It’s time in time with your time

For the last 45 years, Yakima has had its own coastal connection, keeping it styled in seafood and gourmet items of all kinds. That is coming to an end. Our beloved Deep Sea Deli is officially saying goodbye. They have been selling off their inventory, and the doors will close soon. Aileen and I stopped in earlier this week to pick up a few things and have a brief chat with owner Ted Klingele.

Besides being the current owner, Ted has longtime ties to the deli. When it opened in 1973, his dad, Jerry Klingele, was hired as the manager. Jerry ended up buying the place in 1983, and Ted, after being steeped in the ways of the business for most of his life, bought it from his father in 1996. After 22 years at the helm, Ted says that it just feels like the right time to close. Standing at the fork in the road of staying the course and reinvesting in upgraded equipment and jumping the increasing regulation hurdles, or closing the retail shop and moving into a different phase of semi-retirement, he chose the latter. He will still be active on the wholesale side of the business and supply crab feeds, and the like, with the great service they have come to rely on. As if on cue, his phone alarm goes off and he tells us that was his alert to run fish down to St. Joe’s for Fish Fryday.

What will he miss the most? The people. In addition to a family-like group of employees, “our customers were really cool,” he tells us. With a “Cheers” like environment, where everybody knows your name, things like recipe exchanges and joke swapping were common occurrences.

As we look around at the largely empty shop, it takes our breath away. A few tilapia and catfish are the sole residents of the case, the cheese is gone and Mother Hubbard has been stocking the shelves. Danielle Shearer shows us some good wine from the scant offering that is left on the shelves, and we each take one of the two bottles of cab franc she points out.

When I first moved to the Yakima Valley in 1999, the Deli was like an oasis of gourmet items. I had received a cookbook from a friend, and one of the recipes called for Sage Derby cheese. Sage Derby? Where was I going to get that? The Deep Sea Deli came through. In addition to their excellent seafood and wine selection, their cheese counter was exquisite. Their gourmet offerings were no different.

I could always count on Malden sea salt flakes and whole Partanna castelvetrano olives. Shelley says she will miss her Christmas Eve bag of crab, and Aileen is lamenting the loss of her Japanese panko, Italian gnocchi, Humboldt Fog cheese and Marcona almonds. And of course, and always, the fish!

As we leave with our final Deep Sea Deli bag of goodies, we both notice the song that is playing in the store. “I’ve Seen All Good People,” by the band Yes. How fitting. ‘Cause it’s time, it’s time in time with your time. Yes, you got that right. Curtain closed.