Shapiro’s to open restaurant in Fashion Mall

Shapiro’s Delicatessen announced Thursday that it plans to open a restaurant in The Fashion Mall at Keystone in mid-November.

The 4,200-square-foot restaurant will be about 60 percent smaller than Shapiro’s downtown flagship location, but will carry most of the same menu items the deli is known for, plus some new ones, said Brian Shapiro, president of parent firm Max Shapiro Inc.

The new restaurant will be adjacent to Tesla Motors showroom in the Fashion Cafe, with direct access from the eatery to the parking lot, plus a separate entrance from inside the mall.

Regular operations will continue at Shapiro’s flagship restaurant at 808 S. Meridian St., where it was founded in 1905 by Russian immigrants Louis and Rebecca Shapiro. The restaurant also has a small, limited-menu location at Gate B15 at Indianapolis International Airport.

Brian Shapiro said Indiana Pacers owner Herb Simon, chairman emeritus of Simon Property Group, urged him to open a location in the Simon-run Fashion Mall.

“He came into the [downtown] restaurant during the playoffs and said I needed to get my butt up there to the north side where I could make some money,” Brian Shapiro said.

Unlike the South Meridian store, the mall location won’t be operated cafeteria-style. Diners will place their orders at registers. The location will sell deli meats by the pound and baked goods to go, but with a more limited selection than the flagship store, Shapiro said.

Shapiro plans to offer some “modern” changes to the menu called “Twisted Traditions.” That includes offering some healthier lettuces and more cheese selections. That means diners will find options like arugula and mesclun for sandwiches in addition to iceburg and romaine, and pepper jack in addition to Swiss.

That doesn’t mean the recipes will change for Shapiro’s staples like corned beef, pastrami or stuffed cabbage.

“A Jewish deli is still who were are, but we want to offer some alternatives” to keep up with changing demographics, Shapiro said.

Shapiro said he expects a high level of daytime traffic in the mall, which fits right in with Shapiro’s business model. The company’s Carmel City Center location, which closed in June 2013 after 12 years of operations, often struggled to bring in a lunchtime crowd.

The location also should see big demand for catering and delivery from the large number of nearby office buildings and businesses, he said.

“We’ve always been more of a daytime business than a nighttime business, and I can see that continuing at the Fashion Mall,” Shapiro said.