Wally Kennedy: Union Station Delicatessen opens at 705 Illinois Ave.

Oct. 27—Awhile back, I reported that a new deli was coming to the central part of Joplin. Well, that deli has opened, and from the looks of the foot traffic inside, it's going to do well.

The Union Station Delicatessen has opened in the former Beckett's Cafe at 705 S. Illinois Ave. It's in the Joplin Plaza shopping center at the southeast corner of East Seventh Street and Illinois Avenue.

Jennifer Johnson and her husband, Mike, want to create a new chapter for this restaurant, which for decades specialized in American comfort foods. Beckett's opened in 2015 and continued serving the clientele who frequented its predecessor, Granny Shaffer's. Before that, it was Georgia's. Remember that place with its open-faced roast beef sandwiches? I liked to go to Beckett's on St. Patrick's Day for cabbage and corned beef.

Johnson, who hails from Michigan, said, "This has been my dream for 20 years. We sold Simple Simon's Pizza (1522 Broadway-Langston Hughes) to start this. A lot of these recipes were my grandmother's."

After taking over the place Sept. 11, the Johnsons spent a month bringing the property up to speed with fresh paint, new flooring, new ceiling tiles, and better spacing of booths and tables, among other improvements. A new event center, capable of seating 60, is still under construction next door but should be wrapped up soon. New exterior awnings are in the works.

Johnson said she wants to establish a relationship with Connect2Culture in which special dinners could be staged in the deli's event center in connection with events at the Cornell Arts and Entertainment Complex. You would dine in the deli's event center, take a bus to the complex, see the event and then be returned by bus to the event center.

Serving breakfast and lunch, hours will be from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday. Johnson said she is thinking about the possibility of letting people use the deli's kitchen and dining room to operate kinds of pop-up restaurants for the dinner hour. She also wants to feature dishes that reflect the diversity of her cooking staff.

"We want to offer some special Mexican and French foods that our cooks know how to prepare," she said.

To see what's on the menu, visit the Facebook page for Union Station Deli. What you will notice is that there is German influence because Jennifer's family is originally from Germany. There are things on the menu that suggest a central European touch, including cabbage roll soup, kraut kugels and kolache with homemade fries.

For breakfast, there are the usual suspects — French toast, pancakes, breakfast wraps, biscuits and gravy, and omelets. Something I want to try is the Hippie Hash. It's sauteed corned beef, broccoli, onions, mushrooms, peppers and black olives with feta cheese served on hash browns.

The lunch menu features several sides and starters, soups and salads, and about 14 designer sandwiches called "Sammis." You get a side with each sandwich for about $12. I was told the Reuben and the roast beef sandwiches are customer favorites so far.

I tried The Big Dipper, which comes with roast beef, Swiss cheese, garlic mayo and banana peppers on a rustic hoagie with au jus. This is a warm sandwich. Did I mention the deli bakes its own bread daily? My sandwich came with a batch of crispy onion rings. All in all, including excellent service, this place gets two thumbs up.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot the dessert menu, which includes apple and cherry pies, and cakes. Check out the glass-door refrigerator at the entrance to see what's available. If you are looking for a central place in town to meet someone for coffee and a fresh slice of cherry pie, this could be the place. By the way, the coffee is from Joplin Greenhouse and The Coffee Shop.

Contact Wally Kennedy at wkennedy@joplinglobe.com.