San Diego Reader

• Restaurant

The Yellow Deli

• 315 E. Broadway, Vista, CA 92084 | Directions
• 760-631-1888
• http://yellowdeli.com/

You should visit this deli for its fabulous arty bathrooms alone. And for its quirky, beautifully carved, purpose-built house. And for its musicians who play in the patio at night. And because the place is open 24 hours every day except the Sabbath, which is celebrated from Friday lunchtime till Sunday lunchtime.

The people who run Yellow Deli are a community of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. They try to live like the early Christians.

Their house-restaurant is a collection of rooms, caves, alcoves, barn doors, raw wood, and poles, like a ship (an ark, maybe?).

And, man, they deliver on the food. Yes, it’s a little bit nuts-and-twigs, but they have beef and lamb sandwiches. And salads come direct from their garden in Valley Center, picked today. And wonderful wholesome soups. The potato-cheese soup’s to die for. You can get a cupful for four bucks and change. And the veggieburger would fool even my dedicated carnivore Carla.

But don’t expect TV screens. “TV has replaced the hearth,” says one of the crew.

“‘Hearth,’ ‘heart,’ same word.”

Instead, they have live bands of guys playing mandolins, zithers, and drums, and they hold discussions on subjects like “Should spanking be allowed?”

— Ed Bedford