Deli jackpot: New restaurant owner looks to feed hungry healthcare workers

WASILLA — The Valley’s growing medical community needs more places to eat, and one Wasilla restaurateur is hoping to capitalize on that dearth by starting small and working hard.

Chris Daw likes to cook, and likes to see people enjoying a meal — qualities he hopes will transfer to a new deli venture in Wasilla.

Daw, a former Sportsman’s Warehouse manager who also managed the bars at Settlers Bay Lodge and Schwabenhof, opened Slot’s Deli Aug. 1 in the Mat-Su Regional Outpatient Center off Bogard Road. The small deli, tucked into a second-floor corner just inside the Bogard entrance to the outpatient facility, sports a handful of tables and chairs with walls adorned with music and celebrity memorabilia.

Daw said the Bogard Road/Seward Meridian Parkway corridor is in dire need of restaurant options, especially with the continued medical park growth off Seward Meridian.

“These folks need a place to eat for lunch,” Daw said. “I live off Bogard and for a long time I would drive by here and wonder where all these medical offices were going. You can eat pizza only so many times.”

Mat-Su Regional has already offered up some similar space at the main hospital for an expansion of the Slot’s brand, Daw said, and plans are in the works for a standalone restaurant off Seward Meridian.

But for now, staying small and focused on what works is the goal, he said.

“I think where many startup restaurants get into trouble is with trying to do too much, too fast,” Daw said. “They want to offer everything at once and that can create too much overhead. We’re working out the kinks, getting a sense of what people like. I already have plans to change up the menu in October. That will allow me to showcase a few more of my own creations.”

Standard deli fare like turkey, roast beef, pastrami and corned beef highlight the menu, as do soup and salad options. Daw said everything is made to order. He uses Alaska Grains bread and always makes an effort to use locally sourced ingredients when available. The deli also offers espresso, teas, fruit smoothies and a selection of pastries.

“The BLT has been a big hit since we opened,” said Daw, a state chili cook-off champion, “and I think that popularity has come in large part because of the bacon. I just don’t use the standard strip bacon — I use pork shoulder slices, which are much better.”

He said the path to the new venture wasn’t quite what he had planned.

“I had reached a point in my career where I had gotten pretty far as a manager and had reached the point of looking for something new — and a restaurant was an idea because I love to cook,” he said. Daw said he stopped by the existing sandwich shop to get some cookies and learned that the owner was looking to sell.

“A half hour later I ended up buying the place,” Daw said. “And looking back, it has been perfect — not as much risk, and not as much debt.”

The operation also is a family affair. Daw’s wife — a school nurse — keeps the books and his 11-year-old son Rocco stops by after school each day to help.

“I was able to give him his first paycheck,” Daw said, “and to watch that light go on with (the responsibility of) a job was priceless.”

Slot’s is open for breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. Visit www.slotsdeli.com or call 352-2948 for more information.

Contact reporter Steven Merritt at 352-2269 or steven.merritt@frontiersman.com