Since the beginning of spring semester, Kravitz Deli has been open for business at Pete’s Place at Youngstown State University. Kilcawley Center.
Kravitz Deli at the former Pete’s Place is a result of the university’s attempt to support local businesses. Tom Totterdale, Chartwells’ general manager at YSU, stressed that working with local businesses and helping them gain exposure on campus was a goal of that Chartwells works hard to achieve.
“Supporting the local businesses is a really important thing to do in this kind of area,” Totterdale said.
Tori Karlek, the Marketing Manager for YSU Dining Services, explained that the deli is part of an ongoing plan to rotate restaurants at Pete’s Place every 6 weeks or so. This rotation will take place until Chick-Fil-A moves in during the fall.
Until then, Dining Services has expressed interest in featuring local restaurants at the location. Students can also vote at dineoncampus.com/ysu to keep Kravitz Deli at
a different location on campus.
The original Kravitz Deli used to be a half-mile from campus and opened in 1939. The deli has been a part of Youngstown for 75 years and was first established by Rose Kravitz as a way to recover from the Great Depression. As Youngstown developed, the deli eventually moved to its locations on Belmont Avenue and the Poland Library.
Kravitz Deli is said to be best known for its Reuben sandwiches, which traditionally are corned beef, swiss cheese and coleslaw on rye bread.
“[Corned beef] is the one thing we really pride ourselves on. Kravitz Deli is just
synonymous with corned-beef around here. In fact, our busiest day of the year is
St. Patrick’s Day. All week long, we have a “Corned Beef Fest,” and between Friday and St. Patrick’s Day, we’ll go through about 8,000 pounds
of corned beef,” Kravitz said.
Fortunately for students, Kravitz Deli at Pete’s Place orders all of its corned beef directly from the deli’s main location. Most of the bread is from the local Schwebel Baking Co., although the
bagels are made fresh. Edward Krol, the executive chef,
and Jack Kravitz, the son of Rose Kravitz who now runs
the delis, seemed to agree that Pete’s Place replicates the same top quality food that the main Kravitz Deli locations serve.
“We try to create the products as close to Kravitz Deli as we can: we kept the price structure the same, we tried to do pretty much everything the same way. … We didn’t want to hurt his brand; we wanted to present the same high end product,” Krol said.
