Who’s Behind the Counter: Brett Levinson at Steve’s Deli

Whether it’s slicing deli meats or working the grill, talking to customers or arranging party trays, Brett Levinson truly believes he’s good at what he does.

An employee at Steve’s Deli for almost four years, Levinson appreciates the quality products and fresh cooking methods that, he says, set’s Steve’s apart from other Owings Mills eateries.

A part-time student and guitarist in addition to his work, Levinson sat down with Patch to talk about balancing his commitments, what makes a good customer, how to keep a long line moving and more.  

Patch: What do you like about working at Steve’s in general?

Levinson: Well, I can do what I want and I’m good at what I do. It’s a good job to have because I still do college. I like it. I like the customers.

What about the customers do you like in particular?

Of course everywhere there’s bad customers. But, the good customers definitely outweigh the bad. We’ve got a lot of regulars that come in here and they’re just all around nice guys. You sit there and talk to them and most of them have been coming here before I started working here.

In your eyes, what qualities make a good customer?

They’re just nice. Some people don’t understand the food industry. They think this place is like McDonald’s or something. They want it now, but with our stuff, everything is fresh … People that don’t understand that want [their food] within two minutes. That’s a little pestering on you when you’re trying to work. Some people have an attitude thinking you’re mind readers. The good customers are just people that come here, they know what they want, they’re easy to deal with. They talk to you and have conversations.  

You mentioned going to school in addition to work, where is that?

Strayer [University]. Doing my Master’s there because I’m here 60 hours a week.

What’s that like? Sixty hours of work with schoolwork on top of it?

It’s like going from work to work. Then I play in a band and that’s more work. Then I still have a girlfriend, I’ve had for four years. That’s probably more work than school.

Do you have any free time in between all of those things?

I sleep like four hours a night.

When it’s busy and there’s a long line and a lot of orders to make, what do you to keep the sanity around the grill and make the food relatively quick but also with quality?

That’s one thing that I’m good at. Everything that I put out I’m just quick at it. I don’t know what it is … I’m good at cleaning off while making everything good. It’s really just taking your time because it doesn’t help if you mess something up. A lot of it also is who’s taking the orders because when it gets busy like that, they kind of rush and if they get something wrong and have to remake it, that just piles more stuff on top of it. It’s really only difficult during breakfast time because I only have so much grill and our omelets are huge the way we make them.

What sets Steve’s Deli apart from other breakfast places?

Portion size, number one. Number two, freshness … You don’t serve something to someone that you wouldn’t eat. Even in rough times a lot of places you might get something that’s not that fresh, but I won’t do that because the volume of people we get in here, it’s better to keep them happy than have one of those people turn away from here. Just the portion size, the quality. I didn’t know until I worked here about the quality that [owner Steve Saval] buys.

What are some of your favorite things to eat off the menu?

I recently have been eating really healthy. But, he’s got great corned beef, great pastrami. The Italian cold cuts are amazing. Chicken cheese steaks, cheese steaks, tuna, chicken salad, pretty much anything here except stuffed cabbage, just because I personally don’t eat it.

Editor's Note: This conversation has been lightly edited and shortened for clarity and brevity.