Counter, intuitive: Five Points deli reopens with familiar faces
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Practiced caterers bring a new operation to the popular, east-side Five-Points diner building.
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When a woman and a little boy came into the newly-opened Counter at Five Points market and deli, the woman told co-owner Ashley Freeman that the boy could stop in to buy candy and drinks all by himself.
That is the sort of interaction Freeman said she is hoping to have at the establishment she opened June 19 with her partner in business and life, Nick Cook.
“It's a really good neighborhood,” Freeman said. “Like, really good neighbors. Everyone's stopping by and…it seems like people are here every day.”
Cook interjects: “There’s already familiar faces, and people stopping in.”
“Just saying ‘Hi,’” Freeman agrees.
“We want to be a part of the community. We want to meet all the neighbors. We want to like, we want to do stuff with Tru Cutz when they do their back to school event. We want to do stuff with the Rec Center.”
Tru Cutz, a barbershop, is across the street, and the Saratoga Springs Recreation Center is around the corner on Vanderbilt Avenue.
They opened with a soft, soft opening Sunday and Tuesday June 15 and 17, “and there was like, three little girls that came in,” Freeman said, adding, “They ran and got candy necklaces, and they got drinks, and they got yogurt cups, and they were sitting in the front window, and it was, like, it was really cute.
“They were probably 10,” she said. “They're definitely neighborhood kids, and they ran in and…it was cute, yeah, it's kind of what it's all about.”
Similarly, the woman who came in with her son described that she lives on Park Place and then described the house next door, which Freeman immediately recognized as Cook’s grandparents’ house.
He grew up coming to the store as a child. In fact some of the products, including pretzel rods by the cash register, are there because that is what Cook remembers buying himself as a kid.
They feel confident the neighborhood craves a deli in that location — Cook said the need is “deep rooted.”
“Growing up in Saratoga and this neighborhood specifically, I think being part of the community, I think that's vital for any type of business, but especially a market deli where, you know, people want to come and grab or hang out,” Cook said.
They are the third food service people in the last four or so years to be operating in the iconic flatiron building at the corner of Lincoln Avenue and Park Place just a few blocks east of Congress Park.
“I think we wanted to be a part of this neighborhood,” Freeman said. When the chance arose to take over the space that closed last year, they jumped at it in late February and by April 1, they had signed the lease.
“It was a very, very rapid process,” Freeman said.
The couple already owns Airstream Catering, a business they have run for a decade out of a 1970 Airstream travel trailer. It has a full-service kitchen, with the ability to serve a 250-guest wedding, Cook said. They said also use other kitchens locally when necessary.
They hope the expansion into a brick-and-mortar operation will allow them to grow more. They plan to use the fixed kitchen for prep work and the trailer as the “finish kitchen,” the couple said.
Although they feel confident that they can handle the new side to their business, they know they still have some kinks work out.
Cook said he has questions about the exact make-up of the clientele. How much will come during track season or other events? How much will rely on the locals?
The space looks much the same as other iterations because there is little to do with the placement of furniture, the service counter and the kitchen.
During the soft opening earlier in the week, which included a week of about 600 breakfast sandwiches in the store and through catering, Freeman said they felt confident, but the new lunch rush forced her to “knock the rust off” the in-store work, but by the end of the soft launches, she felt confident, she said.
The serve breakfast and lunch. Check for times.
Breakfast options include a Spam and egg sandwich; pastrami, egg and cheese; or banana waffles. Lunch sandwiches include reubens, BLTs, cubans and more with toppings that homemade hummus, maple barbecue sauce and other delectables.
Find it:
42 Park Place, Saratoga Springs
Instagram: the_counter_5points
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