Found Treasure: Garden Liquor Deli Sandwiches

May 16, 2025—The duh in the cashier’s tone tells me a return trip is not optional. 

It’s 8pm on a chilly, misty, ink-black night in Soquel, just after I realize I’m showing up empty-handed to a friend’s cottage, so I swing from my path north on Soquel Avenue when I see the sign for Garden Liquor & Deli. 

Then I see the broad deli cases and sandwich marquees: Italian special with cheese, hot pastrami with cheese, BBQ beef with cheese, meatball with cheese, Reuben with cheese, French dip with cheese, grilled chicken with cheese—everything with cheese, nothing over $12.

So I ask the guy Travis at the register, “Does this place do a pretty brisk sandwich trade?”

He thinks I’m messing with him.

“Are you serious?” he says. “We do 600 to 700 every day.”

So I knew I’d be back during sandwich hours (7:30am-4pm).

Being within a half mile of Dominican Hospital, its 1,000+ staffers and hundreds more daily visitors helps bring the bustle.

But so does outstanding value, attentive and genuine service, and a damn good sandwich.

Oh, and all the chips, sides, sodas, booze, snacks and daily specials—including stuffed potatoes (Monday), meatloaf (Wednesday) and lasagna (Thursday), all $7.25-$9.95—a working appetite angles after.

On my voyage I tab a classic English muffin-egg-cheese with a choice of bacon, sausage or ham.

It’s simple, sturdy and satisfying.

A new colleague of mine gets more succinct: “Solid,” she says.

Also: $4.75.

The hot pastrami, meanwhile, is a credit to the genre and the sandwich craft at work here: a majestic blend of temperature and texture on bread made fresh for Garden by fellow Soquel stalwart Aldo’s Bakery & Cafe.

Pillow-soft meat, gently peppered and steaming out of the wrapper, unites with lettuce shredded so well it gives me pause—is it the cut? the freshness? both?—plus smart amounts of mayo, tomato and my pick of melted provolone, rising to an elevation greater than their individual altitudes.

Two thought bubbles populate my head: 1) It would still be a bargain at $2 more (it’s $11.45), and $18 in San Francisco; 2) Maybe you shouldn’t write that, because management might take note.

Something, though, tells me that’s not happening—unless they have to, not because they can.

This is an operation built around hustle, heart and volume, and the family-run formula has worked for 50 years.

Talking with part owner Kristi Perryman-Oliviera—who gets to the shop at 5am, an hour after her sister/fellow part-owner Lisa Pennington—further affirms my faith in their methodology.

She describes how her mom Judy Fassio—”the main lady,” in Perryman-Oliviera’s words—shows up seven days a week, even as her family nudges her to go home sooner; how the recipes for the famous deviled eggs, potato and macaroni salads, and much more, come from grandma; and how it’s not that hard to understand why multiple sandwich makers and cashiers are so approachable, outright cheerful and prone to asking how my day’s going.

“We just try to be friendly to everybody, we try to make sure all our food is totally fresh, we don’t get the cheap lunch meat, and we do a lot of what we do from scratch,” she says.

And keep rates super reasonable.

On that note, after test-tasting my two sandwiches, I went back for a cup of coffee.

The one cup size offered, 16 ounces of medium large, is self-service simple from a quadruple choice of basic brews, nothing fancy, $1.50.

That might seem insignificant, but it again made me stop and feel grateful Garden’s hooking up the community with real-deal staples at fair prices. (Maybe you haven’t bought a medium of similarly so-so coffee at 7-Eleven recently, but it costs twice that, at least.)

As I pay, another jovial cashier offers a thought, albeit with more sincerity than Travis.

“Have a nice day, OK?” he says.

Done, brother, because it’s already well on its way to happening.

Garden Liquor and Deli | 1815 Soquel Dr. Santa Cruz | scgardendeli.com