This Walk-up Window Deli Is a LoHi Hidden Gem

Chef Jerome Skaggs bakes his own country-style rye bread, cures and smokes his own Sun Prairie beef pastrami, and makes all of his vegetable dishes—sweet corn hummus, wood-fire-roasted eggplant, romesco potato salad—with produce purchased from the Union Station Farmers’ Market. But what’s truly exceptional about Gorgeous Deli is that Skaggs operates it out of a tiny kitchen space inside LoHi’s Truffle Table, selling his wares from a tricky-to-find walk-up window on Umatilla Street.

Skaggs moved to Colorado just a year ago, bringing years of experience at New York City eateries such as Franny’s, Rose’s, and Dickson’s Farmstand Meats along with him. “We would shop at the farmers’ market five days a week; do whole animal butchery,” he says of his time at those restaurants. “I’m bringing everything I learned there to this small project.”

Gorgeous Deli’s menu is lean: typically just two to three sandwiches and a rotating trio of vegan, gluten-free sides. If it’s available, don’t miss the smoked beet sandwich with lemon-garlic tahini, a sleeper hit if there ever was one.

If you go: Catch Skaggs at the Umatilla Street window behind the Truffle Table (2556 15th St.) Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. or at Hogs Head Brewery (4460 W. 29th Ave.) every Friday from 4 to 9:30 p.m. Skaggs plans to keep the Gorgeous Deli window open through October, weather permitting.