Sixty delicious years

Having been raised on the East Coast, where Jewish delis are a dime a dozen, I took pastrami and blintzes for granted until I got to the San Gabriel Valley. Although you can get reubens (some good, some not so good) at every coffee shop, if you want a bowl of matzo ball soup and some lox or whitefish, the only local choice is Billy's in Glendale.

Billy's has been in business forever, according to the locals. (Actually, it opened in 1948.) And, according to my own particular local knowledge (a Glendalian by birth and rearing), the decor hasn't changed much in that time. The most interesting decorative touch is an exterior tile wall with bas-reliefs of food and drink: salami, wine, challah - it looks like a Jewish version of an Egyptian tomb where replicas of foodstuffs satisfied the spirit of the deceased.

Billy's
216 N. Orange St., Glendale
(818) 246-1689
Beer and wines
Major cards

Other than that wall (which, if the Egyptians were right, will guarantee the permanence of deli in Glendale), Billy's is pretty nondescript. My overall impression of the interior is brown, including some sepia photos of Glendale's olden days. There's a display counter at the front with a few salamis and wine bottles hanging above it, not as plentiful or as interesting as the tile ones outside, and a few beer signs dotting the walls above the oversize booths.

The menu is straight from the old school (including celery tonic, which I didn't think went over big anywhere between Fairfax and New York City). From sardine on rye ($7.95), to chicken in the pot for two (complete with matzo ball, kreplach, noodles and veggies for $14.95) or a (slightly too sweet) chopped liver sandwich ($7.50), all the old favorites are there. And if you find a few items that no Jewish deli in Brooklyn would ever serve (like a mortadella, salami, provolone and ham sub on a French roll - $8.95), it's easy to forgive.

Try the cheese blintzes (with sour cream and strawberry preserves - $8.75 for three), and you'll undoubtedly be delighted. The filling is light, fluffy, creamy and flavorful. The pancake is rich and chewy. The potato pancakes ($8.75) are equally good. Although the potato is more finely grated than some, the filling (probably matzo meal) a little heavy and the pancakes deep-fried rather than sautÈed, I'm nit-picking. With its oniony flavor, mixed with the sour cream and applesauce that come on the side, it's eminently satisfying.

When I first visited Billy's in the 1980s, I thought their pastrami ($9.25) was typically west coast, bastardized from the traditionally fatty, peppery slabs you find on the East Coast and morphed into a lean, slightly spicier version of corned beef. Billy's pastrami was passable, but didn't bring tears to my eyes. (Their mustard, however, which is laced with horseradish, did.)

Over the years, either I've mellowed or Billy's pastrami has gotten better. Nowadays, it's almost always what I order and the fat/pepper/meat-to-bread ratio are all just fine. The mustard is still true deli style and the rye bread is moist, dense and caraway-spiked, as it should be. It comes with a side (cole slaw or carrot salad is good), and I usually wash it down with a chocolate phosphate ($2.50) or egg cream ($2.75), which has nothing to do with eggs.

Billy's lox ($10.25), as is so often the case, is nova style (a mild, far less salty preparation than the original), which even delis on Broadway don't offer any more. But, aside from the nostalgia, I can't complain. The bagel is nicely toasted, the cream cheese thick, tomato and onion plentiful, and the olive a properly-wrinkled, salt-cured one.

Desserts aren't really a strong suit despite the fact that they're house-baked. On our last visit, we tried a piece of strawberry cheesecake ($2.95), with glaze so glutinous that the berries peeled off the filling in a single gelatinous piece. The lemon bars ($2.25) and brownies ($1.75) are a little better, but not worth a trip to the gym. Delis, of course, are not usually noted for desserts (except, of course, cheesecake), so we're not all that disappointed.

Billy's is my east-of-Studio City deli of choice. The fact that lox, bagels, blintzes, egg creams, knishes and dill pickles were dietary staples during my childhood is enough to bring me and a lot of other deprived Pasadenans back to Billy's at least once a month. (They don't have kishka, but if you have to ask, don't worry, you probably wouldn't eat it.)

However, I really think it's about time Pasadena got its very own deli (can anybody tell me why Jerry's closed down after less than a year on DeLacey Avenue?) and saved us all the trip to Glendale, don't you?