Nosh-A-Rye to close in April

Nosh-A-Rye’s motto is: “Stay and nosh awhile.”

Actually, people have noshed there for more than a while — the kosher-style deli has operated out of the Avenue of the Flowers shopping center for more than 15 years and is known for its corned beef and beef brisket and Friday night pre-Shabbat crowd.

“It’s about the best I’ve ever had,” said Betty Schiff of the beef brisket.

Schiff isn’t sure where she and fellow Temple Beth Israel members will go after the second week in April: That’s when the restaurant, which opened in 1997, will close permanently on Longboat Key.

“I’m very sorry to hear it,” Schiff said. “I’ve enjoyed it, and it’s nice to have a deli out here.”

Owner Barbara Bowman said that she decided to close the restaurant because of back problems and because Publix Super Markets Inc., which is under contract to buy the plaza, allowed her to terminate her lease. She said she will consider re-opening in a different location, but it won’t be on the Key.

Bowman told the Longboat Observer in 2007 that she never pictured herself in the restaurant business. Originally from Ann Arbor, Mich., she was a 20-year veteran bartender who, in 1998, after years of vacationing in the area, took a job at Nosh-A-Rye as a waitress. In less than a year, she became manager, and in 2002, she bought the restaurant. After buying the restaurant, she worked to streamline the menu, eliminating items such as chicken wings that didn’t fit well with the kosher-style menu.

Bowman described the decision to close the restaurant as a difficult one.

“It’s time to move on, but it’s bittersweet,” she said.

Bowman said that the loss of hotel units on the Key coupled with the overall decline in the economy made business difficult. But the bright spot of the business for Bowman were her regular customers. Bowman said she realized just how much her customers cared after the first time she had back surgery. She didn’t expect to receive anything but ended up getting between 50 and 100 cards and get-well gifts from customers.

“You learn to get to know and to love a lot of your regulars,” she said. “It made you want to come back to work. It made you know that people really care.”