New Deli to Open in Montecito Plaza

Come November, San Rafael will have a new Jewish deli in Montecito Plaza.

"Isn't it funny to stand here and think this will soon be a viable food operation," says Miller's East Coast Deli owner Robby Morgenstein as he looks at the gutted insides of a 2,850 square-foot space that was once Pasta Pomodoro.

In just a little over a month, the space will be reopened as a New York-style delicatessen, with around 25 new hires and accommodations for 74 patrons.

For Morgenstein, who's lived in Indian Valley for the past four years, east coast deli-style comfort food is missing in Marin's culinary landscape.

"I think people here are really excited about us opening because you can't get a pastrami sandwich like this anywhere else," he says.

Other than pastrami, the restaurant serves deli staples, from stuffed cabbage to chopped liver to matzo brie. Morgenstein also plans to keep it as local as possible by purchasing products like wine and beer from brewers in Marin and Sonoma counties.

Morgenstein's version of Miller's opened on Polk Street in San Francisco 11 years ago. The eatery, which is around half the size of the new Montecito location, was inspired by an 1960s deli of the same name in Baltimore.

Due to a high amount of delivery orders, Morgenstein refers to the San Francisco location as the "busiest empty restaurant ever," where it is common for there to be one person eating breakfast while staff hustle about the kitchen prepping food. 

"Miller's is always there. If someone is sitting shiva, they call Miller's. If someone is having a bris, they call Miller's," he says.

With the added seating at the Montecito location, Morgenstein plans to have more entrees on the San Rafael menu. And many of the neighboring shopkeepers and employees are eager for the deli to open.

"People are so excited because they just don't have anything like this," says Bruce Schiller, who works at a cell phone retailer across the way.

When Morgenstein first came to the area, he brought a few pastrami sandwiches to Schiller's workplace, he said. Since tasting those sandwiches, Schiller can't wait for the deli to open.

Although Morgenstein was interested in opening another Miller's in San Rafael, he backed out of the Montecito location twice until the shopping center's owners were able to persuade him. A bad experience with a Pacific Gas & Electric contract that nearly drowned Miller's years back has made Morgenstein a cautious businessman.

Now, he's invested a total of $305,000 for the new space, and the potential of customers flooding in from to the nearby residential neighborhoods leaves him feeling "cautiously optimistic."