New York: Biblical Pastrami - Day 1

The one thing on the "must-eat" list for me was definitely the pastrami sandwich from Katz's Delicatessen. Ever since the first time I had it a few years ago, I've been waiting for the day to finally taste what I considered the best pastrami anywhere.

Since then, I've also had Langer's, which is LA's spot to go for a pastrami sandwich. I did like Langer's #19, which is known for their pastrami with coleslaw and Russian dressing on their double baked rye bread. Even Langer's normal pastrami sandwich is great thanks to the double baked rye bread, but if you are just talking about pastrami itself, Katz's takes the crown!

Even though we were stuffed from our Chinatown adventure, I saved a little room for Katz's and good thing Ben also wanted to try Katz's, so Ben and I decided to get a pastrami and a corned beef sandwich to share!

Katz's Delicatessen

205 E Houston St

Between Avenue A & Essex St

Lower East Side

New York, NY 10002

katzdeli.com

Hello Katz's!!! It has been awhile.

Picture of the carvers and cooks through the window.

Since 1888!

Crazy packed! Full of locals & tourists. We had to wait about 15 minutes in line before they let us in. Luckily I was able to find a line on the most right side of the sandwich stations. For some reason everybody migrated towards the middle :P

Pastrami Sandwich on rye with mustard! Hand carved pastrami meat hot from the steamer piled high on top of fresh rye bread with Katz's mustard. Biblical.

A mix of fatty and lean parts from the brisket.

Perfect seasoning with that amazing black bark crust.

I have waited too long. It was so hard not to just dive right in and start eating but had to resist and take these damn pictures!

Corned beef on white with mustard. Their corned beef may not be as famous as pastrami but lots of people also swear by it.

Salty cured corned beef. Imagine this made into hash... gaaaaaah!

Mustard really helps cut through the salty and fatty parts of the corned beef.

Ok sorry, pastrami sandwich is still the best here, so here's another shot of it HAHA.

Full sour pickle and half sour. We are weak sauce and only ate the half sour...

Decided to get a bottle of Katz's lemonade.

Sorta expensive for such a small bottle but the tart lemonade really helped with all the meat.

Ben about to take his first bite but he obviously could not handle such a big sandwich as a piece of pastrami is about to fall. Fail.

After this meal, I really do think the pastrami at Katz's is the best. I just love how the pastrami is hand carved so you get these irregular cuts with all the nooks and crannies. At Langer's, it is machine carved so it just have that texture! Katz's also sells their whole pastrami online and price is actually quite reasonable, but that overnight shipping charge is just killer... I guess I'll just have to wait until the next time to eat that glorious pastrami =/