Every New Yorker who lands in Boca goes looking for the same thing: a real Italian deli. Not a chain, not a concept ā a counter, a family, and a sandwich that tastes like home.
Mine is AJ's Italian Deli on Palmetto Park Road in East Boca.
First, the family. AJ's is family-owned and family-run, and you feel it the second you walk in ā the same warm faces behind the counter, people who remember you, who care about what's on your sandwich like it's going on their own table. In a town full of franchises, that matters. It's the neighborhood energy New Yorkers are raised on, alive and well in Boca.
Second, the sandwiches. When I want it hot, it's the CK cutlet ā a chicken cutlet sandwich done exactly right, the way a cutlet is supposed to taste. When I want it cold, it's The AJ, their Italian ā stacked fresh and built like they mean it.
And here's the truth about AJ's: you can't go wrong with anything on the menu. They even have a hero called The 5 Boro's ā all five boroughs on one sandwich, served in the heart of the Sixth. Somebody there gets it.
That's why I call AJ's one of the Sixth Borough's headquarters. The crew is even rocking Boca the Sixth Borough hats behind the counter now ā official Sixth Borough ambassadors.
New York state of mind, Boca address. Go eat.
ā Brent
Boca the Sixth Borough
