Will the new Belle’s Bagels spark a deli culture comeback?

Lines for Belle’s Bagels have formed down York Boulevard for roughly a decade with fans of the pop-up queuing at a music venue’s walk-up window, then on the patio of a shut-down bistro on York Boulevard, eager to tear into plump bagel sandwiches flush with eggs and schmear and tomato jam. Belle’s was born about a dozen years ago, when Rocchio and Schreiber — who’ve known each other since middle school — bemoaned the loss of some of their childhood-favorite bagel shops. After talking about it for a while, we figured we would regret not trying to do it.” During COVID-19, as restaurants and Jewish delis, such as Greenblatt’s, began to shutter, Rocchio said “the preservationist thing came online.” Their own deli’s walls are plastered with imagery of and from some of the country’s most famous Jewish delis, some closed and others still with us: the bright yellow sign of Ess-a-Bagel, the signage of Greenblatt’s, pastrami from Langer’s. Chef Matthew Cheeks, formerly of Adamae and Pok Pok, consulted on the menu and worked primarily with Schreiber on the restaurant’s new recipes, resulting in a stable of classics as well as deli-nouveau items such as a beef-and-broccoli sandwich — a nod to both a classic Philadelphia roast pork and broccoli rabe sandwich, as well as the Jewish diaspora’s love of Chinese American cuisine. “It’ll probably get more normal and more weird.” Belle’s Bagels, Delicatessen and Bar is located at 5022 York Blvd., Los Angeles, and open Monday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., Wednesday to Friday from 7 a.m to 3 p.m. and 5 to 10 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 to 10 p.m.