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Kosmo Deli: Hard To Find, Easy To Like

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Parent Issue
Day
17
Month
May
Year
2001
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Donated by the Ann Arbor News. © The Ann Arbor News.
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News photo: Robert Chase

Kosmo Deli: hard to find, easy to like

BY ANA M. WAGNER

N«wa Restaurant Ravlawa

FOOD

Stroll too quickly past the produce at Caccio’s Market and you might just miss it. If you find yourself eyeball to eyeball with Monahan’s freshest catches, you’ve gone just a little too far. Simply backtrack toward the tomatoes, then turn toward the wall. There, tucked into a postage-stamp-sized space, you’ll find the Kosmo Deli, Kerrytown Shops’ cozy lunch counter, serving up a variety of breakfast items, sandwiches and Asian specialties.

Popular with Community High School students looking for a quick breakfast and with local business folk who stop by for a speedy lunch, the Kosmo Deli is not well known outside downtown Ann Arbor. This may be due to its limited size (just over a half-dozen bar stools lined up along a wooden counter) or to its lack of advertising (a notebook-sized sign overhead appears to be its only marketing tool). Or, it might just be that the regulars want to keep a good thing to themselves.

Compared to other Kerrytown Shops offerings, the Kosmo Deli is downright dowdy. Shelves are crammed with stacks of paper plates, napkins, bags of chips, boxes of candy and other luncheonette necessities, while three refrigerated cases keep a jumble of juices, sodas and other beverages chilled. Hanging above these coolers are the eatery’s menu boards, listing breakfast, lunch and snack items in large, handwritten letters. A heating table along the lunch counter keeps fried foods fresh.

Lescoffier this is not.

If you’ve found your way here, however, you’re not looking for elegant dining. You’re looking for “good, cheap, fast, tasty” food, as the Kosmo Deli’s one and only sign proclaims. There’s plenty of it, too, prepared right before your eyes on the little cooking stove set back against the wall. Didn't have enough time for breakfast at home? Have your bacon, egg and toast right here - or, if you’re in a real rush, order the Breakfast Sandwich and get it to go, with cheese to boot. Not in the mood for toast? Get a bacon, egg and cheese bagel instead, or just an egg and cheese bagel if you’re trying to cut out the fat.

Other bagel sandwiches make excellent snacks if you’re out shopping and need something to tide you over until you’re done with your errands. The Kosmo Deli’s pizza bagel is a quick pick-me-up, spread with plenty of zesty tomato sauce and then smothered with melted mozzarella cheese. While the egg salad bagel was a bit heavy on the mayonnaise, the chicken salad bagel was loaded with morsels of tender chicken and seasoned just right. You can even get bagels spread simply with butter or cream cheese if you’re looking for just a light bite to eat.

The lunch counter also offers such classic American fare as the BLT grilled cheese, ham and cheese, hot dog and burger.

Skip the burger, however, and go all out and order the Kosmo Burger, the house sandwich specialty. Featuring two freshly grilled beef patties, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, catsup and mustard on an onion roll, the Kosmo Burger easily outranks any mass-produced fast food burger.

If sandwiches don’t suit your mood, give one of the Asian entrees a shot. The Kosmo Deli offers a variety of Japanese, Korean and Chinese favorites including chicken teriyaki, shrimp fried rice and the largest egg rolls I have ever seen, crispy, light and crammed with shredded vegetables. Fueling adventurous? Give the B-Bim Bop a shot. This traditional Korean meal, consisting of rice, a fried egg, vegetables and grilled marinated beef, or bulgogi, is the Kosmo Deli's biggest -and at $7, most expensive -dish.

Most folks in the mood for Asian food order the vegetable tempura, so much so that there’s always some in the heating tray, ready to serve.

Don’t expect the large, delicately battered slices of tempura served up at Japanese restaurants; like everything else here, the veggie tempura is filling, not thrilling. In fact, my friend and I mistook our order of tempura for the side of fries I’d requested. Because seasoned julienned potatoes make up the majority of the tempura, we didn’t suspect anything until we came across a batter-dipped string bean and finally realized our error when the fries were brought out.

Don’t judge the food here by its looks, though. The key to the Kosmo Deli’s success is that it serves up its offerings exactly as it promises: good, cheap, fast and tasty. Someday, it might want to add “friendly” to its sign, for every customer that approached the counter - as well as those lost souls looking for a particular Kerrytown boutique - received a cheery smile and a friendly greeting. I couldn’t help but notice that a good number of guests were on a first-name basis with the eatery staff. I hope the regulars don’t mind that their local spot isn’t as secret as it used to be.

RESTAURANT

REVIEW

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Kosmo Deli

407 N. Fifth Ave., Ann Arbor (734) 662-5008

Food: 6.5 out of 10

Service: 8 out of 10

Atmosphere: 6.5 out of 10

Hours: Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-6 p.m.; Saturday 7 a.m.-5 p.m.; closed Sunday

Liquor: none

Plastic: none

Prices: inexpensive; $1.50 for a grilled cheese, $7 for B-Bim Bop.

Wheelchair access: minimal. Market is accessible, but the lunch counter's height makes reading the menu difficult. No special seating available.