APPETITE Chain breaker
Heidi’s Brooklyn Deli in Gypsum challenges what it means to be a chain – and wins loyal customers doing so. By Phil Lindeman.
Heidi’s Brooklyn Deli in Gypsum The pastrami on freshbaked marble rye at Heidi’s Brooklyn Deli. Photo: Kent Pettit.
Last season, a friend of mine from Chicago celebrated his birthday while working as a concierge in Beaver Creek. It was his first birthday spent in the relative seclusion of the Rocky Mountains, two hours from a familiar metro like Denver, and despite a wealth of discounts at the resort’s fine-dining restaurants, he only had one place in mind: Chili’s. And so, we drove to Glenwood Springs and indulged his love of towering margaritas and dirt-cheap salsa, nearly spending more on gas than dinner. Sure, it may have been a chain restaurant, but nothing in the valley could satiate his hunger for something familiar. He wanted to celebrate at Chili’s, so damn it, that’s what we did. The Vail area has an odd relationship with chain restaurants. With the exception of homegrown joints like Larkburger and Smiling Moose Deli, chains are often pooh-poohed. They aren’t outright shunned as in some resort towns – Byron Bay on Australia’s Gold Coast has an actual ban on chains – but guests here enjoy eating at one-of-a-kind restaurants, the sort that don’t exist beyond county lines. It’s part of the world-class mentality: No matter how good or bad, a local joint seems more real than a faceless fast-food megalith like McDonald’s or Burger King. Yet read the Yelp reviews of Heidi’s Brooklyn Deli in Gypsum, one of nearly a dozen Colorado locations modeled on the original Denver-based sandwich shop, and those assumptions about the anonymity of chains begin to disappear. “Absolutely amazing sandwiches,” a Kentucky-born reviewer wrote to explain a five-star rating on June 20. “I had the Cajun turkey with avocado on sourdough bread… It was thick cut and soft in the center with a great crust. I really try to avoid eating bread, so this coming from me is a true compliment.” Another five-star review from early September echoes the sentiment, and with the exception of a single one-star review, the Gypsum location is lauded by visitors from Colorado, Minnesota, California, and everywhere in between. “A lot of people assume we operate like other chains, but that’s not true at all,” says Jeff Barkman, who owns and operates Heidi’s with his family. “We bake all our bread daily, slice all our meat daily – we do the sort of things other places just don’t do.”
SneakPICKS at Heidi’s Brooklyn Deli Transplanted New Yorker: This take on an Italian cold-cut combo is loaded down with the expected fixings, including mortadella, capicola and salami, all hand-cut daily at the Gypsum location. Yet even a classic needs the occasional makeover, and the “transplant” comes from a touch of sliced ham burrowed between the cured meats. ($8.99) Lox sandwich: No East Coast deli is complete without lox and the Heidi’s version shines with a scratch-made bagel, tomato, onion, capers and smoked Nova Scotia salmon. Try it toasted with one of nearly a dozen cream cheeses (sorry – shmears). ($10.99) Hell’s Kitchen: This is the one that put Heidi’s on the map: fresh egg salad, bacon, avocado and Swiss cheese, all slathered in special Cajun sauce and layered on a choice of seven house-baked breads. The chunky egg salad is delicious, but the secret is in the sauce, a sweet/spicy mayo-based concoction with enough kick to convert the Tabasco and Cholula faithful. ($8.99)
Neighborhood deli – seriously Barkman knows sandwiches. The longtime local worked construction for nearly 40 years before his wife and son opened Heidi’s in 2008, right as the runway expansion at nearby Eagle County Regional Airport was wrapping up. Big, satisfying lunches are a must for construction workers, and Heidi’s is known for towering eats and dozens of ways to customize any meal. Take the Hell’s Kitchen: a monstrosity with egg salad, bacon, avocado and special sauce. It’s easily the top seller, but everyone has a way to make it personal with sauces, veggies, cheeses and seven varieties of bread. “That sandwich is the reason we bought this place,” Barkman says. “When you’re born and raised in Colorado you eat lots of egg salad, and when someone can make an egg salad that delicious, you can’t say no.” But egg salad isn’t quite enough to make a burgeoning business thrive. When the construction industry slowed to a near-halt, Barkman started working at the restaurant full-time. He knew sustainability was the key to survival – after all, his career of four decades disappeared when there was no money left to build – and in the restaurant business, starting from scratch can be difficult. He and his wife researched several chains, including the popular sub shop Jimmy John’s, but settled on Heidi’s for its menu and supply connections. “Without national buying power, things can be very expensive in this business,” Barkman says. “The main thing we wanted was something people in small towns like Gypsum and Eagle could afford, something that was different.” That buying power is important for Barkman, but it’s just as important for his loyal regulars. Few of the 60-plus menu items are more than $8.99, which is easily $2 or $3 less than like-minded sandwich joints around the valley. As the owner points out, low prices don’t mean shoddy sandwiches. Meats like capicola, ham and turkey are sliced in-house daily to pair with fresh-baked bread. It’s one of the reasons Heidi’s serves breakfast: The Barkman’s already operate on an early-morning bakery schedule, so why not offer a breakfast burrito ($4.99) or bagel sandwich ($4.49) using fresh-made bagels? As with everything else, breakfast can be tweaked to include just about anything, from bacon and sausage to Nova Scotia lox. The airport connection On Yelp, the same Kentucky reviewer ends his glowing praise with a little blurb about Heidi’s proximity to the airport. It’s no small aside – Barkman estimates 20 percent of customers are airport employees and visiting pilots, while another 20 percent are vacationers in need of a quick bite before heading to the ski resorts. Barkman compares Heidi’s to restaurants nestled at the base of Vail or Beaver Creek: Without the convenient location, he’d miss out on nearly half of his dayto-day business. Everyone from bag checkers to car rental reps recommends the deli for quick layovers, and Heidi’s has slowly built its catering services to supply private jets. But proximity and a massive menu would be mean little if Heidi’s didn’t consistently satisfy, especially for folks familiar with Vail’s unspoken aversion to chains. A Yelp review from last January would make Barkman proud. “This is the perfect sandwich joint,” the review reads. “This place is doing what every sandwich joint should be doing.”
Open 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends. For a full menu, see heidisbrooklyndeli.com.
Thursday, November 21 - November 27, 2013
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