Delaware’s Big Dill
Jewish Living Delaware’s Exclusive Interview with Warren Rosenfeld of Rosenfeld’s Jewish Delicatessen
By Emma Driban, Editor
For Delawareans across the state, the name Rosenfeld’s rings out as the only Jewish-style deli to make a home in the first state. With three locations—Rehoboth, South Bethany, and Salisbury (MD)—and a fourth on the way in Ocean City, MD (opening May 2025), the kosher-style delicatessen is a favorite stop for many beach-goers, Sussex residents, and sandwich enthusiasts.
Warren Rosenfeld, Founder of Rosenfeld’s Jewish Delicatessen, joined Jewish Living Delaware for an exclusive interview. Read on below for the beloved deli’s origin story, customer favorites, and—most importantly—Mr. Rosenfeld’s pickle preference.
1. Can you share the story behind Rosenfeld’s Deli? What got you into the restaurant business?
I grew up in the restaurant business. For 17 years, my parents owned a breakfast and lunch restaurant on the corner of 18th & Eye Streets in downtown Washington, DC. I was 14 when they started it, and worked there through college and even when I was in law school at nearby George Washington University School of Law. My parents sold it in 1985. I missed the restaurant business, and after having a very successful career as the managing partner of a DC law firm and the CEO of a technology company, I retired in 2012 and got bored quickly. That prompted me to open the first Rosenfeld’s Jewish Deli in Ocean City, Maryland in April of 2013. We had moved to the Ocean City area full time in 2011. My intent was to have only one store, but the concept grew in popularity quickly.
2. What kind of responses did you get when you initially opened? Did you find there was a good audience for a classic Jewish deli?
The first eight weeks we were open, we had a nice response—a steady stream of customers—and I had done a lot of radio ads prior to its opening. However, once the middle of June came in that first year, two months after we opened, we just got mobbed as vacationers discovered us and couldn’t believe that there was now a Jewish deli at the beach.
3. Rosenfeld’s has been open for over a decade now. What kind of challenges have you faced over the years? What would you say is the greatest force that kept you going?
I have now been open for 12 years, even though I closed the original location this past October. I am reopening in Ocean City in May, but at a different location. The biggest challenge throughout has been staffing, especially here on the Eastern Shore—although that has eased considerably over the past two years. The inflationary economy has been a huge challenge. There really has been no choice but to raise prices, and to levels at which I am uncomfortable, but at which are appropriate given the wholesale costs we face. What keeps me going is what always has kept me going. I’m not a quitter; I feel that I can outwork anyone (even turning 70 this April), and I love challenges, the bigger the better. So, closing has never been considered and, for the most part, it’s been a very enjoyable 12 year ride so far.
4. You’ve had two locations up in Wilmington that, unfortunately, closed after rather short tenures. What happened? Could you see yourself expanding upstate again?
The Wilmington locations did not work out. Those locations were both the result of a partnership with Big Fish Restaurant Group that looked good on paper, but the execution of the partnership just wasn’t right, and those locations suffered as a result. I would consider opening again, either in Newark or Wilmington, but it would be either a wholly owned location or, in a partnership in which I had greater oversight, especially after the experience with Big Fish. They were good people, and they definitely knew what they were doing with concern to their own restaurants. But, they had no Jewish deli experience, the decision-makers were not Jewish, and in retrospect I simply gave away too much control of the concept and of daily operations to them. If I expanded north again, it would be with greater control over the construction and daily operations. I feel that both cities, perhaps especially Newark, would be a good fit for a new Rosenfeld’s location.
5. In addition to being a full-service Jewish deli, you offer catering. What sort of catering packages do you have?
We have catering menus which you can find at www.RosenfeldsJewishDeli.com. We tell customers that we can do any sort of catering, and we ask that you use our catering menu as a starting point. We do both platters and off-site, staffed catering. In the past, we’ve also done off-site, several weddings, bar mitzvahs, Passover seders, break-fasts, engagement parties, and the like. We routinely provide smoked fish platters, sandwich platters, meat platters, dessert platters, bagel & lox platters, fruit platters, falafel platters, and so on. Plenty of sides and accoutrements come with most platters. All of that said, we’ll provide within reason any type of food or catering that you’re looking for.
6. What are some of your most popular menu items?
Our most popular items include our standard Reuben (we have six kinds), our standard corned beef or pastrami sandwiches, latkes, our giant 1/3 pound hot dogs, corned beef hash, French toast, our smoked fish platters, and our blueberry bread pudding.
7. Do you have any favorites you like to recommend?
My favorites include the Deli Style Reuben (pastrami, coleslaw, Muenster cheese, Russian), our For The Birds Reuben (turkey, coleslaw, Swiss cheese, Russian), our Reuben Hot Dog, and—for breakfast—our Corned Beef Hash Omelette.
8. Though your menu isn’t fully kosher, you do offer a variety of kosher options. Tell us a bit about that.
We have a Kosher freezer with retail items for sale in the deli lobby and, on the menu, we have kosher items, such as our rye bread, salami, bologna, our knishes, our babka and rugelach, our black and white cookies, and some other items too. A kosher customer will not have a problem putting together a meal in our restaurants.
9. What do you envision for the future?
For the future, I would like to continue with the Salisbury, MD location and the Rehoboth Beach, DE location year-round, keeping the South Bethany, DE location as a 6-month seasonal location. I have recently entered into an agreement with an experienced franchisee to have him open a new, licensed Rosenfeld’s in Ocean City coming this May, and I expect that will be a seasonal 9-month a year location. I would love to open other licensed locations if there are interested investors and operational partners out there. Other than that, I continue to explore possible new, wholly owned locations in perhaps Easton, MD and in middle or north Delaware. Again though, I am open to a licensed Rosenfeld’s in any location. I have had inquiries as far away as Arizona and from others in Long Island and in Pennsylvania, and that is with doing no advertising whatsoever as to the existence of a licensed Rosenfeld’s concept.
10. Is there anything you want to tell customers before they come into any of your delis for the first time?
What I want customers to know is that it is not easy having Jewish deli restaurants in the non-Jewish areas in which I am located. Getting help that knows anything at all about Jewish foods is very difficult, so I have to rely on current staff—themselves wholly ignorant at one time as to Jewish foods—to do the training and oversight. As with most restaurants, we try as hard as we can to please everyone, but the Jewish clientele can be a tough one to please at times, and we work through whatever problems that might arise. I feel very strongly that we are priced fairly for a Jewish deli—it is not an inexpensive cuisine—but that doesn’t prevent complaints about pricing. Everything is expensive today. Dining out is a substantial investment. So, expect a sandwich of $18–$20, but know that it might feed two people or provide two meals.
11. Most importantly—kosher dill or half sours?
Half Sours, no doubt.
