Deli Dally

Anna Newell

Gone fusion: Duk Young and Mi Rae Park deliver at DiDi Deli.

Details

1560 Kipling Street, Lakewood
303-462-0435
Hours: 8 a.m. - 7:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday

Korean barbecue sandwich: $3.95
Ribs: $5.95
Breakfast burrito: $2.95
Shrimp and chips: $5.95
Bi bim bop: $5.95
Italian omelette on a roll: $3.50
Udon soup: $3.95
Cheeseburger: $2.25

Closed location

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More About

• NHL Northeast
• NHL Eastern Conference
• Buffalo Sabres
• Meat
• Foods

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Ultimately, that's what made DiDi something special, surprising me against all odds, impressing me more than I thought it possibly could: Despite such a broad menu, everything on it tasted like the real deal. The Texas barbecued ribs could have come from a roadside shack outside of Houston; the Buffalo wings were the sort you could find at any bar in that city after a Sabres game. Rather than instant ramen, DiDi's udon soup (available with chicken, shrimp or beef) was a slow-cooked broth that could have been ladled straight from the kettles of a Japanese noodle house. And true to the recommendation of the kid in the parking lot, when you order a cheeseburger, that's what you're going to get: a plain old American cheeseburger, and a good one.

You can't cheat in a New York deli. You can't cut corners and think no one is going to notice. With millions of hungry people from every country on the planet and every city in America walking the streets every day, someone will know if your bi bim bop isn't right. Someone will call you on it if your Buffalo wings don't taste like they do in Buffalo or your fish and chips aren't what they got in London. DiDi's doesn't cheat, either. What it's doing is fusion in the most interesting sense of the word -- meaning not a blending of several ethnic flavors on any one plate, but a distinct and separate offering of a little bit of everything. Burgers and fries, fish and chips, sausage and peppers, sesame beef, pickled cabbage and burritos -- it's laughable to see all those different dishes together on one menu, but it's also quintessentially American. This is the immigrant experience played out in food, and played out deliciously.