Charcoal Deli (Cockeysville, MD)

With sunny skies and 70-degree temperatures on a Thursday afternoon in March, there was absolutely no reason for the Lunch Bunch to sit around the office and eat sad sandwiches or salads at our cubes or in our offices. 

Instead, we opted to get some fresh air, share a picnic table, and scarf down grub from a Baltimore County staple, Charcoal Deli. Hidden down a side street by a chain pizza joint and the school my daughter attended for nine years, Charcoal Deli is pretty nondescript. There's a handful of picnic tables, an order window, a pickup window and well, that's about it. 

The menu features barbecue, pit beef (a MD staple), burgers, dogs/sausage, and a variety of named sandwiches like the Hillary (smoked turkey grilled with Q, topped with Provolone), Larry (double burger topped with Roma sausage and American cheese), and Scotter (beef/turkey combo with Old Bay and American cheese). I opted for the 1/4 burger topped with a mound of barbecued ham and Tiger Sauce (aka mayo with horseradish), while my pals opted for the Danski (beef with Swiss and Old Bay on a Kaiser roll with Q), Pit Beef, and a Turkey Club. Sides included delicious skin-on fries and so-so mac & cheese that was low on cheese and heavy on oil (booooo!). 

As Lunch Bunch dictates, if the sandwich or eatery you recommend meets with approval, you get to keep going. Thanks to the gang at Charcoal Deli, I'm still up. 

Note: They are building a brand new ALDI across the street from Charcoal Deli. I see a lot of grocery store trips that end with me picking up lunch or dinner across the street. (3.5) — Dan Taylor