Joe DeBellis’s Place

Buffalo chicken cutlets at DeBellis’ deli in Lake Carmel. T.J. Haley On a sweltering Thursday, after navigating the hills of Putnam to deliver the Courier, I finally made my way to DeBellis Deli on Towners Road in Lake Carmel.

Sapped of all energy and enthusiasm, I stumbled into the roadside store, only to hear the guy behind the counter yell, “You’ve got to be absolutely [bleeping] kidding me! There he is, about [bleeping] time. Next time the [bleeping] paper better be here before the [bleeping] sun comes up!”

Whether he was joking, legitimately angry, or somewhere in between, I felt as if I had found a home.

This was the first encounter with Joe DeBellis, owner of the deli. With only a couple tables, DeBellis manages to house plenty of characters, who like to hang out, eat great Italian sandwiches, berate each other unmercifully (with Joe taking the lead), and just BS like they were born to. Because that’s what men do. Women chat. Men BS. “The only thing this place needs is a few stools and a couple taps,” says regular Uncle Bill, “It’s basically a bar otherwise.”

A picture of Pope Benedict XVI, with an American flag-Yankees lapel pin attached. “Are you looking for the boss?” asks employee Tyler Finney when I strolled back in a few days later.

“Yeah,” I reply.

“Why the hell would you be doing that?" says another employee, Jesse Acevedo, who added that the boss wasn’t around.

I ask Finney what it’s like working for Joe DeBellis. “Where do I begin?” he says. After offering a joke, he gets serious and says the number one rule is “if I ever need anything, all I have to do is ask.”

“You need to spend at least two hours in here. This place is like Comedy Central,” Jesse says.

A spread of hearty food at DeBellis Deli. “You can’t tell by now? This place is an absolute nuthouse,” says Pete, a retired Marine.

Pete goes in there everyday to banter back and forth with Joe, throw some insults at the employees and whoever else might wander into the store, and when he’s done talking, maybe even eat a sandwich.

But don’t get me wrong, this good old-fashioned American man-cave is not a he-man woman haters club by any means. Girls are allowed. “As soon as anyone new or a lady walks in, everything changes,” Joe says. “Everyone gets real polite and turns into perfect gentlemen.”

If you ever feel like going to a place where everybody knows your name, go to DeBellis. Anyone who goes in there can feel like Norm. “It’s not like I know the customers’ names and they know mine, all the customers know each other’s names too,” says Joe, who even memorizes everyone’s favorite things to order.

The deli is a homage to everything we love about New York. Jerseys of all the Yankee greats are hanging from the walls along with signed pictures of the Sopranos cast and our 9/11 heroes. The essence of the place is best captured by a picture of Pope Benedict XVI with a red, white, and blue Yankees lapel pinned onto his cloak. Whether you’re a Catholic, Protestant, Jew, Buddhist, John Travolta, Taoist, or a Yankee hater, you’d have to admit, God is a Yankees fan, and if He were walking the streets of Lake Carmel, He would eat at DeBellis.

‘The only thing this place

needs is a few stools and

a couple taps.’

Joe likes to give back to the community, much like Robin Hood (Joe declined comment on whether or not he wears tights). “Everybody has always been good to me so I like to help out,” he tells me on one of my visits. “If anyone is a little low on cash and they need a pound of ham or a loaf of bread, they know they can get it here.”

Joe is sponsoring an annual whiffle ball tournament in Poughkeepsie July 25th to raise money for the Jennifer Coudrey Scholarship Fund. Coudrey worked at Poughkeepsie-WRRV and died of a rare form of cancer. Last year, Joe’s team, the Whiffle Ball Mafia, took first place.

If you work for the town or county, you can find special deals at DeBellis. Whenever there is going to be three inches of snow or more on the ground, Joe opens up at 1am, and all the plow guys can come in and get a free cup of coffee. And all you guys who like to take some action, no need to start a fifth fantasy team or drive to Mohegan Sun, you can just go to DeBellis and gamble on your food: “If they’re wrong on the coin flip, their breakfast goes up from whatever it would be, $3.50 or so, to five bucks. If they call it correctly, they eat for free,” says Joe.

The DeBellis family has been in the deli business for 80 years, but Joe attributes the success of his store to his wife, Geri Ann. “I opened this place four and half years ago on my wife’s birthday,” he says. “There is no way DeBellis Deli would be here without her. Without the love she has for me, my family, the store, and the community, there is no way I could do what I do.”

It’s not all about cracking jokes at DeBellis. You won’t find a better chicken sandwich this side of the Mississippi. Just go ask for “The Experience.” You can thank me later. Joe also has a full line of catering, with a large variety of hot and cold food as well as desserts.

Go to debellisdeli.com if you want the guests at your party to be happy. And check out Joe’s brother’s place at primasdeli. com