Ted's Market and Delicatessen swung open its doors in the "Summer of Love" in 1967, and they gladly remain open to greet you with a smile, a joke or a wise crack in keeping with our family tradition passed along by our gracious and hard working elders, Theodore and Penelope Zouzounis. In the month of July, 2012 Ted's celebrated its 45th anniversary with gratitude, merriment and joy. Kronya Pola! OPA!! Efharisto poli for stopping by!
The lovely and loving couple Theodore and Penelope Zouzounis, San Francisco natives and both hailing from Greek immigrants from Kalamata, created a South of Market treasure in a small, narrow and empty shell of a one story building (circa 1907) that sprouted after the ruins of the massive, unprecedented and tragic 1906 quake--WHEW boy was that was close. On one groundbreaking glorious July morning in the South of Market District Ted's began serving up delicious and wholesome food and selling whatever the shelves could hold to hungry and eager customers; and the doors are still wide open for your classic or trendy deli pleasures.
SOMA has evolved into an interesting, bustling and quite eclectic hood, and we still see second,third and fourth generation people popping in to shop and share a unique story about Big Ted and Penny and the hood. Come tell us your story and take a photo. These nostalgic encounters give Penny great pleasure, fond memories and lively times on her twice weekly visits. You will find the well dressed great dame chatting and laughing it up with patrons young and old, some she has known for decades. They adore her and that is not hard! We all miss Big Ted a great deal and he is fondly talked about nonstop by customers! For the newcomers of the days gone by Ted's Deli was love and taste at first sight and that has not changed, but our recipes have because we want it that way, and because we live in this foodie filled land.
We remain a small family take out deli and catering company and we invite you to be part of our culinary clan, so come on over for breakfast, lunch or a "to go" dinner plate and be part of the celebration! In selecting your nutritious meal, don't forget to pick up a necessary organic dark chocolate bar, a quality cookie, a unique bag of chips or other crunchy snack, and a beverage from our ginormous number of choices. We have delectable and healthy cookies of all sorts, and even our vegan cookies are delicious and do not taste like cardboard. We reserve the cardboard for shipping. Wait, wait, don't forget to pick up a bottle of wine from our expanded wine section. Don't you worry your pretty little head about all that food we make that is good for you, we still sell sinful donuts, gobs of candy, and all your other favorites to fulfill your tough to break habits and cravings! Don't fret, you don't need to break any habits on our account--we wont tell your mom, but you may want to clear it with your family practitioner.
In keeping with our tight knit and proud family tradition we use only fresh and quality ingredients to prepare your daily grub--we cook and prep daily! Not to brag or anything but we are quite famous for our fresh, colorful, satisfying and "rib sticking" sandwiches, salads, entrées and more--ask around and you will hear! Come visit us and you will taste and you shall return; and when you do, don't hesitate to ask us about our...shhhhh...secret sauces.
We offer a nice array of international dishes, lots of deli basics, salads and pasta galore, broiled sandwich meats--beef, pork, turkey, pulled pork, hot pastrami, roasted chicken breasts w/ the seasoning of the day, salmon fillets, tacos, meatloaf, chicken Parmesan and so much more prepared fresh daily! You will really savor our home style Mediterranean flare, fresh herbs and seasonings, yet still feel at home with comfort foods like soup, chili, meatloaf, turkey balls, meat balls, fettuccine Alfredo, ravioli, twice baked potatoes, lasagna, mac 'n' cheese, and you know the rest. We offer you even more specialty delights like hot pressed Italian paninis on terrific bread, real, unadulterated secret family recipe humous, Albacore tuna salad, Indian curry turkey salad, Arabic dishes--lentil "mujadara" pilaf, spinach pies, lamb/beef "kifta" kebabs, falafel, "lebna" (kefir cheese,) Greek dishes-- mousaka, dolmades, pastichio, spanakopita, and Greek salad, Armenian Lavosh sandwich rolls, French quiche for men and women, Mexican tamale pie, Russian piroskis and Greek pizza, Italian calzones, hot dogs, Louisiana hot link, and on and on. We have tons more adorning our deli cases and self serve case waiting for you to feast your eyes upon! We are also " with it" and prepare just for you, nutritious, low fat, vegetarian and vegan foods using brown rice, farro, quinoa, whole wheat pasta, "tofurkey", boca, black bean and garden burgers. And we have all the veggies and fruit your mama and grandma made you eat (for this we thank them!) that you need for your busy and complex machine.
We offer a myriad of freshly made "TO GO" items for your convenience to dine at home, in the car, on your parked bike, on a bench, on the grass, on the sidewalk, in a doorway, or at the office without being short changed on flavor and quality. We cater many types of events-- (mostly local SF) party, bbq, small wedding, summer camp, meeting, pow wow, symposium, movie night, picnic, seminar, camp outs, camp ins, training, brainstorming sessions, blue, white and pink collar gigs in and out of the office or shop, AND many rock 'n' roll musicians' concerts and back stage set ups. We have catered to the dressing rooms of some of the most famous musicians that have toured through our great city in the last 25 years. We still do this and what a thrill it is. Get this, we even catered for President Bill Clinton, his Holiness the Dalai Lama to name a few big shots. And of course we cater often for our local garden variety politicians, civic institutions, individual professionals, tech companies, artists, health institutions, charity organizations, city agencies, and many a folk from ALL walks, struts, jogs and runs of life. Sadly the days of the infamous Ted's sandwich at the world famous Bill Graham Presents Grateful Dead shows is a "wonder bread" of the past but we still have some great SF sourdough rolls left over after catering Jerry Garcia's memorial in Golden Gate Park some days gone by. For you music and sandwich lovers out there in cyberspace and in the "real" physical world, try this" bite" of advice from the late great singer, songwriter Warren Zevon, "ENJOY EVERY SANDWICH." We welcome you and will keep the door open for you. Efharisto Poli ! Stini Yassas ! Yassou!