Does Eating (The Best?) Pastrami Prolong Your Life? What's Your Favorite?
The world of serious sandwiches suffered a terrible loss this week with the death of Al Langer at the ripe (or should I say cured) old age of 94. I got the news in an e-mail from David Sax, a Canadian food writer who is on a mission to save Jewish deli food.
Langer and his wife Jean founded Los Angeles' only great Jewish deli in 1947. His pastrami, made to his specifications, was a peppery, smokey ode to Jewish soul food. When I wrote favorably about Langer's pastrami in the New York Times, I was practically stoned by New York deli afficionados the next time I walked into Katz's. They might as well have put a "fatwa" on me.
Read more to discover what Nora Ephron, our poet laureate, said about Langer's. And find out how to get Langer's Pastrami shipped to your house so that you can have a Langer's pastrami party in Art's honor.
Placed on still-warm rye bread, Langer's pastrami made more than a "nice" sandwich. It was, as Nora Ephron, our pastrami poet laureate, wrote in the New Yorker, a "work of art." Here are a couple of choice Ephron Langer's pastrami bites:
"The rye bread, faintly sour, perfumed with caraway seeds, lightly dusted with cornmeal, is as good as any rye bread on the planet, and Langer's puts about seven ounces of pastrami on it, the proper proportion of meat to bread."
"The resulting sandwich, slathered with Gulden's mustard, is an exquisite combination of textures and tastes. It's soft but crispy, tender but chewy, peppery but sour, smoky but tangy. It's a symphony orchestra, different instruments brought together to play one perfect chord."
Ephron goes on to say that if Langer's was in New York, "it would be a shrine."
There are three great pastrami sandwiches to be had in this country:
Langer's, 704 S. Alvarado St., Los Angeles, CA, 213-483-8050
Katz's, 205 E. Houston Street (corner of Ludlow St.), New York, NY 212-254-2246
Ben's Best, 96-40 Queens Boulevard, Rego Park, Queens, New York, 718-897-1700
Rounding out my top six are: Carnegie Deli, Artie's, and Zingerman's in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Amazingly, you can get all three of my favorite pastramis by mail. But if you get it, try to buy a whole, uncut piece and then steam it slowly to approximate the real deli experience.
With great delis seemingly in peril all over North America it's heartening to know that Norm Langer, Art's son, will continue to run the business adhering to his father's high standards. Wherever you are this weekend, serious eaters, have a pastrami sandwich and a Dr. Brown's soda, and before you take your first bite, toast Art Langer, a true Serious Eater. And remember, if Art Langer lived to 94, maybe someday researchers will discover that pastrami has the same health benefits as red wine. Eat pastrami, live longer.
[pastrami photo taken by Ben Brown]
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13 Comments:
Ed, when you say:
"Amazingly, you can get all three of my favorite pastramis by mail. But if you get it, try to buy a whole, uncut piece and then steam it slowly to approximate the real deli experience."
I am curious whether anyone reading has tried this, and how close the approximation to the real deli experience can actually be reached.
It is very dark days of deli-dom where I live, with nary a good bite to be found for miles and miles.
Any stories or tips appreciated, from those who have ordered deli by mail.
..................................................
Here's even more good deli-reading from http://www.savethedeli.com/
Karen Resta at 10:53AM on 06/29/07
Second Ave. Deli's pastrami was great--I hope they reopen somehow, somewhere... And I second your comments on Zingerman's. I believe they get their pastrami from Niman Ranch, and though their bread isn't exactly New York Jewish style, it's still very good.
curdnerd at 11:05AM on 06/29/07
I love Sarge's pastrami, but maybe that's because it's across the street!
FKC at 3:18PM on 06/29/07
Langer's does make a good pastrami. Every bit as good as Katz's and Ben's Best. I'd say it was a little sweeter than each of those. Don't forget Schwartz's in Montreal, though. For a very commercial place, Stage isn't bad either. Even Manny's in Chicago is above average. Just don't buy that crap sold in the supermarket deli cases made with sirloin or whatever. Ridiculous. Pastrami needs fat and it needs to be warm. Steaming it to tender and then hand-slicing it is definitely the way to go.
This has been a passion of mine for over a year now. A local chef and I started making pastrami from scratch and selling it at a local farmer's market here in Portland, OR. We sold out in about an hour each week so we moved it to a Saturday brunch at his restaurant and did gangbusters. We're now building a 70 seat restaurant downtown (Kenny & Zuke's) where we will continue making our pastrami from scratch, both curing it and smoking it ourselves, plus pickled tongue, corned beef, etc. We're even hand-rolling bagels made with a sourdough starter, retarded for 24 hours, and then boiled and baked.
One thing I've been disappointed by in delis is how after the sandwiches the food gets really weak, really quick. Knishes have been sitting for days. Latkes are floppy and greasy. Etc. Our goal isn't to make food like a good deli, but instead to make food like your favorite Jewish grandmother.
extramsg at 3:28PM on 06/29/07
btw, Carnegie is all about size, not quality. It's the short, bald middle-aged guy in a Corvette of Delis.
extramsg at 3:43PM on 06/29/07
extramsg, I can't wait to try your pastrami and your bagels.
Ed Levine at 6:41PM on 06/29/07
I look forward to getting your feedback when you do. And grab yourself a fresh pie at Apizza Scholls while you're in town. I'd put it up against ANYWHERE in NY -- in the same league as (arguably better than) DiFara's, Grimaldi's, Patsy's, Lombardi's, Tottonno's, John's, et al. (btw, that's my order of preference.)
extramsg at 1:56AM on 06/30/07
i'll come visit when you're open msg.
great post.
norman at 10:34AM on 06/30/07
On the upside, given that we all have to go at some point, what a great way to go: not only 94 years old and in apparently reasonably good health, but moreover just a couple of weeks after the deli's giant 60th anniversary celebration, at which everyone from top city officials to Joan Nathan feted Al's accomplishments, and the corner of 7th and Alvarado was renamed Langer's corner in his honor. May more such deserving folk be so recognized in their time.
I'm relieved to hear the deli will stay open, since I count it among the great geographic features of my office, just one stop away on the subway (that's not a typo, there really is a subway in Los Angeles), as well as conveniently located halfway between the office and a variety of venues that work as a public interest lawyer takes me during the day. It's only in registering the nostalgic siren song with which Langer's, a relic among Salvadorean and Mexican joints (some of which are first rate-- MacArthur Park is a great eating neighborhood), beckons as I pass that I've come to recognize good deli food as an endagered cultural species. The recognition was also brought home last summer, in the experience of acting as cultural tour guide for a clerk (originally from rural Michigan) and translator (originally from El Paso) whom I took there as thanks for helping me prepare a case. Both loved Langer's, but also clearly saw it as an exotic experience, and peppered me with questions about pastrami versus corned beef, half-sours versus full-sours, chopped liver, and egg creams. Fine, there aren't many Jews in the U-P or in El Paso, but there are many in L.A., especially in my neighborhood (near Fairfax) and points West and North. Why (and I mean that as a question of current markets, not historical neighborhoods) aren't there any delis worth pointing to, proudly, as demonstrations of the finer (perhaps even the only fine) culinary traditions of my Ashkenazi-American ancestors anywhere in L.A. outside the Rampart District? Canter's is wholly mediocre, except at 2am, sort of the L.A. Jewish Deli equivalent of Morningside Height's Tom's Diner; Nate and Al's and others are expensive substitutes, at best. Pastrami's a reasonably cheap and accessible cuisine-- what happened?
Anna at 9:41PM on 07/01/07
A place called DELI on rue Vavin, 75005 was recently taken over by some hot shot wok joint, and DELI served only quiche and tarts.
Even the word "deli" is in danger!
Seriously, if I have to go to Carnegie Deli and these few others, global warming is not the only catastrophe going on...
ParisBreakfasts at 11:05AM on 07/02/07
Ed,
You might want to check out the Lido Beach Deli, in Long Beach, if you have not tried it yet. Supplied by the same butcher supplying 2nd Ave and Ben's Best, I find the pastrami there to be the best of the bunch. Best of all, its served nice and warm.
JLawyer at 12:20AM on 07/03/07
Anna, last time I went to Langer's, I went across the street afterwards and got a bacon wrapped hot dog freshly grilled with jalapenos and caramelized onions. I had just eaten a giant pastrami sandwich, but oy vey, dios mio, it was worth it.
extramsg at 2:01AM on 07/06/07
When I heard that 2nd Ave had closed, I cried. All the Queens delis of my youth are long gone (and Pastrami King is where?). Unfortunately, I live in Seattle now, where they think that a "deli" is any place where you can get some sort of sandwich on spongy sourdough bread or Swedish rye. Haven't been to Goldberg's yet so can't make my own evaluation (in a mall?) and Roxy's pastrami was fairly good but no Katz's. I'll have to get down to Portland which has more in the way of Jewish eateries I believe. Good luck to extramsg's efforts!
Stushi at 5:15PM on 08/28/07