Lenny's Delicatessen, which consistently serves delicious food to the folks of Reisterstown, Glyndon, Owings Mills and Pikesville, was originally opened in Owings Mills in 1985 by Lenny Smith and his son. Six years later they opened another location on the famous "corned beef row" in Baltimore. Sometime later a third location in Harborplace was opened.
Lenny's Deli has been honored by Baltimore Magazine for having the best corned beef in Baltimore several times in the last decade.
While Lenny's is famous in the Baltimore Area for its corned beef, personally I find many other reasons to love Lenny's. The deli is still cafeteria style, so as you are standing in line waiting to order, watching all these wonderful dishes be prepared in front of you, it's easy to wonder if you made the right meal choice. With so many options, it gets hard to make up your mind.
Lenny's starts with breakfast. The deli offers your usually fare of bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches, bagels with lox, waffles, and even scrapple, egg and cheese sandwiches. They offer a variety of breakfast platters, each of which comes with a bagel, tomatoes, onions, lettuce and cream cheese. The platters include a nova platter, kippered salmon platter, and white fish and white fish salad platters. They also offer my personal favorite: the French toast platter. If eggs are more to your liking, their omelettes won't disappoint. Every omelette is made with three eggs and your choice of offered ingredients, which include ham, mushrooms, spinach, bacon, salami, lox, onions and cheese. Lenny's also offers egg whites as an option.
Lenny's lunch dishes are spectacular. They offer a variety of melt-in-your-mouth sandwiches, the best of which, of course, is the corned beef on rye. They also offer a powerhouse sandwich for those opting for a healthier choice. Their regular selection of sandwiches includes salami; bologna; pastrami; ham and cheese; turkey breast; grilled chicken; bacon; and lettuce and tomato. They even offer a sandwich option they call the "goliath," which is an overstuffed version of any of their regular sandwiches. Of course, my all-time favorite lunch is the kosher hot dog split down the middle, grilled and served on a roll with a juicy slice of grilled kosher bologna. Oh my goodness — my mouth is watering just thinking about it.
Lenny's offers a variety of salads as well. They have a Caesar salad that is amazing, Lenny's house salad, a chef salad, an Oriental salad, a Greek salad and a traditional tossed salad. Their cheese steak sub is amazing, as is their chicken pot pie, which is my favorite meal.
Bringing the kids along? Not a problem. Lenny's offers chicken dinosaur nuggets, a kids hot dog platter and a grilled cheese.
Lenny's offers amazing oven roasted or fried chicken, and has a variety of chicken dinner options available. They also offer a meatloaf dinner, a stuffed chicken breast dinner, a turkey platter and a roast beef platter.
Lenny's has a number of delicious desserts that vary from day to day, but include such items as fresh baked cookies, danishes and cakes.
Lenny's is located at 9107 Reisterstown Road in Owings Mills.
Terry Chaney is a Reisterstown resident and can be reached via email at antter95@yahoo.com.
