PHILADELPHIA — On a quiet street in Grays Ferry, a half-naked man with a paper bag over his head and blood dripping down his chest runs out of a deli, trailed by two frantic men in aprons.
Raj and Mir, who have just inherited ABC Deli after their father’s sudden death, must track down the half-dead man — armed only with a box of Philly pretzels — in their first challenge as new business owners.
While the opening scene of Hulu’s latest TV series, “Deli Boys,” is fictional, the deli at the center of the show is inspired by a real one on 3rd and Poplar streets in Northern Liberties.
The 10-episode comedy set in Philadelphia, premieres on Hulu March 6. It follows the antics of Raj and Mir, a pair of spoiled Pakistani American brothers (Saagar Shaikh play Raj and Asif Ali plays Mir), as they navigate taking over their late father’s (Iqbal Theba) deli empire — a front for trafficking cocaine, among other criminal activities.
The show is an homage to creator Abdullah Saeed ‘s and executive producer Michelle Nader ‘s Philly roots.
Saeed’s formative years were spent studying at Temple University and working as a journalist at Philadelphia Weekly. “I used to live [near the deli] — they had a $3 hoagie, which is suspicious — but that’s the place I would think of [for ABC Deli].” And his script revolving around this deli spoke to Nader, who was born and raised in South Philly.
“I think Philly is a magical place,” she said. “It’s a crazy place, and I think this show captures the eccentricity of Philadelphia in a way that a lot of shows don’t — I mean ‘ It’s Always Sunny ‘ does — but this is a very particular lens into it.”
The show looks into the lives of a very Philly, very Pakistani family — one that just happens to stuff bags of cocaine into achar (pickled veggies) containers at a convenience store named ABC Deli (ABCD is an informal term for American-born confused desi used to refer to South Asian Americans).
“They sent me this show and I was so proud of it,” said “Queer Eye” star Tan France, who plays Zubair, a British Pakistani gang leader named Zubair. “Someone’s giving us a show that’s so specific — it represents us [South Asians] so beautifully. It gives us a chance to be real, fully formed humans.”
“I had to audition four times for this role, and I would’ve auditioned 40 times [because] I was part of a show that was life-changing,” he added.
That excitement to represent the City of Brotherly Love is evident in the characters of Raj and Mir, a “Philly 10″ and a Drexel University alumnus in the show.
A Philly 10, Shaikh and Ali explained, is all about knowing good food, lining up your beard, having a “fresh-ish” cut, being confident with multiple chain necklaces — maybe one with an Allah pendant — and nice kicks, and a real — or honorary — business degree from Drexel University.
“What really makes a Philly 10 is a ride-or-die with the city — people who are unabashedly like ‘I know my city has faults like every city does but I love it and I’m ride-or-die for these people whether the team does well or the city does well — I believe in these people,” Ali added. “And I think people who don’t, those are the Philly fives (and if they eat cheesesteaks with mushrooms). Clog your arteries like the rest of us.”
Despite the show being filmed in Chicago, each half-hour episode packs a lot of well-timed Philly references. There’s a joke about SEPTA, a box of pretzels, and an expired Tastykake that tips off a determined FBI agent to the deli’s illegal activities.
But the showrunners’ favorite nod to the city is in Episode 5 at Philly gangster Chickie Lasagna’s (Kevin Corrigan) Eagles Super Bowl watch party in West Philly.
At the party, Raj and Mir break into the gangster’s collection of keepsakes — or as his daughter calls it “Philadelphia’s museum of contemporary [BS]” — featuring the very putrefied first cheesesteak, Black Thought ‘s original lunchbox, Vince Papale’s bar rag, Kevin Bacon’s baby tooth, M. Night Shyamalan’s original iPhone, and a gold statue of Frank Rizzo’s head.
“Our favorite is the one about Rizzo — it’s the Super Bowl and we obviously conjured the Eagles winning from that episode,” Nader said. “With the Rizzo of it all and the Tastykakes, even though we were in Chicago, this is still a love letter to Philly.”
“Deli Boys” streams on Hulu.
