St. Elmo Deli at 4818 St. Elmo Avenue in Bethesda was closed during normal Monday business hours today, March 24, 2025. The interior appears largely cleared out. There's no seating, shelves (such as where you would typically see chip bags lined up) are empty, and the menu displays have been taken down. Signage is still up out front, but there's no note to customers explaining the reason for the closure. St. Elmo Deli has been around since 1997 - an impressive, almost thirty-year run - so it would be sad if this is a permanent closure.
Elmobund.
ReplyDelete30-year run? Never seen it, never even heard of it.
ReplyDeleteWow, thank god you let us know, JAC.
DeleteSome people obviously liked it, even if it wasn’t up to your sophisticated taste
DeleteKinda sad, they held on this long thru the Chinese Virus (we can say thar now!), and endured MoCo's myopic hurdles. Can't blame Mom and Pop food place failures on the internet. Its all about being competitive in pricing and foot traffic, both arenas where Bethesda 's 'big money' seems to squash.
ReplyDeleteActually CVII, Chinese Virus hit us at least twice. Just saying...
DeleteWhat are you even talking about? In all likelihood the owners simply retired.
DeleteVery nice couple ran that place. Sad to see them go.
ReplyDeleteApparently no one patronized this deli, not even you, to know that it was cleared out.
ReplyDeleteThat's a bummer, they had really good sandwiches and the owners were nice.
ReplyDeleteJAC, as someone who used to work in the Landow Building (and who still lives downtown), I can vouch that it's been there for decades. However, I don't know how often the ownership might've changed. (IIRC, the person who started Woodmont Deli used to be at that location.)
ReplyDeleteLandow finally hired a real janitorial serice huh?
Delete8:50 - I don't doubt that some liked the place. But literally, I never saw nor heard of it. A thirty-year run makes me think of something like Bradley Food and Beverage which I am sure has been in business longer than 30. Few I would argue has not heard of BF&B.
ReplyDelete3:49, btw, viable businesses even in our self imposed regulatory climate can be sold and bought by others.
ReplyDeleteAnd you think that hasn't happened here??
DeleteJAC so you’re not the Mr. Know-it-all. BTW the Ukrainian restaurant Ruta is doing just fine after you proclaimed there was no market for it. Try it, the food is great.
ReplyDelete2:51 - No one claimed to know it all. And the only one who does know all is God. That's great the Ukrainian place is doing well. I would never have guessed that. Happy to be proven wrong.
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