How ‘sausage school’ and an Italian upbringing led to this new deli near Fresno State
A new little New York and Italian deli has opened near Fresno State called Famous Ray’s Northside Deli.
Who’s Ray?
Ray Smith, the father of the owner, Debbie Harkness. He literally runs a sausage school in New York and the deli uses his sausage recipe.
There’s a tale here to to tell about the people running this place and what they make in their kitchen, but first, some basics.
The deli opened Monday at the northwest corner of Cedar and Barstow avenues, in the same shopping center as the Bulldog Burger Bistro and Sushi N Pop.
It’s the type of place where you can buy meat and cheeses by the pound. But you can also buy big sloppy sandwiches (pastrami, meatball and provolone, and sausage with peppers and onions, for example), soups, salads and prepared foods like stuffed shells and lasagna made with scratch-made pasta.
New York to California
Ray’s deli is a California version of a New York deli, the type of food Harkness grew up cooking with her Italian family in the Syracuse area.
“Our sauce is fresh. There’s no cans. It’s all made from fresh produce, everything,“ she said. “Everything has a lot of flavor, because that’s what I grew up on is a lot of flavor.”
Her dad really does run a school teaching people how to make sausage in a converted garage in central New York state (it’s not nearly as sketchy as it might sound, he has all the right permits and everything).
Harkness, who has a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy, is keeping her day job running a business for attorneys where she assesses clients and makes recommendations for drug and alcohol treatment.
The cooking and the deli?
“This is my passion and this is therapeutic for me,” she said.
Her right-hand man Chris Green runs the day-to-day operations. He’s got 18 years experience in the restaurant industry, including at Pismo’s Coastal Grill and as a sous chef at The Annex Kitchen.
A native of Long Island, he would hang meats from the ceiling like a true New York deli if he could, but California regulations don’t allow that, he said.
Homemade everything
At Annex, Green oversaw the cooking of the pasta. At Ray’s, he makes the pasta from scratch.
So the lasagna, with its meat sauce made with beef and lamb, and a four-cheese blend, is all made in the deli’s kitchen.
“Everything we try to do homemade,” he said.
They also make their own sausage, meatballs and soups. They roast the beef for sale at the counter and brine the pastrami for 10 days. Their tomato sauce is made in an eight-hour process using basil and oregano from local farmers.
“This weekend, 100 pounds of tomatoes I peeled and seeded, and then we use all fresh ingredients in the sauce and cook it down,” Harkness said.
Of course, it would be sacrilege in this town to say the words “Italian deli” without a mention of Sam’s Italian Deli & Market, the beloved 40-year-old business at Clinton Avenue and First Street.
Ray’s is less of a market than Sam’s. But like Sam’s, you can get meats by the pound at Ray’s, including capicola, pepperoni, and chipotle chicken. Cheeses cut to order include gorgonzola, chipotle gouda and horseradish cheddar.
Sandwiches range from $8.99 to $13.99.
“Our sandwiches are all big, nice New York-style sandwiches,” Harkness said. You can get a nearly 6-inch long dill pickle for $2.
They are hoping to get customers from nearby Fresno State and Bulldog Stadium, aka “tailgate central” right across the street, Green noted.
Details: 1764 E. Barstow Ave. Hours: 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays through Wednesdays, 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays. 559-412-8109.
This story was originally published January 29, 2020 at 2:32 PM.
