Historic grocery now houses a New York-accented deli

Tsuda's Grocery, an Old Town Auburn fixture at the corner of Sacramento Street and Lincoln Way since 1951, has become a deli. The building had been vacant since the family closed the store in 2006 until this summer when Auburn resident Alexandra Hastings Carnahan leased it and began remodeling it for her Tsuda's Old Town Eatery.For Hastings, the question of what came first — deciding to open a restaurant or finding the building — was kind of like the chicken and the egg."I tossed around the idea over the years of doing something along the line of healthy, organic foods," she said Monday. "Then, years ago, my husband (Glenn Carnahan) and I were driving through town and I mentioned that Tsuda Grocery was the only building I'd ever consider."As the first person outside the Tsuda family to operate a business at the site for more than half a century, Hastings kept that heritage in mind as she brought the building up to code and installed a full commercial kitchen."I just wanted to be able to preserve the historical significance of the building and not just kind of roll through it to create a new atmosphere," she said.One of the most notable changes visitors will find is that the sheet-rock walls have come down to expose the original brick."Many people here now weren't even alive when the brick was exposed (originally)," she said.After nearly five months of work, she opened the sandwich shop on Dec. 9.The accent is solidly New York, which is where Hastings grew up — not in the city, but an hour's drive north in the historical village of Bedford. She has brought on two chefs, both culinary school graduates, who offer up sandwiches, salads, soups, bagels and pastries."What we're looking to do is provide an authentic New York deli experience," she said.That means Boar's Head meats including navel-cut pastrami shipped from New York."It's the real pastrami," Hastings said. "When you get it, it is just this amazing, rich, juicy, piled-high warm pastrami."The H&H bagels also hail from the Big Apple — boiled, par-baked and delivered flash frozen so they can be finished at the restaurant. Other breads arrive daily from Acme in Berkeley, famous for its sourdough.Salad dressings and mayonnaises are made in-house, as are the focaccia bread, potato chips and gravlax — a house-cured salmon similar to lox, she said.Customers choose eat-in or carryout, including purchasing deli meats by the pound.Members of the Tsuda family, including Frank Tsuda's sisters, Dorothy Fujii and Mae Ebara, stopped in for lunch Tuesday.As she took in the bustling atmosphere of the eatery, Fujii selected the Spanish Ham Slam."The ambiance is perfect," she said. "It's very nice."Ebara, who had the minestrone soup, was equally impressed with the remodel."It's beautiful — really nice the way she did it," Ebara said. "It's the first time I've been here since she put the equipment in. I'm surprised that it looks so good. … I'm glad we had it renovated instead of selling it. We're keeping it for our kids." At a table nearby, Terri Stamm Batsel of Granite Bay was there for the first time with a couple of Auburn friends. "I would compare it to any restaurant in Roseville or Granite Bay," she said. "It can hold its own."The positive response to the deli is gratifying for Hastings."We've been packed," she said. "The New York pastrami has been huge," Hastings said. "We even had a doctor from Nevada City send an assistant down to buy three pounds of it. Since Tuesday, we've gone through 14 whole pieces. The supplier in New York can't believe how quickly we went through it."Besides the New York pastrami and California pastrami, the colorfully named menu offerings include things like the Knuckle Sandwich, Veggie Wedgie and Nothing Like a Hot Chick. Sandwiches are $6.95 to $7.95. Salads are $6.95 to $8.95. It's kid-friendly, too. There are special menu selections for children and the tables are covered with chalkboard cloths so children can draw or patrons can leave messages."It's always fun when you wipe down the tables," Hastings said. The Journal's Gloria Young can be reached at gloriay@goldcountrymedia.com or comment at Auburnjournal.com.A slice of history:Katsuichi and Tomo Tsuda of Hiroshima established the K. Tsuda General Merchandise in 1918 at 135 Sacramento St., a block east, at the current site of Serendipity. In 1942, the family was forced to move to wartime internment camps. After World War II, Frank Tsuda purchased the building at 103 Sacramento St., and opened Tsuda Grocery in 1951. Prior to that time, the building had been used by the Japanese-American community. It also was a Japanese school and a Buddhist Church.Frank Tsuda ran the store until his death in April 2006 at the age of 93. His sisters, Dorothy Fujii and Mae Ebara continued to run the store until the end of the year. – Taken from the historical markerin front of the buildin