Reins Deli Makes a Highway Stop Worth Savoring

A half-sour pickle has a way of setting the tone. At Reins Deli, it arrives with the sandwich, cool and tangy and firmly in the New York deli tradition, then reappears at the counter in containers large enough to bring home. A meal here can be a quick highway stop, but it has enough moving parts to become a proper outing.

Reins combines several pleasures under one roof: a sit-down restaurant, a busy deli counter, a bakery case and a specialty-food shop full of things that are difficult to leave behind. You can settle in for pastrami and fries, pick up cold deli items for later, and walk out with rugelach, coffee cake and a quart of pickles.

Pastrami and corned beef are the familiar headliners, with sandwiches available in regular portions or the more ambitious Fresser size. The larger option is useful to know about before ordering; this is not a menu that treats a sandwich as an afterthought.

The pastrami Reuben, served on rye with Russian dressing and fries, is a reliable route into the menu. It brings together the savory meat, bread and creamy dressing in the format many diners want from a classic deli lunch.

Another substantial choice is the Big Pastrami Rachel, built with thick pastrami and crisp bread. Its flavor stays balanced rather than aggressively seasoned, a welcome quality when the plate already has plenty going on.

There is more here than the two marquee meats. Brisket, turkey, whitefish and chopped liver broaden the field, which helps when one person wants a towering sandwich and another is in the mood for something quieter.

Potato pancakes show up in more than one corner of the menu. They can be part of breakfast, paired with pastrami and eggs, or used as the base for brisket with gravy. The brisket version layers thin slices of tender meat over the pancakes, with rich gravy bringing the dish together.

Breakfast also makes room for sturgeon-and-onion omelets, vegetable omelets and home fries. It is a notably deli-minded morning menu, not merely a standard eggs-and-toast operation with pastrami added as an afterthought.

Sandwiches can come with a side, and the choices give a meal some welcome variety. Cucumber salad, potato salad and coleslaw all fit the classic deli rhythm, while soups offer a warmer counterpoint on a day when a cold sandwich alone does not quite cover it.

Then there are fried pickles, which take the house pickle enthusiasm in a more crunchy direction. Reins has also carried pickle-themed curiosities in the retail area, including pickle beer and pickle cotton candy. Those particular finds may change, but they suggest the shop has a sense of humor about its signature item.

The house-made half-sours are one of the reasons people return. Served beside sandwiches, they provide the crisp, briny reset that keeps a rich pastrami or corned beef lunch from becoming too heavy.

They are also available in larger take-home containers, including quarts and pails. For road-trippers and regulars alike, that changes the stop from lunch into pantry planning.

The bakery and retail area gives Reins a second life beyond the dining room. Babka and rugelach are prominent choices for taking home, and they travel better than the remains of a loaded sandwich. Packaged desserts, snacks, cold deli foods and frozen take-home dishes make browsing easy while an order is being prepared.

Coffee cake deserves a look, too. Sour-cream coffee cake and crumb coffee cake have appeared among the offerings, alongside chocolate confections and savory items such as garlic-stuffed olives. Inventory can shift, which is half the reason to take a slow lap through the displays.

Souvenirs join the food merchandise, giving the place the cheerful clutter of a deli stop that understands people may have a long drive ahead and still want to bring home more than a receipt.

Inside, Reins is arranged with restaurant seating, a counter, food displays and merchandise close at hand. The overall style is lively and homey rather than spare, with themed areas that include sections known as The Bronx and a back bar.

Placemats have shared bits of the deli's story, adding a small local ritual to the wait for lunch. The restaurant has long been a repeat stop for local diners and returning travelers, and that familiarity comes through in the mix of people ordering at the counter, sitting down for a full meal and choosing bakery items for later.

Reins sits near the highway, with a free shared parking lot that has ample parking. Once inside, visitors can choose a table-service meal, deli-counter ordering or takeout, depending on how much time the day allows.

The dining room and counter can both get crowded around conventional meal periods, and a table wait is possible. Between the busiest hours, the stop may be easier to manage; either way, the retail area offers plenty to browse while the deli is in motion.

A useful strategy is simply to leave room in the car. Pickles, babka, rugelach, cold deli favorites and frozen foods all make a convincing case for carrying the stop beyond the parking lot.