Katz's Deli

One of the best things about having an out of town friend visit, is that you get to play tour guide and visit all the places that you generally wouldn't. Visiting the Empire State Building may not be your idea of fun, but visiting other NYC institutions generally don't disappoint. Katz's Deli is one of those places. This was actually my first time at Katz's. Its been on my list ever since I moved to NYC, but I've never actually made the time or effort to visit.



I was pretty excited as we stepped into the deli and even more as we got our samples while waiting for our sandwiches. We decided to split a pastrami (below right) and corned beef (below left), both on rye with mustard. Two classic sandwiches prepared beautifully.



The corned beef was moist and flaky. It was a great sandwich. But I have to say that the pastrami blew it out of the water. The pastrami was so tender and flavorful with just the right amount of fat. It just melted in your mouth and satisfied in every bite.

Up until this point, I've always been a bit disappointed in the number and quality of deli's I found in my neighborhood. When asked about the quality of NYC deli's by my friends, I would always say that it wasn't as good as people made it out to be. But deep down inside, I knew that I had to reserve judgment until I had at least visited Katz's and Carnegie.

Now that I've been to Katz's, I'm already trying to figure out my visit to Carnegie. At least now I know what the big hype about NYC deli's are all about. But from my vantage point, the great here is great. Too bad the drop off from great to good seems pretty steep.