Kelley's dishes out hearty fare with a touch of blarney

November 19, 2014 11:00 pm • Last Updated: April 10, 2015 2:12 pm

By Tim Cotter

I was driving through Westerly recently when I spotted the sign for Kelley's Deli. There was a time when I was in Westerly/Pawcatuck regularly for work, and Kelley's, along with 84 High Street and Prime Time Cafe, was in my regular lunch rotation.

But then Kelley's was gone and I lost track of it. It turns out plenty of people knew where it was after it moved to Granite Street/Route 1 in the mid-'90s.

So I stopped in a few days later for lunch to go. The "new" Kelley's is much bigger than the original downtown location that it had outgrown.

The extensive lunch menu is divided between sandwiches, burgers, wraps and salads. I was tempted by the blarney melt ($7.75), corned beef, cheddar and coleslaw on grilled Texas toast with potato cakes on the side, and the raisin bread chicken salad melt ($7.75).

But I settled on a wrap of grilled chicken with avocado, bacon, Asiago, baby greens, tomato and dijonaise, with a side of cole slaw ($8.25).

When I was leaving, the man behind the counter said, "Thanks for your business. I appreciate it." He then offered to top off my soda, which I had been sipping while waiting.

He knew I wasn't a regular but wanted to turn me into one. On the way to my car, I decided I'd be back.

I split the wrap with my son, Colby, and it was so delicious the two of us returned for lunch a few days later.

In a town known for its Italian eateries, Kelley's is pure Irish. Lots of green and the walls are covered with Irish sayings and beer signs. Above our booth: "God created liquor to keep the Irish from conquering the world" and a map of Ireland.

The signs tell you the folks here don't take themselves too seriously, but the menu quickly lets you know that they do take the food very seriously.

We settled into a booth and ordered a Philly steak pita ($7.75) and a turkey bacon cheddar melt ($7.50).

The Philly featured lean shaved steak smothered in American cheese, peppers and onions on a nicely grilled pita. This time I picked a side of macaroni salad: small elbows in mayonnaise with a slight touch of mustard. Colby's turkey bacon cheddar melt was piled on Texas toast and slathered with honey mustard. Little Irish flags were stuck in the sandwich, for a nice touch.

Overall, an excellent lunch.

Kelley's is creative throughout the menu, often with Irish influences, especially when it comes to their hearty breakfast menu. There's a banger and whiskey onion omelette ($7.95); the Irish breakfast ($7.50), two eggs, Irish bangers, potato cakes and toast; blarney eggs ($7.75), three scrambled eggs with corned beef, onions and cheddar, with potato cakes and toast; Irish Benedict ($8.99), an English muffin topped with two potato cakes, Irish bacon and two poached eggs with Hollandaise sauce; and the Irish fry up ($9.25), two eggs, two potato cakes, corned beef hash, bangers, rashers and toast.

For breakfast I was accompanied by my daughter, Mary, and both of us are big fans of French toast.

We passed on the peanut butter banana stuffed French toast ($7.99) and the cinnamon and vanilla French toast ($6.50). I instead ordered the raisin bread variety ($6.25) and Mary went with the Texas toast variety ($5.50). Both were dusted with powdered sugar and served with a dollop of butter. And both were delicious.

But breakfast is all about the sides and we chose well. I added some potato cakes ($3.95) and Mary some corned beef hash ($3.75). The potato cakes were grilled crispy on the outside and soft and milky on the inside. The hash had nice chunks of potato and a smoky flavor that made me think it had been grilled in bacon fat.

The breakfast menu included a tasty selection of breakfast sandwiches, omelettes and pancakes, as well as blackboard specials, including a fall breakfast of eggs, sausage patties, apple fritters and hash browns ($10.99).

One small complaint: the specials board is in the take-out area and not visible from the dining room and the specials were not mentioned by our server on any of our visits.

Kelley's breakfast is so popular that on weekends you'll likely have to wait. But Kelley's is such a friendly spot that they serve up free coffee to make the wait more tolerable.

Thrilled to rediscover Kelley's, I just might become a regular.

T.COTTER@THEDAY.COM

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