The Park & Oxford Cafe and Delicatessen managed to grab my attention every time I walked down Park Avenue, despite — or perhaps because of — the fact that the eatery is located underground. Still, I'd never actually gone inside. Finally, I decided to take a friend (who has eaten there many times before) out to lunch.
The mood
From the outside, the deli has always reminded me of a tavern. Maybe it's the Boar's Head sign in the small, ground-level window, or perhaps it's the fact that you have to walk downstairs to enter. But inside, it looks like any other delicatessen — with one exception: The chalkboard menus literally cover half of the walls. The long lunch-crowd line actually was a blessing in this case, as it gave me time to peruse all the options, though I had to crane my neck to read about them.
The food
Park & Oxford offers just about every kind of sandwich, wrap and salad you could imagine and uses Boar's Head brand meats and cheeses exclusively. But if the dozens of combinations don't interest you, the deli invites you to make your own sandwich or salad using any of their ingredients.
My friend Dan ordered the prosciutto sandwich ($5.25), which is topped with sharp provolone cheese, roasted red peppers and olive oil and served on on a fresh baked roll.
Dan says he's jumped around the menu, sampling various items, but he always goes back to the prosciutto as a fail-safe meal.
I ordered the grilled chicken wrap ($6.25), which sounds boring, but I assure you, it was not.
A delicious roasted red pepper wrap was stuffed with small cubes of chicken, lettuce, tomato, provolone cheese and a tangy peppercorn ranch dressing. It tasted as good as it sounded, and because the wrap was so large, I had a great leftover lunch the next day, too.
The drinks
As the name implies, Park & Oxford serves a dual purpose. It's an extensive deli, but also a full-service cafe, with all the lattes, mochas and teas you would expect. I ordered a bottle of Fiji water ($1.39) to drink during lunch, but when we went up to settle the check, the café menu was too tempting to pass up. I ordered a single iced vanilla chai latte to go, and Dan had a single cappuccino ($2.50 each).
The damage: $19.32
Next time...
I'll order one of their newer items on the menu — a barbecued, basted chicken sandwich.
