Katz's

205 E. Houston, New York, NY - (212) 254-2246

Overview Reviews(2) Rate Restaurant Upload Photos Bookmark Email

Posted By Michael Stern on December 22, 2009 10:53 AM

Steamy hot, moist and tender, perfumed by spice and smoke, pastrami is the most voluptuous of delicatessen meats. Tasty examples can be found in almost any American city with a population of Romanian-ancestored Jews; but for the very best, for pastrami to make you plotz with pleasaure, there is only one place to go: Katz’s in New York. The granddaddy of Pastrami Palaces – since 1888 – Katz’s boasts a sign outside that advertises Wurst Fabric (an Americanization of a Yiddish term for “homemade sausage”) and one inside that advises, Send a salami to your boy in the army.

Here is an only-in-New-York experience! Brash, big, and noisy, it is a course in customer assertiveness. Although table service is available, what makes Katz’s unique is a one-on-one encounter with a counterman. Take a ticket as you enter, approach the counter and tell the venerable Mr. Krinsky (or one of the other gents with a carving knife) exactly what you want. (Hint: don’t ask for your pastrami on white bread with mayonnaise.) Motherly brisket, corned beef, turkey, knoblewurst (super garlicky salami), chopped liver, tongue, and cheese steaks are all available, as are first-rate Kosher hot dogs, but we can never resist that pastrami. A Katz’s pastrami sandwich is three-quarters of a pound of meat severed into pieces so chunky that the word slice seems too lightweight to describe them. Each brick-red, glistening hunk is rimmed black, redolent of garlic, smoke, and pickling spices, as savory as food can be.

One of Katz’s lesser-known pleasures is breakfast. The usual eggs, pancakes and French toast are available, but connoisseurs come for a Katz’s omelet, which is an unfolded, open-face circle of eggs in which nestle a heap of salami, corned beef, balogna, or pastrami.

Overall Rating

45 out of 45 people found the review helpful. Was it helpful to you?

No Yes

Posted By Jack Ziegler on January 17, 2011 5:25 PM

I went to Katz's for lunch for the first time about 30 years ago. I'd just been transferred to New York from Baltimore. I ordered a corned beef on rye, and a kosher hot dog with fried bologna. The counterman looked at me and said, "You can't have that." I said, "Excuse me?" He said, "I said you can't have that." I asked "Why?" Again he said, "Because you can't have it." So I took my corned beef sandwich and kosher hot dog without bologna to my table and ate it.

The corned beef was wonderful; it was the best corned beef sandwich I had ever eaten. The kosher hot dog was OK, but I missed the fried bologna I used to get at Jack's on Corned Beef Row in Baltimore. Later, my boss, who was also from Baltimore, explained that it was because of a Jewish dietary law about not mixing meats. At other kosher delis in the New York area I've found the same restrictions.

I haven't been to Baltimore in a few years, and I understand Jack's has closed, but I'm still yearning for a kosher dog with fried bologna.

Overall Rating

Pastrami Sandwich

Corned Beef on Rye, Extra Lean

Half-Sour Pickles

Egg Cream

Sour Pickles

Hot Dog

4 out of 5 people found the review helpful. Was it helpful to you?

No Yes