“We joked years ago, my husband and I, that our motto should be that we offer a little comfort in uncertain times. And that’s definitely still true,” Eggert said.
Eggert opened the Tarrytown deli in 1993 with then-business partner Steven Creitz, nestled in the Casis Shopping Center, where it still stands today. Prior to opening the shop, Eggert was in graduate school for environmental planning but found herself drawn to cooking as a form of procrastination, she said.
“It’s that classic story—I decided to cook rather than what was going to be my profession,” she said. “When I just had to do something else, I cooked.”
After experimenting with a variety of dishes, Eggert and her partner discovered that customers in their neighborhood were most drawn to “home cooking,” so they leaned into the menu items that felt most “homey and warm”: take-and-bake prepared casseroles for the family or for two, pasta salads, soups and the like.
Today, dishes such as King Ranch Chicken casserole and lasagna continue to be top sellers for professionals grabbing dinner to take home on the commute back from work.
The shop’s robust sandwich menu is popular for lunch, Eggert said, including the classic triple-decker turkey bacon club with bread from local bakery Easy Tiger.
Much of the menu “has roots in old, classic recipes,” according to Eggert, from the deli case to the shop’s selection of desserts; both deviled eggs and spice cake come directly from her grandmother’s recipe book. That taste of tradition taps into a craving for comfort food Eggert said she still sees in her community after 28 years, and it keeps her coming back, too.
“It’s a very difficult profession, I think. But at the same time, it’s a very gratifying one because nothing makes people happy like food does,” she said.
Food! Food!
2727 Exposition Blvd., Ste. 112, Austin
512-474-8515
www.foodfoodaustin.com
Hours: Mon.-Fri. 11 a.m.-7 p.m., Sat.-Sun. 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
