Urban Deli Coming to Light Street in Federal Hill

Federal Hill is getting a new deli as Urban Deli is opening this Saturday in an 800 sq. ft. space the was formerly an art gallery at 1448 Light St. Urban Deli is the creation of longtime neighborhood resident Laura McCormack who has a passion for cooking and previously owned a gift shop in Roland Park.

McCormack purchased the building a year ago and wanted to start a business selling dinners to go, but she also wanted to provide the area with good coffee, so decided she might as well offer breakfast and lunch as well. Urban Deli will be open seven days a week from 7am to 8pm on weekdays and likely 8am to 8pm on the weekends, but McCormack noted that dinner hours could be extended. All of Urban Deli’s products will be natural and feature many locally grown and prepared items. McCormack will avoid selling items with preservatives or any processed meats.

For breakfast, the focus will be New York bagels, which she will get shipped in daily from New York, as well as danishes, muffins, baked frittatas, and fresh fruit and vegetable smoothies. Breakfast sandwiches will be available incorporating the frittatas and three homemade cream cheeses (regular, veggie, and chive) will be made each day. Salmon will also be available.

Urban Deli will serve Zeke’s Coffee – customers can get a cup of coffee or purchase bags of coffee beans from the Hamilton-based company.

During lunch and dinner, the focus will be on customized chopped salads, deli sandwiches and paninnis, and homemade soups. There will be 24 to 30 different salad toppings to pick from, as well as a variety of homemade dressings. After customer choices their ingredients, greens, and protein, it will get chopped and mixed behind the counter for them.

The sandwiches will use fresh bread from Bakery de France out of Rockville. Ingredients will include “top-of-the-line” ham, oven-roasted turkey and chicken, top round beef, corned beef, and more. Urban Deli will make homemade sauces and a variety of cheeses will be available. There will be about 10 sandwiches offered each day or customers can build their own.

McCormack will prepare one or two soups each day from the 30 to 40 recipes she has in her collection, including Portuguese kale and bean, wild barley and mushroom, and three lentil chili.

The to-go dinners will feature the same natural and fresh ingredients and will be available daily.

Desserts will include David’s Cookies, which will be baked in-house every day, as well as brownies. There will be a grab-and-go area where customers can get veggies and hummus, yogurt parfaits, and fruit cups. There will also items for kids including organic snacks and drinks from Pumpkin Tree, peanut butter and jelly, and mac and cheese. Sodas, juices, and Pellegrino drinks will additionally be available for purchase.

McCormack noted there are many people in front of her store each day waiting for the University of Maryland Baltimore shuttle, so she’s hoping to bring them in for her quick items and coffee.

Urban Deli will feature a bar top that seats about six and McCormack is hoping to build an outdoor patio in the rear courtyard in the future. The interior and exterior features McCormack’s favorite colors of canary yellow and grey.

McCormack expects to hire three to four employees.

via http://southbmore.com/2016/04/05/urban-deli-coming-to-light-street-in-federal-hill/