Saratoga News

Photograph by Robert Scheer

General Manager Brad Goldberg shows off a strawberry shortcake, just one of many menu items that have earned Max's the reputation as a bad place for a diet.

Max's upscale American deli comes to Westgate

By Suzanne Cristallo

It's no place for a diet, they claim. A new addition to the Max's Cafe chain opened on Saratoga Avenue in Westgate mall last month, heralding its "award-winning sandwiches," double-stuffed potatoes, kosher-style corned beef and genuine New York pastrami.

The San Francisco-based chain now boasts 16 cafes to the credit of Dennis Berkowitz, who opened his first Max's eatery in Daly City just 18 years ago.

The Westgate restaurant employs 100 workers led by General Manager Brad Goldberg, 36, who has one of Max's big combination sandwiches named after him--"Big Bad Brad," a corned beef and pastrami with chicken livers or Swiss cheese and hot grilled onions.

San Jose Mayor Susan Hammer and skating star Peggy Fleming of Los Gatos also have made the sandwich list, the former a pastrami dripping in thousand island dressing and the latter a "sweetheart on ice" vegetarian. All are priced under $10.

While menu reading at Max's has become a tradition for aficionados, creating what customers like keeps Goldberg on his mettle. He finds the biggest challenge in his eight years with Max's (he was formerly the Burlingame restaurant's manager) is keeping ideas fresh.

A good example of how the chain keeps on the cutting edge is the addition of its own dry-aging room, where meats are aged for 21 days at a commissary in South San Francisco. Besides aging all of its own steaks, Max's also smokes its chicken, ribs, corned beef and pastrami.

Goldberg calls his menu selections "upscale, American deli cuisine." The menu proclaims that to be "everything you always wanted to eat."

Customers may choose from among more than 95 selections, either for gatherings of 12 or more in a separate "Forty Niner Room," or at tables for individual groups inside in a more formalized atmosphere or al fresco on a patio. A full-service bar is separate from the rest of the house.

Max's of Saratoga, 1600 Saratoga Ave., San Jose. Open Mon.-Thu., 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m.; Fri., 11.30 a.m.-11 p.m.; Sat., 10 a.m.-11 p.m.; Sun., 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Brunch served Sat. and Sun. at 10 a.m. 379-8886.