

Let's Eat! Kelly's Deli offers diverse menu of comforting favorites

Jul. 2, 2008
Pat and Bob Wharton go out to lunch about every day and are regulars at Kelly's Deli and Restaurant in Ashland. / LISA MILLER/NEWS JOURNAL

What it's like there: I was having a comfort food craving on a recent Monday when I asked copy editor Gere Goble for an Ashland endorsement. Voila! I was comforted with both a plate of bacon and scrambled eggs and the nice collection of movie posters and still photos decorating Kelly's Deli and Restaurant. Decorative lanterns provide light for the booths in the diner that features a cream and forest green color scheme. Ron Comstock started the Claremont Avenue diner that seats about 60 in 1982 and said it's doing "fairly well," serving plenty of repeat customers with breakfast, lunch and dinner.

What's on the menu: My husband claims it's hard to screw up scrambled eggs, but I've done it myself and been served some lousy ones in other restaurants. My breakfast at Kelly's was hot, fast and good. If I had stopped in later in the day I would have had a hard time choosing between a stacked turkey sandwich or a steak sandwich, a spinach and pea salad or a Hawaiian chicken salad. The lemon pepper chicken or the homemade quiche would've tempted me, too.

Manager Brenda Olmsted said breakfast is big but the honey dip chicken and chopped sirloin are popular as well. Desserts include cheesecake, pie, cake and homemade hot apple dumplings.

The day I was there, Bob and Pat Wharton of Ashland both ordered the hamburger gravy over biscuits and mashed potatoes. "We've been coming here for a long time," Bob said, reporting they go out for lunch every day.

Beer and wine are among the beverage offerings and the kids' menu is priced from $2.50 for a mini pizza to $3.75 for a beefburger, french fries and applesauce.

What it costs: My breakfast, which included home fries, toast and coffee, came to $5.11. The sandwiches, which are served with chips or soup of the day, range from $2.15 for a hot dog to $3.49 for a tuna salad on croissant to $5.25 for a reuben. A mini cheese pizza with tossed salad is $3.25, a combo sub with ham, onions, mushrooms, hot peppers, cheese and Italian dressing is $4.25 and a super deluxe 16-inch pizza is $11.75. Spaghetti and garlic bread, $5.25, are served from 5 to 9 p.m. Wednesday nights. A plate of liver and onions is $5.25, the lemon pepper chicken is $5.49, the ham steak is $5.99 and the fisherman's platter of lake perch, Alaskan white fish, shrimp, clams and scallops runs $9.49. Most of the dinners come with a roll and butter and a choice of two sides from a list that includes potato, fresh garden salad, cottage cheese or vegetable. A slice of pecan pie is $2.15 and a piece of New York Style Totally Turtle Cheesecake is $3.49

When it's open: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday; 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Where it is: Kelly's Deli and Restaurant, 622 Claremont Ave., Ashland; 419-281-1313. All items are available for carry-out and orders can be called in or faxed to 419-281-8825.

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