Hot and new can steal the spotlight, but what about longstanding local favorites? Each month, we’ll visit a Richmond-area restaurant that has been in business 15 years or longer.
Scott Elias Jr., co-owner of Boychik’s Deli in Glen Allen (Photo by Jay Paul)
Scott Elias Jr., co-owner of Boychik’s Deli in Glen Allen, can hardly believe the restaurant is celebrating 35 years in business. He says of opening the Jewish-inspired deli, “It’s just something we’ve always wanted to do.” His late father, Boychik’s founder Scott Elias Sr., was born in New York, but moved to Richmond at age 15 and had a favorite deli long before starting his own. “He would go to Boulevard Delicatessen. He ate Boulevard every day in high school.”
Boychik’s Deli opened in 1990, just as Innsbrook and Short Pump were starting to grow. “Broad Street was still two lanes. There was nothing out here,” Elias recalls.
In the years since, Boychik’s has earned a reputation for being packed with customers at all times. “For lunch, we’re best known for our pastrami. We still use brisket-cut pastrami. Those are the big sellers, our grilled pastrami and Reuben.”
The menu at Boychik’s is large, also featuring items one might not think of as deli staples, such as their chicken and dumplings soup. “We just had a cook one day make it, and people loved it,” Elias says.
The pastrami, chicken and dumplings, and their breakfast standout — challah French toast — are prepared and served by a team that has been with Boychik’s anywhere from 10 years to the full 35. Elias, who started working at the restaurant at 18, is now joined by his sisters Joanie and Jessie, brother Johnny, and stepmother and fellow co-owner Becky, a fixture at Boychik’s.
“We’ll try to make you feel comfortable, at home,” Elias says. “People love knowing they can go to their place, have their server that remembers them, and it’s a whole thing; it’s comfort.”
