Bare-bones and stripped back, Morty's does takeout, has just started delivery to select areas of the city, and also offers a horseshoe-shaped table in the window or a banquette, high tables, soups from scratch, righteous mac 'n' cheese, beer and wine (that's right, beer and wine!). They even make velvet mini cupcakes. The spinach salad boasts mandarin oranges, jicama, eggs, cranberries, smoked Gouda, candied walnuts, and basil vinaigrette: $7.50, yes, but huge, and you get owner Tim thrown in. Formerly the cook at St. Anthony's, Brown somehow hangs onto his humanity in this city's cockamamie catering world. He deserves his popularity with law students; some day all his parking tickets will be forgiven for this Reuben alone.
Morty's Delicatessen: 280 Golden Gate (at Hyde), 567-3354.
