Continental Delicatessen

The Continental is split in two; one side is stacked with cans of house-made creamed corn and Spanish tinned fish. The other has eight stools at a cocktail bar. Everyone sipping Mar-tinnies (that’s a tinned Martini) and vermouth has a charcuterie plate, cheese and crackers, a bagel or a mini degustation of tinned seafood.

The space itself is bright, simple and small, with about 20 stools arranged either at the bar, next to the deli stacks or in the façade’s sunlit window. The blackboard menu, although small in scope, is intimidating and exciting in equal measure. The long list spans rare tinned seafoods, cheese, cured meats, and many of the former can be stuffed into their house-made rolls. Everything can be ordered simply out of a can or by the slice, with bread, crackers and olives, or as part of a platter.

All of the meats, cheeses and tinned goods mix a range of premium names with some hard-to-obtain Eastern European specialities and local produce, some of which is made by LP’s Quality Meat Luke Powell.

There is a short cocktail menu based on simple drinks and old classics. All of the cocktails feature either vermouth, an Amaro or one of Nicolian’s house-made liquors.