The tricky thing about delicatessens, Ilyse Fishman Lerner has learned, is that everyone has an opinion about them. For every kvell, there’s a kvetch.
"A lot of people come in and they want to tell us their experiences they've had with this food growing up," she says. But those experiences might not match what's on the menu at On Rye, a Chinatown deli with a modern twist: The vegetarian offerings upstage the meat.
“It’s an amalgamation of everything I had growing up, and it’s also a conversation about where the cuisine is headed,” Lerner says. “Our menu is a lot more vegetarian-friendly and a lot lighter.”
Sure, there’s pastrami and corned beef and matzoh ball soup. But the stars of the show here are Reubens made of portobello mushrooms and spiced broccoli rabe, or smoked beet and Gouda. Stuffed with sauerkraut and slathered with Russian dressing, they stay true to the original deli flavors while being far more interesting than their meaty counterparts. (Just don’t eat one while wearing a white shirt — those beets are slippery.)
Another thing that makes On Rye a modern deli is its commitment to health. The kitchen has a light touch with salt, and sandwiches aren’t stacked with so much pastrami and corned beef that they threaten to topple over. You can eat an entire sandwich in one sitting without feeling as if you need to take a nap.
On Rye, which opened late last year, got a lot of buzz initially for using Wagyu brisket. But after feedback, Lerner has phased that out for a more traditional corned beef and pastrami, brined by a local supplier. The changes have been good, and the sandwiches are more flavorful than before, though still not as rich as the pastrami at Smoked and Stacked in Shaw. It's something Lerner says they're still tweaking, along with other parts of the menu: The wan baked latkes are out; egg salad and coleslaw are in. (They even have a turkey sandwich named "We Finally Have Slaw!") As they rethink the menu, they would do well to take a second look at the turkey charoset sandwich, which tastes mostly of cinnamon.
Downtown Washington doesn’t have a traditional Jewish deli, which may explain why some people have been outspoken about this one. It draws customers who might have a different set of expectations. To them, a modern deli — where veggies take a front seat and you won’t leave parched from all the salt — may seem contrary to the natural order of things.
Aside from the veggie Reubens, there are other things On Rye does quite well. Its egg cream — "No egg, no cream!" the menu exclaims — is fizzy and indulgent, thanks to Fox's U-Bet chocolate syrup, a classic New York deli component. Its matzoh ball soup, $7, is hearty enough as a stand-alone lunch item, with root vegetables and its baseball-size starring attraction. Even before the deli opened, On Rye was winning people over with its babka ice cream sandwiches, which began as an offering at Nationals Park. Lerner's husband, and the restaurant's co-owner, is a grandson of the team's owner, Ted Lerner. The couple, both 31, are first-time restaurateurs and left their careers in law to work in the industry.
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The interior is full of charm, clad in subway tile and wooden shelving that contains Jewish cookbooks and potted plants. One small window-seating nook is swathed in wallpaper printed with tessellated close-ups of the restaurant’s sandwiches, and the bathrooms are decorated with images of pickles and black-and-white cookies. And as you walk in, you’re met with a pun: A tiled welcome mat that says, “Rye, hello there.”
Share this articleShare“We brainstormed a ton of rye puns,” Lerner says, including “good-rye” and “we do it rye-t.” But “we haven’t subjected people to them.”
You could say it’s a deli with a rye sense of humor. And one that wants to do right by its customers.
740 Sixth St. NW. 202-794-8400. www.onrye.com. Sandwiches, $5.99 to $12.99.
Tom Sietsema will return next week.
This story has been updated.
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