Since two New Yorkers opened the first Deli Zone in Boulder, Colo., in 1995, it has grown into an 11-restaurant chain in the Rocky Mountain state. Deli Zone recently opened its first Arizona location on the southeast corner of Baseline and Cooper roads in Gilbert.

The mood: The strip-mall space is plainly decorated with faux-brick wainscoting, a faux-brick counter and red and white paint. A lone TV sits atop a cold case of drinks.

A dozen round tables provide plenty of seating inside, and there are a couple of patio tables on the front sidewalk.

The food: More than 50 sandwiches are listed on a large, black menu board on the kitchen wall. Most have New York-related names, such as the Guiliani, the Wall Street and the Hell’s Kitchen.

We order the Chrysler Building ($8.99, shown on right), which features a half-pound of pastrami from New York’s famous Carnegie Deli. It’s topped with Swiss cheese and mustard and comes on a choice of Kaiser Roll or grilled marble rye.

Our other pick is a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich ($4.49, shown on left), made with three fried eggs. It comes on a Kaiser Roll and, like several other egg sandwiches, is served all day.

We take advantage of two combo options. For $2.49, we add macaroni salad and a drink to the first sandwich. For a $1.99, we add a bag of chips and a drink to the other.

The drinks: Our fountain drinks are included in the combo price.

The damage: $19.36. Both sandwiches are huge and taste good. About the only thing at Deli Zone that doesn’t seem to be authentically New York is the service, which is very friendly.

>> Deli Zone, 1275 E. Baseline Road, Gilbert (southeast corner of Baseline and Cooper roads), is open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. (480) 503-3354.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 9th, 2008 at 7:09 pm and is filed under 2 for $20, Restaurants - Gilbert. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.