For many who live, work or visit Annapolis, a day in our town begins at Chick and Ruth's Delly on Main Street. Known for decades for its famous sandwich board and daily pledge of allegiance, this family-owned and -operated restaurant is rich with tradition and local memories.

HometownAnnapolis.com recently caught up with owner Ted Levitt, and asked him a few behind the scenes questions about this world-famous landmark.

Q: Chick and Ruth's Delly was started by your parents. What was your dad's real name?

A: My dad's real name was Charles. When he was a small boy his mother called him Chickie, and his friends and family picked up on it and called him Chick from then on.

Q: What was it like in the early days?

A: I was 9 years old when my parents bought Chick & Ruth's Delly in August of 1965. My family lived in Baltimore at the time and they drove back and forth for a few months. Then my dad had a heart attack. Mom ran the Delly while Dad was in the hospital for 4 months. After he was able to get back to work we moved to Annapolis.

While in Baltimore all three of us - my two sisters and myself - would get up at 3:30 each morning to ride to Annapolis with our mom so she could open up the Delly. My sisters would sleep in the booths till 7am and then we would go to school.

When we arrived in the delly my mom would stand me on a milk carton and I would slice meats till I was ready to go to school (2nd grade). After school we all would drive home. This went on for a couple of months until we moved to Annapolis.

All three of us children worked in the Delly through the years. My sisters went on to college and are married with children. Still to this day, they come in and help out from time to time.

Q: What about you - your studies, your family?

A: From the time I was nine I've worked every weekend and all the summers. I went to the Culinary Institute of America in New York, and then to Florida International University for Hotel & Restaurant. Then I came back to the Delly.

After being back for a while I called up an old girl friend named Beth just to see if she would remember me. We had gone out once or twice during college. But this time was different. We went out every night for 4 months and then I asked her to marry me. To my surprise she said yes. We've been married for 18 years, and have two great kids: Scott, 17 and Lauren, 15. And that is how the Scotlaur Inn Bed & Breakfast (above the Delly) got its name.

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