Perhaps This Was a Clue...

It was a honeymoon in keeping with the flower-child wedding: A five-week cross-country road-trip, with a Coleman stove, a few pans, and an aluminum coffee percolator. The reading material of choice: The Betty Crocker Cookbook. Ah, fond memories! The St. Patrick's Day corned beef and cabbage took forever to cook on the Coleman stove, what with the altitude in the mountains, but it was awesome. And the English toffee made in the parking lot of a grocery store one hungry morning turned out Great. The recipes were poured over, notes were taken, and a lifelong interest in how to make good food began.

From the Land of Meat and Potatoes

The '67 Chevy had died on the way to work, and young bride Jen had no cell phone back in 1976, to call for help. Snow pelted the face and boots trudged in the snow; making it back home, Jennifer and husband Tom laid out a plan. Packing up the orange van, the couple headed west. Family remarked, "Ah, the land of milk and honey, eh?" And a new life began, with better weather indeed, in sunny California.

Flash to 1985. With young son in tow, The New Deli Sandwich Shop is hopping with action. Customers are shocked to find Vege-burgers north of Berkeley. Where's the mortadella?! But a niche was found. Over twenty years later, Tom and Jennifer Cote are still at it, flipping those vege-burgers, making soup from scratch. Second son Tyler works the counter, and the grandkids might drop by, developing culinary interests of their own. Could it be that so much time has passed?!

Teen Bride Survives

Circa 1976- The hippie-style wedding vows are handwritten, about peace and love. Flowers are in the hair, and the bridal march is to a Miles Davis record. The Reverend say, "I'll have to mention Jesus too". The couple doesn't know what that's all about, but in the eyes of God they are married.

By 1983, family life kicks in. Two lovely sons are home-birthed with the midwife at hand; hippie days aren't over yet. A vegetarian burrito business in the home lets the couple include the growing kids in their work-life, and new-age answers are sought to resolve any general malaise.

Twenty years pass, from that wedding on a stormy night in Michigan, to a wonderful afternoon in California, in a pastor friend's backyard. The music wafting through the air is a guitar playing old southern hymns, and a water tank, though rather cool, serves as a baptismal. The whole family of four is baptized, and a life of following Christ commences. To God be the glory.

So Where Does the Food Career Begin?

In what was once the little town of Rochester, Michigan, one eager 16-year-old landed her first job as busgirl at the local fancy restaurant. Everything was fascinating, and all aspects of dining soaked in for the impressionable teen.

The food business provides positions for most any hard-working person, and after years of filling in as such, the chance to start a vegetarian burrito business with a friend blossomed. Over twenty years later, still a favorite local sandwich shop for many, The New Deli keeps it coming.