<a href="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0725.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-871" title="Ella's Deli" src="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0725.jpg" alt="" width="425" height="640" /></a>

Sometimes a person's lunch routine could use some jazzin' up.

That's where Ella's Deli, in Tulsa just west of Harvard on 11th Street (a.k.a. old Route 66), right across the street from the <a href="http://www.utulsa.edu/">University of Tulsa</a> campus, comes in.<!--more-->

<a href="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0704.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-861" title="Ella's Deli" src="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0704.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="425" /></a>

<a href="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0762.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-879" title="Ella's Deli" src="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0762.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="425" /></a>

See it there, hiding in this strip mall? With 11th Street puttering along, right outside?

<a href="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0764.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-880" title="11th Street/Route 66" src="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0764.jpg" alt="" width="425" height="640" /></a>

Don't ask me why, but when restaurants that rule set up their kitchens in a strip mall or some other hole-in-the-wall location, the food tastes even better.

Don't question it. Just know that it's true.

<a href="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0709.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-863" title="Ella's Deli" src="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0709.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="425" /></a>

Ella's riffs off of <a href="http://okjazz.org/index.cfm?id=6">Tulsa's rich history in jazz music</a> with a robust menu of sandwiches, sides and down-home desserts, all inspired by the greats of the genre.

<a href="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0707.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-862" title="Ella's Deli" src="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0707.jpg" alt="" width="425" height="640" /></a>

When we stopped in for lunch last week, we were impressed not only by the cheeky menu and the friendly service (owners Karen and Forrest leaned over the counter to introduce themselves to us, chatting us up lightly as we dined), but also by the fact that, on the day we visted, Ella's offered lunch time entertainment, a perk we thought reserved for Tulsa's late-night eats crowd.

<a href="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0712.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-865" title="Ella's Deli" src="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0712.jpg" alt="" width="425" height="640" /></a>

A guy in the corner with a guitar, playing blues and swing (and even a head-bobbing rendition of Route 66). How cool is that?

And how hot is this?

<a href="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0722.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-870" title="Ella's Deli" src="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0722.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="425" /></a>

That's Ella's famous reuben sandwich, piled high with sauerkraut, cooked-in-house corned beef and bratwurst, spicy mustard and Swiss cheese, all served on locally baked marble rye. Karen and Forrest, along with Ella, the basset hound for which the restaurant is named, claim that it's the best in the state.

Being big reuben eaters and having chowed down on this spicy sandwich concoction all over town, we couldn't argue.

<a href="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0718.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-869" title="Ella's Deli" src="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0718.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="425" /></a>

The addition of bratwurst was my favorite part.

<a href="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0725.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-871" title="Ella's Deli" src="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0725.jpg" alt="" width="425" height="640" /></a>

And that tabouli? It was good. Really good. It was so tasty that it made me pine for the tabouli at the now-shuttered Halim and Mimi's (which was located just up the street from Ella's on 11th Street) and its stemless gloriousness.

I have lots of trouble finding tabouli I like, but at Ella's, I was satisfied.

And then there was this:

<a href="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0717.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-868" title="Ella's Deli" src="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0717.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="425" /></a>

A monte cristo sandwich! I love monte cristo sandwiches. I'd never had one that wasn't encased in a thick crust of fried batter (not that I'm saying anything bad about thick crusts of fried batter), but I loved this lighter, eggier, almost breakfast-y version of my long-time favorite.

And I didn't find anything wrong with that each quarter was topped with a maraschino cherry, either.

Because I like maraschino cherries. Plus, I can do this:

<a href="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0731.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-873" title="Ella's Deli" src="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0731.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="425" /></a>

In my mouth. My husband timed me this time: Six seconds flat.

See? Idle hours in high school study hall just after a lunchtime getaway to Sonic for a cherry limeade do, at the end of the day, pay off in appreciable skills.

Then we had to go and order this:

<a href="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0737.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-875" title="Ella's Deli" src="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0737.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="425" /></a>

House-made peach cobbler, served with vanilla ice cream...

<a href="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0732.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-874" title="Ella's Deli" src="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0732.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="425" /></a>

...and sin. Lots and lots of sin.

Seriously? This was the best cobbler I've ever had, and I come from a family of expert bakers, especially where pies and cobblers are concerned. The peaches were in perfect season, the crust stayed flaky until the syrupy end, and the whole thing had me wondering if anyone would notice if I put my head down on the table for a post-dessert nap.

I know my mother and her mother read this blog, but ladies, I have to be honest - you've been beaten by a restaurant named after a slobbery, droopy-eyed, sweetly named basset hound.

<a href="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0745.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-877" title="Ella's Deli" src="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0745.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="425" /></a>

Another way you know that cobbler really was that good:

<a href="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0738.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-876" title="Ella's Deli" src="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0738.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="425" /></a>

Drip trails. Only a spoon in too much of a hurry to get from the bowl to a mouth and back again to worry about what's lost on the table could create such a tell-tale sign.

<a href="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0749.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-878" title="Ella's Deli" src="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0749.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="425" /></a>

Ella's isn't the cheapest lunch in town, but for what you get - meats cooked and carved in house (no wimpy deli slices here), locally baked breads, house-made sides good enough to eat out of a giant bowl with a serving spoon, live music and desserts that'd make your momma cry with shame and remorse for having fed you with less all these years - it's a real value.

<a href="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0726.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-872" title="Ella's Deli" src="http://www.tashadoestulsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC_0726.jpg" alt="" width="426" height="640" /></a>

The only difficult part about lunch at Ella's is knowing that, since they're not open for dinner, you'll have to wait at least 24 hours before you can visit again. It's a tough wait, but you get through it - you get through it.

<strong>Ella's Deli</strong>
Where: 3208 E. 11th Street
When: Monday-Saturday, 11am-4pm
Call: (918) 949-6666
Find Ella's <a href="http://twitter.com/ellasdeli">on Twitter</a> and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/EllasDeli">Facebook</a>.

<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/58/778215/restaurant/TU-Kendall-Whittier/Ellas-Deli-Tulsa"><img style="border: none; width: 130px; height: 36px;" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/778215/minilink.gif" alt="Ella's Deli on Urbanspoon" /></a>