shtuck711's blog

We love our customers at the deli.  I've been in the Fort for ten years and before the restaurant, it was hard to feel as though I belonged here.  I'm a Yankee after all (please just keep that between us...I've seen those confederate flags flying)!  My children were adults when I moved to the area and I traveled for my job, so it was hard to find a way into the Fort Smith culture.  The deli has changed all that and I've finally started to feel like this is home. 

I was thinking earlier today about some of my favorite customers:

I was sitting at the red light at the corner of Rogers and 74th street, watching Stonewood Villages's electric sign flash information about our restaurant.  It proudly states "made fresh daily," as it scrolls through our hours, etc.  It occurred to me that "made fresh daily" doesn't really describe what we do.  Later that same day, we were discussing our E Fort Smith ad with the incomparable David Carter and he made the same point -- our food is made fresh daily, but more importantly, it's made from scratch daily.  What's the difference?

Long before we opened the doors at River City Deli, we were planning and strategizing about our menu, our customer base, and our equipment.  The equipment was a big deal.  In order to do all of our meats in-house instead of buying pre-cooked deli meat, we needed some specific (and expensive!!) equipment.  The first big purchase was our "combi" oven - something rarely seen in small "mom and son" operations.  My son insisted.  He said it would allow us to steam, bake, and roast our meats, and quite possibly even change the world.  I was more skeptical.  Did we really need that wildly expensiv

I've just come back from the 30th annual Food and Wine Classic in Aspen, Colorado.  It was a Christmas present from my husband this year and, WOW -- what a gift!  For starters, the weather was perfect -- low 80s every day, abundant sunshine and no humidity!  The evening's were cool with temps in the 60's, perfect for walking around this beautiful town.  Celebrity chefs were everywhere -- we attended seminars led by such icons as Mario Batali, Jose Andres, and Tom Colichio.  To have the opportunity to learn from these leaders in the industry was mind-boggling.  

When I'm worn out or worn down, I instinctively reach for chicken soup.  it doesn't matter what's in it -- noodles, matzo balls, veggies - or plain, hot chicken broth -- it just makes me feel better.  Something about the way it smells and feels instantly soothes me, and I feel my stress release and my muscles start to relax.    What are your comfort foods of choice?  

One of our signature items is an incredibly delicious treat called a "Potato Latke,"  As one of our customers wrote in their Urbanspoon review, she'd never even heard of potato latkes before and now she can't stop thinking about them!  It's been true for me my entire life.  A potato latke (or potato pancake) is something we used to get as a special treat, once a year, during Hannukah.  They are made from finely grated potatoes, chopped onion, egg, and a few secret ingredients and then fried to perfection in hot oil.  Some people like to eat them with applesauce, or you can get them loaded a

This week we're at the National Restaurant show in Chicago.  It's quite an experience with thousands of vendors showcasing their products and most importantly, their food offerings.  It's amazing to us how many products there are on the market that are just pre-made, pre-packaged foods made for the express purpose of being sold in restaurants.  It's easy (just open a package and serve it up), it's cheaper (quality of product doesn't have to be as high), and the shelf life is very long (preservatives), saving the restaurant a fortune in waste.  As we wandered the show (tasting everything), w

Barely four months old, River City Deli is the first and only New York style deli in this part of the state.  It was born from the love of this style of food by a mother (me) and son combo who wanted to bring our version of comfort food to the River Valley.  When we think of the word "deli," it conjures up images of piping hot homemade soups, melt-in-your-mouth meats, and the kind of attentive service you only get at home from the people who love you the most.  So....that's the experience we set out to create.  We're making almost everything from scratch.  Every da