Late nights and Pretzel Bites at Lee Street Deli

In this installment of "Up All Night," MOVE spends an evening experiencing the "late-night" hours of Lee Street Deli.

By Anton Berkovich

Published Oct. 14, 2008

In the middle of taking orders at Lee Street Deli, Drew Wilson doesn't skip a beat in handing off paper towels to a customer who just spilled his drink.

"We get a lot of spills," says Wilson, who has worked at LSD since February.

Lee Street Deli, aka LSD, has late-night hours on Fridays and Saturdays from 1 to 3 a.m. The two employees working the Oct. 10 shift were Wilson, who also spends his time spinning records as Alpaca Radio, and Drew Owen, a junior at Rock Bridge High School, who has worked there since June.

The shop is located in the basement of a distinctive red house on East Campus. Next to the TV in the corner, old VHS tapes are piled on top of each other. Near the door, old articles from the shop's decades-long history are framed and hung, and a pinned world map labeled "LSD all over the world" takes up its own wall. Music, picked from Wilson's iPod, plays over the conversations in the shop.

LSD was originally called Lee Street Shop when it opened in 1927 as a grocery store. Today, the selection is a bit simpler. They still make sandwiches, but also sell candy, cigarettes and other similar items. During the late-night hours, the restaurant only sells their Juicyburgers and items from their "Ballpark Fare" menu, such as nachos and pretzels.

It's 1 a.m., and the tables are all full and the line of customers has reached the door. All the spots on the bike rack are taken, and some people have begun to sit on the patio outside.

"We have more customers in the night hours than we do all day Friday and Saturday," Wilson says.

By 1:30 a.m., the restaurant is still getting packed. One employee who wasn't scheduled drops by and offers to help start making nachos for an order. Ten minutes later, another employee shows up and offers to help for a bit. Both of the volunteers leave by 2 a.m., but it does ease up the workload enough to give the Drews time to talk.

"You have to be very long-tempered at this job," Wilson says. "You get drunks (in here) all night."

Asked about any memorable stories from working at LSD, Wilson laughs and says, "not for publication."

Owen says earlier this year a sink had somehow broken and flooded the entire restaurant and they had to hold off on opening until it was cleaned.

"That's one thing you get for working in a basement," says Owen, as he opens a can of Red Bull to help him stay up.

To say the restaurant has a relaxed environment would be an understatement. By 2:15 a.m., LSD is out of cigarettes, much to the dismay of some customers. Wilson doesn't hesitate to offer them some of his own.

At around 2:20 a.m., after stumbling out of the bathroom, one girl finds herself behind the counter, yelling to her friends to check it out. Her friends throw an Airhead over Wilson's head to get her to go back over to them. The entire time, Wilson doesn't stop taking orders.

Around then, Owen turns to the people waiting for their food and yells, "Anyone been waiting here long that I forgot about?"

A few customers hop up to the register and say yes. Owen checks their names and tells them their orders are coming up. After getting his order of nachos, one customer compares eating them to having a certain bodily fluid in his mouth.

"That's an interesting way to put it, but I guess I agree," Owen says.

After Wilson puts on a Beck album, one customer shouts to him to turn it up. Wilson complies, and the customer throws his thumb up in thanks after saying something about how 2006 was a good year for Beck.

At 2:45 a.m., with a quarter of an hour left until closing, business suddenly flares up, and the two Drews try to pick up the pace. At 3:05 a.m., Wilson takes stock of how many ingredients are left and has to turn away the last customer. He pleads with Wilson about how hungry he is for a few minutes, and, eventually, Owen is able to put together an order of Pretzel Bites for him.

It's well past 3 a.m. when Owen and Wilson are able to lock up and leave. Owen says that there are even more customers on nights after games. Wilson is scheduled to work the next morning shift but is still planning on stopping at a friend's house before heading home.

Just another night at LSD.