Restaurants & Dining
Gershon’s NY Deli: Prize-winning Rice Pudding
When Bob and Evelyn Lessner opened Gershon's NY Deli in 2008, people on the south end of the Grand Strand hailed their sandwiches, potato salad, tuna pasta salad and blintzes as delicious additions to the Garden City/Murrells Inlet food repertoire.
Two years later, the deli is firmly entrenched in the dietary needs of thousands of locals who can't do without Gershon's hot pastrami, egg salad, liverwurst, and rice pudding.
About that rice pudding – it is now officially prize-winning pudding. On April 18 Bob and Evelyn, and their son, Sean Denning, brought their rice pudding to the Spring Sensation food festival sponsored by the Myrtle Beach chapter of the American Culinary Federation. Hundreds of diners sampled it, and the Lessners went home with the biggest trophy of the day for the People's Choice Best Dessert Award.
The nutmeg-dusted pudding is simple but extraordinarily creamy and has a luxuriously silken texture.
Extraordinary is also a good word to describe the blintzes. Blintzes, if you’re new to them, are small crepes (thin pancakes) filled with the kind of creamy sweet cheese you find in the middle of a cheese Danish. They're terrific with thick blueberry sauce and sour cream to dollop on top.
Specialties of the house include the Nova Plate with freshly sliced smoked salmon, a toasted bagel, cream cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion and a fruit cup; and Three Homemade Potato Pancakes served with sour cream or apple sauce.
The potato pancakes are locally famous with good reason. They are thick, subtly flavored with fresh grated onion and have perfect crunchy exteriors. The crispy little rounds of excellence come with applesauce and sour cream for dipping or spreading.
Anyone who is a fan of New York delis will appreciate the sandwiches and salads here, which are made from recipes served in the first Gershon's Deli founded in 1954 in Schenectady, New York. Sandwiches are pleasantly thick and can be filled with hot corned beef, beef brisket, house-roasted turkey, meatloaf, house-made chopped liver, imported sardines, Danish ham, cappicola and more.
You can choose to have a “regular” sandwich, an overstuffed sandwich with two meats, or a triple decker. Savory sandwich add-ons include roasted peppers and sliced egg.
No New York deli would be complete without salads, and the Lessners have them: tuna fish, chicken, shrimp, and egg, made with the traditional mellow New York-style salt and pepper flavorings and just enough mayonnaise to make it all hold together. They also have Shrimp & Shells Salad, Pasta Salad, Creamy Coleslaw, Cucumber Salad, German Potato Salad, Chef Salad and Grilled Chicken Salad.
Of course you can get Matzo Ball and Chicken Noodle Soup, and there is a grill where Hebrew National Hot Dogs, Angus Burgers and Reuben Sandwiches are cooking.
Dining in-house is a pleasant experience. The deli's dining room has an old-world village ambiance with tile roof overhangs and brick half-walls that make you feel like you're sitting in a town square. Tables, chairs and booths are a sleek and stylish black.
If you're planning a party or just want to feed your family at home, Gershon's is also a go-to spot for salads, meats and cheeses by the pound, or platters complete with condiments, plates and utensils.
Gershon's NY Deli is at 3140 U.S. 17 Business S. in Garden City, and the number is (843) 357-DELI (3354). They’re open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, although hours can change seasonally.
