Two delicatessens are up and running in Newburyport, to address a scene that one owner says was lacking in the city. The Green Bean Deli at 9 Liberty St. and the Warren Street Market & Deli at 226 Merrimac St. aim to change all that.

Kimberly Genaw, co-owner and manager of the new Green Bean Deli said she and her partner Mark Stevens saw on a visit to Newburyport that there were no specialty delis in town.

Although apparently there is no concrete definition for what are “specialty” foods – the definition changes from year to year as specialty food items transition into the mainstream grocery store – Genaw sees her deli using natural and organic ingredients as much as possible as her niche.

Genaw said: “We use natural or organic product as much as we can get it. And when we run out, it’s out.” The usual plastic or paper dinnerware found in a lunch place is replaced in the Green Bean Deli by wares made from corn or recycled paper.

Although not specifically “in town” nor touting itself as a purveyor of organic products, Dana Walentuk, co-owner of the Warren Street Market & Deli on Merrimac St., is cranking out sandwiches made from chickens roasted on-site and premium deli meats.

Walentuk said: “It’s fun! It’s a ball – I love to make a good sandwich.” Walentuk has been in the food service profession for more than 30 years and he is a third-generation grocer. His mission is not so much to be a deli – although the deli section is his biggest draw – but to bring back the old neighborhood store feel that vanished as the corner stores disappeared from the city’s neighborhoods.

Said Walentuk: “We’ve looked at this store since we moved to town 14 years ago.” He and his wife Margie, his co-owner, live five houses down the street. The building once housed the Bumble Bee Market and then was Kindred Spirits Kitchen before the Walentuks opened in May 2009. The store has the deli and sells not only sandwiches but hot entrees and bakery items Dana makes himself and convenience store items. They also do catering. The market for the winter is open seven days a week – Monday-Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m.-3 p.m.

The Green Bean Deli’s winter hours are more varied – closed on Mondays, open at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday-Friday but closing at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, 7 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday and 8 p.m. on Friday. Saturday hours are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Sunday, it is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The store was open on Mondays for the first two weeks, Genaw said, but as many downtown businesses are closed on Monday, they decided to follow suit, at least for the winter.

Genaw said she and Stevens did a lot of research before opening, about festivals and the local chamber of commerce. Said Genaw: “The Chamber does a lot.” Both owners also have a background in food service, from the military. For the time being, the Green Bean Deli is selling clam chowder and lobster bisque made by Boston Chowda, the Boston-based business that preceded them at that location, as well as their own soups and chili and salads. Genaw said: “Eventually we will make our own [chowder and bisque].”

The Green Bean Deli opened for business on Jan. 12. Genaw said two weeks later that everything is “cool,” even without doing any advertising and without even a sign out front. Walentuk is a self-described guerilla marketer, using social media tools such as Facebook and an expanding email list to get the word out there about his daily specials.

Walentuk said that even if/when the 1^st Lt. Derek S. Hines Memorial Bridge that with the Chain Bridge links Newburyport and Amesbury is closed for renovations, he expects that the store will be established enough to make it through.

Walentuk has one employee – himself. The Green Bean Deli has four employees, two of whom worked for Boston Chowda Company. Genaw hopes to increase that number in the summer months.

In the photo: Dana Walentuk, co-owner and sole employee of the Warren Street Market & Deli.

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good

I had a great sandwich here.

anon , February 04, 2010

...

My daughter grandchild and I went to the deli on 9 Liberty St. and I was
really disappointed with the menu! The delis I went as to a teenagers had a better menu and the delis had black Russia rye bread and it was better than chocolate cake! I was looking forward in eating a sandwich made with black bread . A deli is not a deli to me if they do not have any real rye bread, and good cole slaw and more kinds of turkey ! We need a real good Jewish deli!

Think Spring , February 02, 2010

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