For anyone who has grown up in a Jewish household, deli is a byword for comfort, promising big cushy booths and matzah ball soup and old-fashioned sodas, egg creams and malteds. Portions tend to be oversized and unabashedly hearty; the deli menu may be the only one in America immune to the scourge of the side salad.
Nate ’n Al is a veteran of this tradition, its 65-year-old Beverly Hills location is deservedly known as a local institution. There, the tabletop Formica is worn, and waitresses are white-haired and bespectacled, happy to let you take your time to figure out what you want. Located on one of the most well-kempt blocks in the city, the original Nate ’n Al provides a welcome respite, a casual spot for the tired shopper to kick off her heels under the table, where no one will see or care.
Now comes a new Nate ’n Al, opened in Thousand Oaks just before Thanksgiving, this one surrounded by a manicured landscape and set in The Lakes shopping complex, which boasts an actual (if artificial) lake and a playground with a swing set and, during winter months, a small ice-skating rink. It is essentially a mall in a park; from the patio you can look out onto bright green grass and the hills beyond.
This brand-new, semi-anonymous, super-suburban paradise might seem an unlikely place for the familiar comfort of an old-school deli. Not so, said co-owner David Mendelson, who describes the people of Thousand Oaks as “mavens of deli.” With so many well-established delis in the area, in fact, he said he almost felt uncomfortable opening up shop here and first made a pilgrimage to the manager of Brent’s in Westlake Village for permission before deciding to go ahead with the new location.
“I took my staff to Brent’s,” he said. “I told them ‘if you want to know deli, this is where to learn.’”
The neighbors’ blessing granted, the question then became how the new Nate ’n Al ought to look. David Mendelson is the grandson of the eponymous Russian-born Al Mendelson, and David and his brother and co-owner, Mark, grew up with the Beverly Hills location. David said that though he loves it dearly, he had always been frustrated that “you weren’t allowed to touch the place” — meaning no changes to the décor allowed. So The Lakes provided a perfect backdrop for a fresh start, offering a readymade community space and the chance to build a new legacy.
The Thousand Oaks Nate ’n Al is slick and dark and modern, and it clearly looks very new. David said that this was the idea — not to try to mimic the old location’s well-worn comfort, but to allow the new venue’s qualities to evolve naturally. “Everything is newer,” he said, “so that it will look in 40 years the way that Beverly Hills does now.” There is a bar and a take-out counter tucked at one narrow end of the restaurant, to encourage single diners and casual breakfasts.
Families, however, have always been and will remain the deli’s bread and butter.
“Kids and parents and grandparents,” David said of his target demographic. “Three generations; that’s what I was looking for.”
To that end, an open patio is designed to accommodate strollers in warmer weather, and The Lakes’ playground serves as an added bonus of the location. Restaurant hours are family friendly: doors open at 7 a.m. daily and close at 9 p.m. on weeknights and at 9:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. The idea is to become a part of the community, a comfortable place that fits into a regular routine.
It is always difficult to expand upon a legacy as well-established as Nate ’n Al’s — David and Mark have certainly put themselves to the test, especially given the time crunch under which they built the new location: after just 57 days, they opened the day before Thanksgiving, in time to weather the holiday rush. The first few months have been a bit rocky — the staff was all new, unfamiliar with the menu, and they had to learn the Nate ’n Al notion of “what it means to take care of a customer.”
“It’s my heart and soul,” said David, who oversaw construction and the opening. “It’s my baby. It’s really young! It was born, and it crawled, and it had to run in three days, and then it was stumbling, and it was horrible to watch.”
But he feels that things have evened out in the intervening months, and that they’re finally “moving in the right direction.” He is particularly enthusiastic about a group of regulars who already have started showing up for breakfast on the way to work.
The brothers remain faithful to their grandfather’s two favorite pieces of deli-running wisdom, David said: “If you want them in the booths, keep them off the walls,” Al liked to say. And then: “don’t get too schmaltzy.”
For Al Mendelson, the important thing was to run “a deli with a heart, just a place where people can meet for good food in good times and bad.”
It’s an ethos that resonates particularly today, in this moment of world uncertainty and still-tentative hope.
Nate ’n Al Short Ribs
(Serves 4)
4 bone-in beef short ribs
1 yellow onion (peeled and diced)
1 carrot (peeled and diced)
2 stalks of celery (diced)
3 cloves garlic (minced)
1 oz tomato paste
1/2 cup dry red wine
beef stock (enough to cover short ribs)
kosher salt
white pepper
1-2 tablespoon canola oil
Season short ribs with salt and pepper while heating saute pan to medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add canola oil and sear short ribs on all sides until golden brown. (Do not move the ribs around.) Remove short ribs and set aside. In the same pan, turn heat down to medium, add a touch more oil and add the onion, carrot and celery mixture. Saute for about 5 to 10 minutes (or until caramelized). Add minced garlic. Season mixture with salt and pepper. Turn heat down to low and add tomato paste. Let the tomato paste cook for about 5 minutes, then de-glaze with red wine and reduce by half. Scrape all drippings off the bottom of the pan. Add beef stock (or water if you don’t have any stock) and let the mixture come to a boil. In a separate baking dish, add the short ribs and pour the sauce mixture on top to cover. Cover with foil. Cook at 300 F for 5-6 hours.
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