Saratoga News

Dining

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Karin's Place may be new to some, but it's been a fixture on Big Basin Way for decades. Karin Warfel (left) took over the Saratoga Plaza Bakery in 2002 and renamed it. Daughter Pia Warfel (right) and granddaughter, 10-month-old Patricia Angelina, are fixtures in the deli/bakery that is a real family operation.

Karin's Place takes an old space and reforms it as family-run deli

By Suzanne Cristallo

Anyone thinking it's the same old thing in that little deli next to Wells Fargo Bank on Big Basin Way should look again. It's all jazzed up as Karin's Place.

The real surprise is that it's been Karin Warfel's place for four years. Who knew except those regulars who first knew Karin as a fixture behind the counter when Bob Cancelliere owned the bakery and deli called Saratoga Plaza Bakery? After all, he'd had the place there since 1956 and for another nine years before that over on Oak Street, and many assumed it would go on forever.

Karin worked for him two years, then in 2002 when Cancelliere retired, she assumed ownership quietly along with husband Curtis, daughters Jennifer, Tracy and Pia and Pia's boyfriend Manuel Ramirez. Things stayed pretty much the same, because Karin wanted to maintain a tradition. The group formed a corporation--far too chilly a term for the remarkably close-knit family whose members help one another without question when the chips are down.

Now the little deli and bakery is slowly taking on a new identity. It started with its renaming two months ago as Karin's Place. "I thought it sounded more like a hangout place," Karin says, noting two televisions, a computer, free Internet and an X-Box 360 are attracting a new crop of teenagers who like to play crash cars while eating ice cream at $1 a scoop.

"Kids say it's the best ice cream in the world, although I don't know if it's the taste or because it's only a dollar," Karin grins. Creamery items such as the floats, sundaes and real ice cream milk shakes ($3) served in thick glass containers with the leftovers in a tall mixing tin are also relished by grown-ups who remember milkshakes like that when they were kids.

The place was remodeled in August to allow seating on both sides of the long store with a display case across the rear. The case is filled with made-from-scratch croissants, cookies, French pastries, pies, danish, muffins, cakes and bread. Karin stays until 1 a.m. during most of her 11-hour days to bake for the 8 a.m. arrivals who like to accompany their baklavas with an espresso.

Pizza is a new item. "I use a French bread dough for it--more like a pastry dough," Karin says. "People really like it." A specialty pizza is rosemary chicken starting at $10.50 for a personal size. For lunch and dinner, there are deli sandwiches ($5 for a whole or $3 for a half), steaming bowls of chili and chicken bake, even egg roll and hot dogs.

For very special occasions, Karin will make a black forest cake of chocolate, sour cherry filling, cherry liqueur and a frosting of freshly whipped cream. She was born and reared in the area of its origin--the Black Forest of Germany. It was there she met Curtis, at the time a young man in the military stationed nearby. They married and came to the United States together where they reared three daughters.

The strength of the family was tested recently when Curtis was diagnosed with cancer. He survived it only to discover last year that he has multiple sclerosis.

Pia, 26, presently works in the store while her sister, Jennifer, 21, attends Evergreen College. Jennifer had worked in the store previously while Pia attended De Anza and obtained degrees in automotive mechanics and childcare. Everyone pitches in to care for sister Tracy's 10-month-old daughter, Patricia Angelina, who spends five days a week in the store while her mom works. Her playpen and walker are fixtures by the front door.

"Angel is the doorman," laughs Karin. But Angel is more than that. She's a guardian angel, according to those around her who witnessed her birth as a "blue baby"--born not breathing--and, at the age of five days, was the reason her whole family was saved from carbon monoxide poisoning at home when her lapse into unconsciousness served as a warning. "We all help each other," Karin says. "If we hadn't stuck together, we never would have survived."

Karin's Place, 14440 Big Basin Way, No.10 in Saratoga, is open Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. until 9 p.m. Call 408.867.9606.