New Yorkers Disdain Carnegie Deli

[ludja]

Thank you for joining us Arthur!

I'm looking forwerd to your new book; opinonated and informed I like!

Here's a riddle:

Anytime I mention Carnegie Deli as an option in NYC, New Yorkers invariably groan how touristy, etc it is. (I love their chopped liver and blintzes) But--- when I press them for details on other good Jewish delis they get rather vague, maybe Katz's is mentioned. (This just happened with a group of Colombia profs).

Can you name at least five all-around good Jewish delis scattered about Manhattan?

Are there any other good options in mid-town?

How about in the other boroughs?

Thanks in advance,

ludja

[Arthur Schwartz]

Thank you for joining us Arthur!

I'm looking forwerd to your new book; opinonated and informed I like!

Here's a riddle:

Anytime I mention Carnegie Deli as an option in NYC, New Yorkers invariably groan how touristy, etc it is.  (I love their chopped liver and blintzes)  But--- when I press them for details on other good Jewish delis they get rather vague, maybe Katz's is mentioned.  (This just happened with a group of Colombia profs).

Can you name at least five all-around good Jewish delis scattered about Manhattan? 

Are there any other good options in mid-town?

How about in the other boroughs?

Thanks in advance,

ludja

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Can you name at least five all-around good Jewish delis scattered about Manhattan?

What is this, a quiz? There aren't five all-around Jewish delis left in the city, much less Manhattan. I eat pastrami and corned beef at Katz's. It's the best. I know some people hate the thickly sliced meat. You can get it thin if you ask. I sit at a table and have a waiter or waitress (love Mickey, the zoftig woman) take care of me.

I eat all other deli food at the Second Avenue deli. Junior's in Brooklyn, believe it or not, has wonderful pastrami. On the way home on election day night I bought two Carnegie pastrami sandwiches for me and my partner, to consol us while watching the returns. Instead, the pastrami made us angrier. We left half of it over. It was like leather.

I also went to Ben's in Bayside last week. Also terrible. The pastrami was again like leather. The service was terrible, too. One of my friends ordered a pastrami omelet and it came after everyone else was finished, including me who came late and ordered last.

Jay and Lloyd's on Avenue U in Brooklyn has good meat, but the place is filthy and everything else is gross. Forget the Mill Basin Deli. That's over, too.

On big problem is the difficulty of getting good KOSHER meats for pastrami and corned beef. I don't what exactly the problem is, but there is a problem. That's why Katz's and Junior's are good. They are not kosher.

Oy vay, no more good deli! I can't live in that world.