Some people collect vintage cars. Others, Pokémon cards. For a while in the ’90s, I had a pretty enviable Lisa Frank sticker collection, and I’m sure there’s a stack of dusty POGs somewhere in my parents’ basement.
But Gilbert Frank and Salvatore Ercolano collect restaurants. Specifically, iconic restaurants across San Diego, like The Butcher Shop, West End Bar & Kitchen, The Godfather Restaurant, and Studio Diner. And come January 2, 2026, they’ll add another luminary to their Iconic Eateries Group portfolio as the new owners of Milton’s Delicatessen in Del Mar.
Anyone who’s either from San Diego, has ever been to the Del Mar Fairgrounds, or sat in traffic on I-5 near Via de la Valle has, at the very least, caught a glimpse of the cream-colored Milton’s restaurant just east of the freeway. And, if you’re like Frank, you very well may have been eating there since elementary school.
Barry Robbins and David Levy opened Milton’s as a traditional Jewish delicatessen and bakery in 1995, serving classics like matzo ball soup, piled-high pastrami sandwiches, hot corned beef, bagels with lox, and what Frank calls the best challah bread in town. (Fun fact: Milton’s is also behind the legendary Milton’s brand of bread, crackers, and chips—what food critic Troy Johnson credits as the snacks that got him through the pandemic.)
Levy retired a few years back, and Robbins, who’s 70, started thinking about what was next. Something must have been in the air, because he didn’t call Frank. Frank called him. “I just kind of had a hunch,” he says.
He and Ercolano’s business model centers around acquiring well-known and beloved restaurants whose owners are ready to retire, but perhaps don’t have a succession plan in place to keep it going—precisely the situation at Milton’s. Robbins is staying on as a silent minority owner, but for all intents and purposes, will be out of the day-to-day of the business once the handoff is complete. And after 30 years, handing off the keys to the kingdom he and Levy built is a bittersweet moment.
“When I hear someone else address, ‘Is the owner around?’ and then someone else comes out, that’s gonna sting a little bit,” he admits. “[But] the other side of me is excited, because of the two guys, Gil and Sal. I feel like they’re the right guys.”
Frank says he and Ercolano have no intention of doing anything but rejuvenating the menu. “Our goal for the menu to stay the same, only improve,” he promises. “We want to take something that’s already working, but you can always strive to do better.” Plus, he can’t let down the legends.
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“I have the utmost amount of respect for Barry and David. I truly look up to them as an inspiration,” he says. “We have exciting things planned for the legacy that is Milton’s.”
Milton’s Delicatessen is located at 2660 Via De La Valle, Del Mar.
