East Coast transplants to Baghdad by the Bay long bemoaned the City’s lack of good pastrami. Over the years, the deli scene has scarcely improved. Good news has arrived: Located on 24th Street near South Van Ness, Wise Sons Deli brings San Francisco an authentic Jewish deli, ironically in a corner of the Mission district where tacquerias are more common.
Owners Evan Bloom and Leo Beckerman had been serving their deli food for more than a year at pop-up restaurants and from a cart at the San Francisco Ferry Building. This spring they opened a storefront of their own and have quickly gained a lot of publicity. While in the City in May, Tawn and I stopped by for an early lunch.
The interior is homey and comfortable. There is a line out the door throughout lunch and popular items do sell out. Service is friendly and efficient, which makes you feel welcome.
Something you don’t see often enough on the West Coast: New Jersey based Boylan Bottling Company’s Black Cherry soda. Tasty!
Waiting patiently for our food. You place orders at the register behind me. Food is then delivered to your table.
Matzo ball soup with a tender but not mushy matzo ball and a broth so rich and satisfying that you could easily ascribe to it all sorts of magical healing powers.
Pastrami on rye with a side of potato salad and homemade pickle spears. This is the true test of any deli, right? The good news: it exceeded expectations. The pastrami, sliced just a bit thick for my tastes, is moist and flavorful. The pickles are fantastic and make you wonder why more people don’t make their own pickles.
Close up on the meat.
Tawn had a special, a chicken cutlet pounded thin, breaded, and fried in a Schnitzel style. It was very tasty, too. Fries were nice, although nothing substantially different.
Conclusion: Wise Sons is the type of place that, if I lived in San Francisco, I’d visit regularly. The ambience and service are pleasant and the food is top-notch. Will definitely put it on the list to revisit next time I’m in town.
christao408 
Looks very tasty!
I would love to transport myself to there and have a bite of that ymmy delicious sandwich.
Lookin quite patient there. Though deep down inside you can’t wait to bite into that tasty pastrami sandwich.
I love a good pastrami on rye – but with a cold beer!!
enjoyed the airplane porn and pastrami on rye is one of my favorites i also love wonton and matzoball soup you have a good looking sisiter
Boylan!!! Oh, how I long for a Boylan Birch Beer!!! That alone is enough to make me love that place… It is too bad my sister in law is moving back to IN from SF. I’d have loved to have stopped in Wise Bros. on a visit.
Drat! I’m hungry again.
gosh i miss good old east coast jewish deli cuisine 😦
nice!!!
Oh my, that sandwich and the soup looks like a very filling lunch. I even like that painting on the wall by the take out window.
@ElusiveWords – SF (and the Mission District in particular) has a lot of murals. They really lighten up the streetscape.@rudyhou – So do all the San Franciscans… that’s why they’re happy that Wise Sons has opened! =D@Inciteful – Whoops, sorry. Should have added a warning at the front of the post.@murisopsis – Why are you letting her move back!? Everyone in the Midwest needs a relative they can visit on the West Coast.@Fatcat723 – Oh, that would have been good, too… although it was kind of a chilly summer day, a day on which a cold beer doesn’t feel as refreshing.@grannykaren – Thank you for your kind words; I’ll pass the compliment on to my sister.@catstemplar2 – Oh, you know it! Was starving and all I could think about was, “I’m getting a pastrami sandwich!”@vsan79 – Could ship you one, although would be a bit soggy by the time it arrived.@beowulf222 – @yang1815 – It was!
@christao408 – if only they had it opened when i was still living there.