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A couple sits down to eat matzo ball soup at Saul’s Restaurant and Delicatessen in Berkeley.

Saul’s Restaurant and Delicatessen in Berkeley.

The team at Saul’s Deli in Berkeley. The 36-year-old Jewish deli is changing hands.

Fans of Saul’s Restaurant and Delicatessen, Berkeley’s beloved 36-year-old Jewish deli, can finally stop dining in fear.

For years, longtime owners Karen Adelman and Peter Levitt have made it known that they want to retire. And retirement can often lead to closing, as is often the case at historic Bay Area restaurants. But Adelman and Levitt have just finalized a deal with the goal of ensuring Saul’s lives on.

Kitchen manager Jesus “Chuy” Mendoza and Sam Tobis, owner of Oakland Jewish bakery Grand Bakery, will be joining Adelman and Levitt as the delicatessen’s newest partners. Adelman and Levitt will remain on the scene but will play gradually smaller roles at the Berkeley institution, as first reported by J. Despite the changing of hands, there is no formal sale.

“It is both a re-energizing and a continuation. Nobody has to be afraid,” Levitt said. “It’s not like an outsider is coming to change things up.”

New owners Sam Tobin (left) and Jose De Jesus Mendoza (right) flank house manager Will Bekker inside the office at Saul’s Restaurant and Delicatessen while longtime owners Karen Adelman and Peter Levitt, who are retiring, stand at the back.

This development means Saul’s will, largely, stay the same. Couples will still gather over matzo ball soup for lunch. Families will still order rounds of bagels, eggs and lox for weekend brunch, then line up at the deli counter for slices of babka and whitefish salad by the pound. The pastrami will still be towered high on sandwiches, and the popular latke tent will still be an annual Hanukkah event.

The main departure is the start of its own in-house baking program, which will manufacture pastries and desserts like rugelach, black-and-white cookies, cheesecake and many more items. (Grand Bakery will remain kosher at a separate facility, but Saul’s Deli’s bakery operation will not be kosher.) Israel Bustos, a longtime Saul’s cook, will handle this part of the operation inside a room that was formerly an office.

“Sam and Chuy made my desk and Karen’s desk disappear and replaced them with a beautiful, spanking-new bakery that is up and running a.m. to p.m. It’s a huge improvement in quality,” Levitt said.

Daniel Kretzer delivers a pastrami sandwich to a customer at Saul’s Restaurant and Delicatessen in Berkeley.

The long-standing owners have lots in common with the incoming partners. Adelman started at Saul’s as a waitress in 1989, while Levitt, a Chez Panisse alum, arrived in 1995 to helm the kitchen. They formed a partnership in 1996 to take over the restaurant from past owner Andra Lichtenstein.

Similarly, Mendoza arrived as a cook, working his way up to kitchen manager, a position he has held for a decade now. Meanwhile, Tobis’ relationship with Saul’s began with his 2017 acquisition of Grand Bakery, a longtime vendor to Saul’s. He has become more involved at Saul’s over the past several months, with a steady presence across the dining room and behind the counter.

Daniel Kretzer hands a customer a to-go order at Saul’s Restaurant and Delicatessen in Berkeley.

“Peter has taught me everything about the restaurant and I have been able to help him in managing the kitchen for a long time,” Mendoza said. “I’ve been doing everything based on his suggestions.”

The news comes after the restaurant’s many struggles brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw Saul’s add an outdoor dining area and rely on takeout more than ever before. It also comes after a sale that fell through in escrow in March 2020, with Adelman and Levitt ready to retire after the transaction.

“We had already sort of levitated from excitement about that new stage of our life, but we had to come back and be really scrappy and keep the restaurant going during that period,” Adelman said. “It was quite a shock, but we’re pretty good at reacting to things. And I think this is a better situation.”

A couple sit down to lunch at Saul’s Restaurant and Delicatessen in Berkeley.

In all, Adelman and Levitt are optimistic about Saul’s legacy carrying on with the next generation.

“When we got here, we had black hair and dark hair, and now we have gray hair,” Adelman said. “But (Mendoza and Tobis) are seasoned, experienced, and then there’s also a youthful energy and a vision. ... I think altogether, that’s pretty good.”

Mario Cortez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mario.cortez@sfchronicle.com

Mario Cortez joined The Chronicle Food & Wine team in 2022. He is originally from San Diego, where he contributed to local and online publications. He last worked at the Eureka Times-Standard, where he was sports editor and a staff reporter. Cortez was also a regular writer for Eater San Diego.

He likes analog photography, playing soccer and, naturally, great food.