Katz's Deli (New York)

Next stop on the list of must-try NY foods - pastrami on rye. The most famous destination for this traditionally Jewish sandwich would have to be Katz's Deli on the Lower East Side, surely. Katz's is the site of the most famous scene from one of my all-time favourite movies, When Harry Met Sally. You know the scene . . . I'll have what she's having. Katz's does capitalise on this a little, with a huge sign hanging above the table in question and several photos of Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal around the place. But Katz's was famous way before that movie and the reason is their pastrami on rye (as well as the slightly dodgy slogan "Send a salami to your boy in the army").

The deli is very authentic looking. A huge counter stretches the length of the restaurant, where you can either order directly from the sandwich makers or take a seat in the area marked for table service, which we did. We decided to split a pastrami on rye and a bagel with cream cheese and lox, another NY classic.

A plate of very disturbing looking pickles arrived first. Still not sure about these, but all thoughts of the pickles were gone the moment the pastrami sandwich arrived.

Wow. Now that is a sandwich. A pile of warm, thick-cut pastrami piled on on bread. That was it. Our authentically NY server (he was brilliant) gave us the mayo we asked for but with the caveat that we wouldn't need it, because the mustard is so good. I'm not a huge mustard fan, but he was right. The slightly spicy mustard perfectly balanced out the rich, juicy pastrami. So good.

The bagel arrived next and was also piled high, this time with rich, fatty salmon and slathers of cream cheese. It was really good, but let's face it, this one you can make yourself fairly easily, so it struggled to compete with the pastrami.

I've since read reviews that say except for the pastrami, the food at Katz's is pretty awful. To that, I say, who cares! If you make one thing that good, that is sufficient to justify your existance. That and being the site of the best fake orgasm scene in film . . .


Katz's Delicatessan
205 East Houston Street
New York, NY 10002