Issue #4
Christmas 2001
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Pastrami Nosh-off by David Katz The ancients had the concept of a past perfection from which we have sadly fallen. They contrasted a previous Golden Age with today's dross; men, morals and material things have all decayed from prior glory. In New York, this is true of bakeries and delicatessens. (For our out-of-town readers, a delicatessen is not a small grocery store that also makes take-out sandwiches; a delicatessen is a restaurant that serves kosher or kosher-style meat sandwiches as well as hot dishes with a high-cholesterol content. Pickles, cole slaw, and often pickled peppers and tomatoes are placed on the table as you are seated. Beverages are restricted to coffee, tea, soft drinks and beer. Celery tonic is available for the cognoscenti.)
In an attempt to divine the true state of delicatessens in New York, your columnist, at great personal sacrifice, consented to compare four establishments, using that touch-stone of delicatessen quality, the pastrami sandwich. The Great Pastrami Nosh-off featured Fine and Shapiro's, a long-standing mainstay of Upper West Side fressing; Artie's, one of the few new delicatessens to open in Manhattan in the last two decades; the Stage Delicatessen, a theater district favorite (chosen over its neighbor, the Carnegie Delicatessen because it had no long line out front); and the 2nd Avenue Deli, world-renowned, and a favorite with stars of the Yiddish theater.
The entrants were judged on four criteria: texture, leanness, flavor and quality of mustard and rye bread. Quantity was not a criterion; all sandwiches were over-stuffed, several of them obscenely so. Similarly, quality of service, ambience and breadth of pickle selection were ignored, since this was a test of the sandwich and its ingredients rather than a restaurant review.
Fine and Shapiro's pastrami was extra lean. Nevertheless, the meat was moist and tender. The flavor was mild and pleasant, but without much of that magic zing to the taste buds that distinguishes pastrami from brisket or corned beef and elevates it to a gustatory delight. The rye bread was properly crusty and of correct flavor and texture. The mustard was regular delicatessen yellow-brown, in an aluminum pot with lid, and a plastic spoon for spreading.
Artie's pastrami was not quite as lean, but still juicy and tender, with a more robust pastrami flavor. Like Fine and Shapiro, the bread was good, and the mustard standard delicatessen in color, flavor and serving implements.
The Stage pastrami was less lean still, though not really fatty. It was a bit less tender than the other two, but with a stronger flavor that had a pronounced peppery lilt to it. The bread was excellent seeded rye, with enough caraway to notice. The mustard, however, was a disappointment. Although they are proud of their mustard, and sell it separately, Stage mustard is a Guldeny brown and comes in a squat plastic squeeze bottle. The flavor does not say "delicatessen" as much as it says "Dijon by way of Brooklyn".
The 2nd Avenue Deli's pastrami was the fattiest of the four (this is not a defect; pastrami should be appropriately fatty), but with plenty of lean meat on each slice. It was cut somewhat thicker than the other three, making for a chewier sandwich, but the meat was tender and moist. The flavor was full, more pronounced than Artie's, but less peppery than the Stage. The bread was good standard rye; the mustard the standard yellow-brown, aluminum pot, plastic spoon.
The winner? Carnivores like me. It is still possible to get a good pastrami sandwich in Manhattan, and not just in one place. My favorite was the 2nd Avenue Deli, since I prefer a fattier cut, but choosing from these four really came down to a matter of personal taste. All had the right flavor (in varying degrees) and the right texture and came from the right cut of meat. Flavor intensity and nuance, and degree of fattiness, are for the individual to choose.
One note of complaint: would it hurt a deli owner to get a real mustard paddle for the pot, instead of making us use spoons ill-suited to the task?
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