Parkway Deli, Silver Spring, Maryland

Ah, the Parkway Deli! We first went to the Parkway Deli in the ’80s, not long after we moved to Upper Northwest. It was our go-to on Snow Days while the kids were growing up, as well as for many other breakfasts and lunches, and a few suppers. For that matter, so does everyone else — go there, I mean. There always seems to be a line for a table. It’s become an institution.

Parkway is a good place to get together with friends, and I recently joined my Indian Springs classmate, Glen Howard,

for breakfast there in Parkway’s new (Covid-prompted) outdoor seating, a silver lining to that dark cloud. Glen was a standout student at Indian Springs, which is saying something, as a quarter of our class were National Merit Finalists, and a bunch more were Semi-Finalists. Glen went on to Harvard, Chicago Law, a firm partnership, Fannie Mae, and Pew. He’s on lots of boards and, more important to him, I believe, he sings, notably with the Choral Arts Society, whose concerts we’ve long enjoyed.

Both of us being Parkway veterans, we didn’t need a lot of times to make up our minds about what to order. I chose eggs over very easy with hash browns, corned beef hash, and a bagel, which proved camera shy.

Glen ordered the chorizo omelet with a side of corned beef hash, the latter “thoroughly crisped.”

Thinking Glen had asked for his hash browns thoroughly crisped, I said, “Mine, too.” Thus the over-cooked corned beef hash. Completely my fault. I’d made a hash out of the hash. It tasted okay, but the texture was way off. The usual crispness of the outer area wasn’t balanced with the creamier interior that characterized the very good hash browns. It was all crisp, just as ordered. My eggs were properly cooked, and the sesame bagel was a success, as always.

Glen’s chorizo omelet looked great with lots of filling. I need to try that next time, probably with a side of Parkway’s corned beef hash without the extra crisping. That’s been one of my favorites at Parkway for … let’s just say decades.

Glen and I had tried to set up a corned beef sandwich lunch at Parkway earlier, but we couldn’t get our schedules to match. I went ahead by myself and got one to go,

along with a Greek salad with roasted chicken for Nancy.

I enjoyed the corned beef, even more than their pastrami. The sandwich had just the right ratio of meat to bread, and the corned beef had been well seasoned and, although it was very lean, it was flavorful. This is good corned beef. The salad also was a hit. There’s a lot going on in that salad, including some extra large pepperoncini. Nancy volunteered that the chicken wasn’t dry, and Parkway gets a gold star for that.

Come to think of it, Parkway Deli does everything I’ve tried on their extensive menu well. Not the best in the area — they can’t touch the pastrami at Silver and Sons, for example — but they do everything dependably, at least if you don’t ask them to overcook it. And they have a pickle bar, a pearl of great price. If a restaurant does that, it can keep going strong after 60 years, and weave itself into the fabric of the community. If you haven’t been in a while, go back. You’ll be well fed and happy.

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