Real Deli Delectables In - Yes - Bellevue

------------------------------- Restaurant review / Bellevue

XXEuropean Gourmet Cafe & Deli, 1882 136th Place N.E. (near Northup Way), Bellevue. Deli hours: Monday-Saturday 9 a.m.-9 p.m, Sunday 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Smoking allowed. Major credit cards. Liquor available. Wheelchair access. 425-641-0818. -------------------------------

As someone who grew up on the East Coast, ever clutching a sour tomato in one hand and a corned beef sandwich in the other, I can tell you with some certainty that what passes for a deli around here rarely comes close. I've yet to find a delicatessen that could own up to a single sturgeon surgeon - those old guys in white aprons who, after barking, "Next!," slice smoked fish with such precision that a scale is superfluous. Barrels of pickles? Getouttahere. Corned beef marbled with delectable layers of fat? No can do. Whitefish salad? Pfffftt!

So you'll pardon me for acting like a kid in a candy shop while perusing the goods at European Gourmet, checking out whole smoked sturgeon, wrinkled chubs, tiny sprats and sides of lox. Overseeing everything is owner Bronya Lefelman, a delicately beautiful Ukranian woman who plied me with a taste of this and a taste of that each time I showed the least bit of interest in her stock-in-trade.

Sandwiches are carefully made to order (chopped liver on rye, anyone?) and eggplant lovers can indulge their purple passions with a multitude of "appetizers" sold by the pound. When I asked what's what among the eggplant, Lefelman grabbed a plate and offered a taste of four cold salads rather than attempt to explain the nuances of each (don't miss her smoky, garlic-heavy baba ghanouj). When I made goo-goo eyes at the sturgeon, she sliced me a morsel. I bit, then bought, also stocking up on frozen cheese pirogies and Turkish cherry preserves while somehow managing to ignore the pastry case where hamantaschen, baklava, and other sweets begged my indulgence.

But I couldn't resist Lefelman's hot, home-style Russian fare ($1.99-$4.99) cooked on the premises and dished out to anyone willing to take a seat at one of the few cafe tables, or retire to the dining room adjoining the deli. It is here in the adjoining ballroom-like salon that, come Friday and Saturday evenings, a band plays, folks with thick accents cut the rug, and platters of cold appetizers, smoked fish, and other Eastern European delicacies are served.

BORSCHT: Far better than the bottled Manischewitz version my grandmother used to slurp for instant satisfaction, this bowl of sweet, scarlet beet soup with a float of sour cream offers bits of potato, onion, cabbage, carrot and dill.

STUFFED CABBAGE w/MASHED POTATOES: Among the house specialties were chicken patties, beef stroganoff and stuffed peppers, but I settled on the galubtzi (ground chicken and rice, lightly spiced, tightly wrapped in cabbage leaves and stewed in a brothy tomato sauce) and went for a side of creamy mushroom gravy-laden mashed potatoes. "Only one galubtzi?" asked Bronya in surprise when I asked for a single cabbage roll. I didn't leave hungry.

PASTRAMI SANDWICH: That's some authentic, dense rye bread clutching mighty lean pastrami. Too lean for me, in fact. Next time I'll go for the bear salami.

ITEMIZED BILL

BORSCHT: $1.99 STUFFED CABBAGE w/MASHED POTATOES: $3.99 PASTRAMI SANDWICH: $3.99 2 CRYSTAL GEYSER JUICE: $1.98

TAX: $1.09 TOTAL: $13.04