The Courthouse Deli opens at the end of the month in the Marston Building on Middlesex Street. Owners Fred and Barbara Livingstone, who had restaurants in Pelham, Lowell and Billerica, are trying their hand in the sandwich game. This is the first biz, besides the real estate office, to spring up in Lowell's blighted JAM zone. Let’s embrace it. The courthouse will pick up where Barney’s left off with corned beef, pastrami sandwiches and paninis. Ready to go chow like chicken parmesan, meat loaf, stuffed cabbage, mac and cheese and lasagna. Bravo! We need this kind of home cooking now more than ever. Give us comfort. Can two delis survive within a few blocks? Is this a sketchy move?
“In another year this will be the area to be in,” said a very affable Fred. Good for him. They open in three weeks hours are 11 to 7 p.m. Six days. No Sunday. Someone should open a place called Sundays. Could make a killing.
Another deli rises
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My first question is what happened to their other restaurants in those other towns you mention?? You use the word "had" which leads me to believe they no longer exist. If they do no longer exist, then I wonder why they think this one will work.
As for the building of a courthouse near there - an insider at the State House tells me it will be 10 - 15 years before it ever happens.....the funding is gone.....thanks to Devals budget ax.
Good for them! It takes a lot of guts to open a new business in this economy, especially a restaurant in an area where more eateries are closing than serving food. I wish Fred and Barbara the best and look forward to grilled sandwich goodness.
Although i wish them the best, they can never take the place of Barney's. I miss Barney's sooooo much.
And GG are you saying that there is no place open on Sundays in downtown Lowell??? Excuse me but that's an ignorant statement. Only your precious Ricardo's and Cobblestones close on Sundays. (as far as i know) And that's because they are so smart and make so much money that they don't need to open.
If you want a place to eat on sunday try.... Olympia, the athenian corner, viet thai, Mr. jalapenos, Olive that n more, Pho da Lat, The dubliner, Shamrock, paradiso, the brewhouse (whatever the restaurant part name is).... should i continue???? I'm so sick of people saying that there is nothing open on Sundays. It is just untrue. I never took you for a big liar GG, i am extremely dissapointed in you
Yes, those places are open...but those are just about the only places open...and I'm not just talking about food joints. Downtown is a ghostown on Sundays, that's just a fact. If you want to get more people to eat downtown, you need to offer them a reason to be downtown.
Also, the Brewhouse...and if by that you mean the Lowell Brewery/Beer works, that's not actually downtown, nor is it anywhere near the JAM area.
Pho Da Lat isn't anywhere near the downtown either.
Life Alive is also open on Sundays and seems to have a decent amount of customers.
Village Smoke House is open on Sundays, too.
Hello Gourmet Gal! I am trying to contact you through this post. I work for Mr. Jalapeno, in downtown Lowell. We recently received our liquor license and I thought you might like the update. This means we offer a selection of beers, six imported from Mexico and (finally!) margaritas! We offer them in the traditional lime flavor as well as tamarind flavor.
Your blog is so imformative! Thank you, Cara
So maybe the real problem isn't that nothing is open. Maybe its that some of the complainers are pining for places to be open that don't really care about when you want to eat. Face it folks. Those that aren't open Sunday just aren't that into you, to steal from the movie.
Maybe you need to start dating other places.
wow, such foulness from gobb guy and jumpin jack man. you must be rally unhappy to hate so much and that's sad. maybe restaurant people that are closed on sundays are religious? or maybe they value family time? maybe business on sundays isn't worth it from a financial point of view. i worked in a restaurant for years and the owner worked 7 days a week and got divorced. I don't think someone could do what restaurant people do if they didn't care for their customers. Cut some slack people and enjoy the places that are open. Life's too short to be so mean.
No meaness intended Sally. Just giving some facts in a conversation. You shouldn't be so sensitive if you're going to participate in a blog.
Already had this discussion previously on this blog. Restaurants are a 7 day a week operation. You shouldn't open a Store 24 if you want to work 9-5. You shouldn't work for a movie theater if you want to take weekends off. You shouldn't work in for a Hess gas station if you want holidays off. Certain businesses have certain requirements and you better know them before going into it.
Maybe that's why so many of these new, hot spots close within a handful of years, while Chinese restaurants stay open for decades. I'm sure the family that owns the Lo Kai would love to spend Sundays and holidays together, just as the folks from the Hilltop would. But they got into the business knowing the pluses and minuses, and made the necessary sacrifices to survive as a business.
If you can't stand the heat on Sundays, stay out of the kitchen.
Ugh, please not the JJJ rant on work ethic again.
JJF must be one incredibly hard worker (beyond his keyboard) to so willingly criticize others who don't satisfy his rules. My stars, eat chinese on Sunday and get over it!
Touchy, touchy, aren't we.
There are plenty of people who work 5 days a week like dogs. Restauranteurs work no more, no less than many of them. I've been in the biz, Anon. It ain't that tough. The hours are long, but they are in any small biz.