Deli serves up fresh takes on lunch

Fresh Garden Deli is a bit of a hidden downtown gem, though its salads and other fare have been known to loyal customers for some 20 years.

Kids nowadays would say, “If you know, you know; if you don’t, you don’t.”

That sort of delving into the obvious generally is helpful to no one, so this is an effort to increase the number of people in the first group.

About the business: Fresh Garden Deli, in the Arcade Building, is owned by Shereen Ho and Susanne Kirsch, each with her own area of expertise.

“Shereen worked in food. I’m the business person with a degree in finance,” Kirsch said. “Shereen, my wife, is the talent. She knows how to cook. She also makes the salad dressing that everybody loves.”

That balsamic vinaigrette is for sale for the holidays, at $10 for a 12-ounce bottle.

“We’ve actually sold it before, and people kept asking us to do it again,” Kirsch said. “People are sending it to the mainland.”

Ho used to work at Huckleberry Farms in Nuuanu, Kirsch said. “That was her sister’s store. She was making food items prepackaged for sale there.”

About the food: The two started Fresh Garden Deli to offer midday choices beyond plate lunches, “because people totally do want to eat salads or something different from mac salad and rice,” Kirsch said.

“We started our little shop selling mostly salads,” and were among the first in town to offer tabbouleh and hummus, she said.

What to order: Several daily specials are offered during the restaurant’s Tuesday-to-Friday, lunchtime-only hours.

On Tuesdays, for example, look for turkey roasted garlic salad, chicken jicama salad, chicken artichoke salad, chicken eggplant curry and shoyu chicken.

The deli’s burritos are part of Mexican-leaning specials on Fridays and are available in vegetable, chicken or pork adobo versions. Friday specials also include Fiesta Salad with chicken or pork, and nachos with the same protein options.

“Our most popular (dishes) are still the burrito and Fiesta Salad on Fridays; that’s our busiest day,” said Kirsch. Greek dishes on Thursdays also are popular.

Dishes including pork adobo and pork belly also are available, depending on the day of the week.

The deli’s egg salad is called OMG Egg Salad because in addition to eggs it includes turkey, bacon and ham, chunks of blue cheese and avocado. Ho came up with the recipe one day as she was making food for herself, Kirsch said. “I don’t like (traditional) egg salad, but oh my God, so many flavors.”

An apple-tuna-broccoli-curry salad, which has been a favorite for some 20 years, is called “tuna crack” by their friends, Kirsch said.

“All the stuff we serve as salads, you can have as a sandwich,” she said.

The deli generally sees an uptick in business during the first three months of the year as people who have overindulged during the holidays seek to get back to healthier eating habits and perhaps shed pounds.

Grab and go: Parking is not guaranteed on the street, so Kirsch recommends seeking out metered parking at the downtown post office at Merchant and Richards streets. The meters’ max is 30 minutes, which should be enough time to grab lunch to take back to the office. Fresh Garden Deli is tiny at 350 square feet and has seating for up to five customers.