Cecil’s Brings Deli Comfort to St. Paul

A Reuben on fresh-baked bread is a good place to begin at Cecil’s, the long-running St. Paul deli and family restaurant where corned beef, pastrami, soup and bakery treats all share the same small footprint. The food is rooted in Jewish deli cooking and Eastern European comfort dishes, with plenty of reasons to linger over lunch—or leave carrying a few things for later.

Cecil’s is not arranged as a restaurant that happens to have a deli counter near the door. The deli, bakery, grocery shelves and dining room work together. You can come in for a table, order takeout at the counter, pick up prepared foods, and add a cookie or a strudel to the bag before heading out.

The dining room sits toward the back of the deli in a close-knit space of simple tables, booths and counter seats. It has the relaxed, old-fashioned manner of a mid-century diner: casual, unshowy and comfortable for a conversation that does not need a soundtrack.

The classic Reuben is a natural order here, built around corned beef and fresh-baked bread. It is the sandwich that comes up again and again when Cecil’s regulars start naming favorites, and it has the sturdy, properly overstuffed deli-sandwich appeal that makes a lunch plate feel like an occasion.

There is also a Russian Reuben for diners who want to take a slightly different route through the same familiar territory. A veggie Reuben offers another variation, useful when one person at the table wants the format without the corned beef.

Cecil’s can also go notably large with corned beef. A reported sandwich piled with a pound of it is not something to treat as an everyday standard, but it does convey the house attitude toward a serious deli order.

The Sasha sandwich puts fresh pastrami in the spotlight and is another well-established choice. The Shayna provides a pastrami or smoked-turkey option, giving a mixed table more than one way to get to the deli meats.

There is room on the menu for sandwiches beyond the expected lineup. The BLT, grilled tuna sandwich, East Coaster and chili dog have all appeared among the choices, which keeps Cecil’s from becoming too narrow a proposition for families and lunch groups with different cravings.

Barbecue beef brings tender beef together with a savory barbecue sauce. It is a reminder that the kitchen’s comfort-food range stretches beyond corned beef and pastrami, even while those deli classics remain the center of gravity.

Matzo ball soup and chicken soup are core orders, not afterthoughts. Both are made from scratch, and either can turn a sandwich lunch into something slower and more substantial, especially when the weather calls for a bowl before the main event.

Potato latkes and potato knishes bring more traditional savory choices to the table. They are worth considering when a plain side dish will not do, or when you want to build a meal around smaller, familiar pieces rather than one towering sandwich.

Sandwiches generally come with a choice of side. Potato salad, creamy coleslaw, pasta salad and fries all make appearances, so the plate can stay firmly in deli territory or tilt toward classic diner lunch. The fries have their own following, with a crisp, fast-food-counter style that some diners compare to Culver’s.

The bakery gives Cecil’s another reason to browse before leaving. Chocolate hamantaschen, strudel, lemon bars, gooey bars, Rice Krispie bars and black-and-white cookies offer an especially pleasant problem: deciding what belongs on the table now and what should be wrapped up for home.

Apple cobbler has also been served warm with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream and walnuts. It is a fuller dessert than a counter cookie, and a fine way to extend a meal that may have started with soup and a sandwich.

The adjacent grocery and deli area carries everyday staples along with prepared foods and baked goods. That makes a Cecil’s stop useful even on days when sitting down is not in the plan; a takeout order can easily become dinner assistance and dessert at once.

The room is compact, and the tables are close together, but the mood stays easygoing rather than formal. It works for a solo counter meal, a family lunch, or a larger group willing to gather around a table and pass around tastes of potato salad, soup and sweets.

Counter service helps make the takeout side straightforward, with menus available as customers choose from the deli and restaurant offerings. Dine-in, takeout and shopping all happen under one roof, without requiring a different kind of visit for each.

Breakfast is available in addition to lunch and dinner, giving the restaurant a wider daily rhythm than a sandwich-only deli. Still, the most satisfying approach may be the simplest one: a bowl of soup, a substantial sandwich, a side of coleslaw or latkes, and one more look at the bakery case on the way out.