Reviews for Sakeer Deli

04/22/2024 - Shy N.
Wonderful Food!

02/02/2022 - Michael
There are a thousand delis and bodegas in Brooklyn, but Sakeer Deli on the corner of President St. and Rogers Ave. serves every one of its delicious dishes with a full portion of the love that gives the American Dream its meaning.

Brooklyn's #1 dynamic mommy-daughter deli duo Hana and Portia run the show, and from the moment you walk in their presence is felt. Mother Hana will make you feel as if you've been coming there for years, with the confidence of knowing you're about to. Anytime her thick Turkish accent becomes indiscernible, know that it basically amounts to, "I'm going to make this sandwich with so much love that you'll never go anywhere else for this particular sandwich because I make it better than anyone and you're going to come back here forever."

Then she delivers. A bacon, egg and cheese I ordered wasn't just another one of Brooklyn's standards. It was the kind of sandwich you end up taking slow bites of as you allow it to dissolve into a bolus and eventually be swallowed involuntarily so you can stay in Flavortown, USA that it brought you to for as long as possible.

Hana will make suggestions to sandwiches to
correct your ignorance such as choosing Munster for your spicy chopped cheese rather than Pepperjack since you want a sharp cheese over a spicy one as other ingredients will already be covering that. Or not to add mayo to your wrap so it doesn't become a soggy mess you can't handle.

Hana takes the time to demonstrate the way she impeccably molds your protein with melted cheese to form the perfect texture. She'll add tomato to your breakfast sandwich at no extra charge, for as she puts it, "My tip is knowing you're going to come back again," right before you ingest what changes your soul.

Hana is so motherly, she is equally welcome to any hipster whose maternal unit didn't love him or her enough, gave him or her a trust fund and begged him or her to move out of her house to Brooklyn as she is with anyone from a single-parent home whose mom had to work twice as hard to make sure he or she didn't die as a child.

Meanwhile, Portia holds down the register and will make you a lemon-ginger tea with raspberry Emergen-C to help you combat or prevent most diseases. For some reason, she'll even offer you a COVID-19 test as if to say you look sickly today.

Portia, "hates people," as they're "annoying," and this polar opposite juxtaposition of her mother's seemingly boundless joy is frankly adorable. What an authentic Brooklyn toughness to go along with your spicy chopped cheese with bacon and Munster!

There's something comforting about Portia's attitude as a New Yorker, where the majority of people appear miserable, reminding us that through our combined grief, discomfort and hardship, we are all made stronger than we once were.

Her outlook is understandable. She's young and beautiful and at least working every single day according to her. It's a Cinderella story as old as, well, whenever the story Cinderella was originally written. She does the chores for the family but wants to have a ball once in awhile.

Portia could whine and complain about how she can't work all the time until her mother hired other people to take at least some of her shifts. You can tell she's there because she wants to be; because she believes in her mother that has instilled such value of family in her, who she most likely loves more than anyone else in the world .

Is there anything more symbolic of the American Dream than coming to the U.S. from another country, starting your own business, experiencing the miracle of creating a child and instilling enough love into her that she might dedicate her life and energy back to you and your dream?

Hana's good vibes are so strong they might cause you to try to make another otherwise mundane day for her daughter be filled with a laugh or a smile. Should you find a way to break through Portia's seemingly impenetrable veil of darkness while waiting for your tasty grilled perfection at the counter - where she tucks her head downward to hide the genuine laughter you gave her and what is most likely such a beautiful smile - you will experience a feeling much like what you imagine Neil Armstrong felt when he first stepped foot on the moon; as if you had broken new territory no other human being had breached before, and in that moment the days of Portia, Hana and yourself will all be made the better for it.

I didn't just leave Sakeer deli with a flawless spicy chopped cheese with bacon and Munster. I left my heart itself - chopped into pieces and morsels on their cutting room floor - there for me to return to someday, whenever I'm ready to return home. For it is at home they made me feel, and it is home, as they say, where the heart is. There is no American Dream without first there being a home. Next time you're in Brooklyn and need a sandwich and a better day, make Sakeer Deli your new home.