THE DELI - The New Rochelle Connection
Twenty years ago today (June 13, 1996), the independent comedy THE DELI began filming in and around the Amico & Sons Deli at 255 Union Avenue in West New Rochelle, currently the location of the Tejeda Deli Grocery.
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| Screengrab from THE DELI |
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| Tejeda Deli Grocery, 255 Union Ave |
The winner of the 1997 Excellence in Filmmaking Award from the National Board of Review, THE DELI has been described as “an enchanting slice-of-life comedy about a hard luck gambler who gets in over his head when he starts putting his store’s profits on the line. Mike Starr (DUMB AND DUMBER, GOODFELLAS) plays Johnny Amico, a delicatessen owner who plays the same numbers in the lottery every week for his mother. The one week he doesn’t play, his mother’s numbers come up and he hatches a madcap plan to raise the prize money. With one week to make good on his debts, Johnny rides a comic rollercoaster as he desperately tries to save his deli and help his mother while battling a crazy bunch of bookies, gangsters and neighborhood nuts!” Featuring a cast of familiar faces including Heather Matarazzo, Debi Mazar, Gretchen Mol, Chris Noth, Vincent Pastore, Michael Imperioli, Matt Keeslar, Jerry Stiller, Frank Vincent, Burt Young, Ice-T, Heavy D, David Johansen, William McNamara, Tony Sirico, Iman, Reb Brown, and Shirley Stoler, THE DELI is a rarely-seen slice of New Rochelle film history now available to borrow in our DVD section.
