamitos restaurant we went to. Now it's time to find out what else this city has to offer.

Out of five sugar beets, (because the city of Los Alamitos was brought to prominence by a sugar beet factory in the 1890's, when most of Katella Deli's customers were born!), five being best to zero being worst, Katella Deli gets 3 sugar beets.

For more information on Katella Deli, click here: http://www.katellabakery.com/