Insert Sad Face Here

All you Penn people, did you know that Koch's Deli has closed??? Vince has just informed me of the following news, which I snagged from the Daily Pennsylvanian:

"W. Phila. loses popular deli owner
Bob Koch, owner of Koch's Deli, died Monday
August 9, 2005

Robert "Bob" Koch, owner of Koch's Deli at 43rd and Locust streets, died of heart failure Monday. Koch was 58.

Patrons said they saw Bob Koch on Saturday and he seemed in good health.

A message on the answering machine at the deli announced his passing, and said that the fate of the deli has "yet to be determined."

The deli has been a West Philadelphia mainstay for decades, and Koch was widely known for for his good humor while waiting on the notoriously long lines that frequently spilled out into the street.

Koch's Take Out Shop, located at 4309 Locust St., opened 39 years ago under the ownership of Koch's parents Sid and Frances. Their sons Bob and Louis also worked in the deli and continued to run it, almost unchanged, after their parents died. Lou died of a heart attack in 1995 at the age of 50."

This is a travesty! There is almost no reason for me to ever go back to Philadelphia (friends aside).

On top of that, our closest weekend brunch spot, Campus Epicurean, has also magically been turned into a Vietnamese restaurant. Next thing you know, Smoke's and Mad4Mex will be historic landmarks only in our memories as well...

What very sad news today (although Vince, I really did think you were going to tell me that one of the cats had died).