Rosenfeld’s Deli Opens in South Bethany
Retirement did not sit well with Warren Rosenfeld. The former Washington, D.C., attorney spent up to two hours working out in the morning and rode his bike in the afternoon. That lasted for six weeks.
“I said, ‘Boy, I cannot do this,’” recalls Rosenfeld, who with his wife, Dana (below, with Warren), had moved full time to their Ocean Pines, Maryland, home.
His wife sympathized. He had money from the sale of his firm and the technology platform he’d built, she noted. He was still young. “What do you want to do?” she asked.
He didn’t hesitate. “Open a Jewish deli in Ocean City,” he told her. She gave her approval but warned him: “I will never work there.”
Rosenfeld’s Jewish Delicatessen opened in 2013. Today, there are four locations, including the newest — Big Fish Rosenfeld's— which opened this past spring in South Bethany Beach. A fifth will open in North Wilmington in early 2022. (And Dana has not worked at any of them, he notes.)
Rosenfeld was no stranger to the industry when he became a restaurateur. From 1969 to 1986, his parents owned The Madison Sandwich Shop, a diner-style counter restaurant in D.C.’s business district. The special: two eggs, three pieces of bacon, two pieces of toast and two cups of coffee for 75 cents.
When Rosenfeld was growing up in the 1960s, his family spent Friday evenings at Hofberg’s, a kosher delicatessen and sandwich shop. On Sunday mornings, the family went to Posin’s, a bakery and deli known for takeout. “We didn’t go every Friday and Sunday, but looking back 50 years later, it certainly seems that way,” he says.
The Ocean City and Rehoboth Rosenfeld’s locations are his babies. (A site in the Salisbury Regional Airport closed during COVID and will not reopen.)
The restaurants in downtown Wilmington and South Bethany are partnerships between Rosenfeld and Eric Sugrue of the Big Fish Restaurant Group.
The South Bethany storefront is the first to fuse Rosenfeld’s and the Big Fish Market concept, the first of which is next to the flagship Big Fish Grill in Rehoboth. Sugrue saw the need for fresh seafood, meats and produce in the area in the store, which serves Sea Colony condo owners and vacationers.
For the first few weeks, the restaurant portion only offered carryout due to staffing shortages. Even still, business has been brisk, Rosenfeld says.
The partners will replicate the concept in North Wilmington, despite the preponderance of supermarkets in the area. There are numerous Jewish communities nearby, and a rabbi sent a two-page letter pleading for a completely kosher operation. That requires significant oversight, Rosenfeld notes. There will, however, be a kosher section.
Thus far, the savvy former attorney is pleased with the Big Fish partnership. “I respect their knowledge and practices; they’re good people who are committed to the company,” he says. “They’ve been very respectful of my concept. If I say something isn’t the way it should be, it gets changed — no questions asked. So, it’s been a very good relationship.”
And for Delmarva fans of Reuben sandwiches, matzo ball soup and knishes, that good relationship is a good thing.
Rosenfeld's Deli/Big Fish Market
34444 Coastal Highway, South Bethany, DE
(302) 539-8550
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Mon-Sunday 10 AM - 7 PM
