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Katz's

205 E. Houston, New York, NY - (212) 254-2246
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.
5 star rating
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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.
5 star rating
Overall Rating
Pastrami Sandwich
Corned Beef on Rye, Extra Lean
Half-Sour Pickles
Egg Cream
Sour Pickles
Hot Dog

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