KATZ'S- STILL THE KING

My wife and I went to hear some old friends play at the PARKSIDE LOUNGE on E. Houston last night, so it was a natural opportunity to eat at KATZ'S. We shared a corned beef sandwich, pastrami sandwich and knish. In our younger days, I would have also gotten a hot dog for her, a knoblewurst for me and maybe even soup or chopped liver for "starters". As it was, we were hard-pressed to finish, but fear not, we did.
I will say again (and you can disagree if you want): KATZ'S corned beef and pastrami are without equal. Texture, amount of fat, spicing and that PECHTER'S rye bread- the echt jewish deli experience.
The high-rise luxury apartments going up on the opposite corner of Ludlow Street (a crappy parking lot until now) are a grim reminder that the LES is rapidly turning into any other gentrified, GAP-ified neighborhood in NYC. Change is certainly part of life, but so is loss.

For those that have never been to Katz's, here's a link to a blog with a real nice photo essay on Katz's. The blog is from Jason Perlow, one of the founders of eGullet.

http://offthebroiler.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/nyc-dining-katzs-delicatessen/#more-1533