Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
&
212/254-2246;
www.katzdeli.com) is a
stalwart time warp relic, holding its own
against the neighborhood's recently
arrived hip restaurants and clubs. Founded
by Russian immigrants in 1888, it almost
looks like a movie set—with cheap wood
paneling, Formica-topped tables, pho-
tos all over the walls, salamis hanging
in the front window. Or maybe it's just
familiar from movies, from
Donnie Brasco
to
When Harry
Met Sally
. Their salami is
justly famous, as is the
divinely tender beef bris-
ket. Potato latkes and
cheese blintzes are
two other must-
try dishes here.
In Midtown,
you can sample
the world's most
famous matzoh ball
soup at the newest
incarnation of the
Sec-
ond Avenue Deli
(162
E. 33rd St.;
&
212/689-9000
). Originally
located in the East Village, on a stretch of
lower Second Avenue nicknamed the Yid-
dish Broadway for all the Yiddish theaters
nearby, the Second Avenue Deli moved
uptown after the double-whammy of a rent
dispute and the murder of its founder,
Holocaust survivor Abe Lebewohl. But the
smaller Midtown spot, run by Lebewohl's
nephew Jeremy, carries on the tradition
surprisingly well; it still sports the tiled cof-
fee shop look of its predecessor and stays
open 24 hours a day. Try the famous
chopped liver or the luscious pastrami—it's
all certified kosher (though, unlike most
kosher restaurants, it is open on Sat).
In west Midtown, near the theater dis-
trict, the
Carnegie Deli
(854 Seventh Ave.;
&
800/334-5606
or 212/757-2245; www.
carnegiedeli.com), opened in 1937, is
sui
generis
—a slightly grubby, cramped, defi-
antly unslick restaurant that has become
an institution for its grumpy waiters and
enormous, wittily named sandwiches.
Prices are tourist gouging, but it's an expe-
rience everyone should have at least once.
The corned beef and pastrami, cured
onsite, really are fantastic, as are the won-
derfully authentic free pickles on the
table. The
Stage Deli
just down the
street (834 Seventh Ave.;
&
212/245-
7850;
www.stagedeli.com) is
more of the same, though
much jollier, with the added
attraction of sandwiches
name for celebrities and
lots of autographed
glossy headshots on
the wall.
The time
warp is more
genuine, and
the pace less
hectic, uptown at
Barney Green-
grass, the Stur-
geon King
(541
Amsterdam Ave.;
&
212/724-4707
) on the once heavily Jew-
ish Upper West Side. Open daytimes only,
this unassuming old-school Kosher deli has
become legendary for its high-quality
salmon (sable, gravlax, Nova Scotia, kip-
pered, lox, pastrami—you choose), white-
fish, and sturgeon (of course). The dining
room looks like it hasn't been redecorated
since it opened in 1929—the fly-specked
wallpaper, the warped linoleum—but hey,
if it was good enough for customers like
Groucho Marx, Al Jolson, and Irving Berlin,
why change?
Carnegie Deli's daunting pastrami sandwich.
(
John F. Kennedy International (15 miles/
24km); Newark Liberty International (16
miles/27km); LaGuardia (8 miles/13km).
L
$$
The Lucerne,
201 W. 79th St.
(
&
800/492-8122
or 212/875-1000; www.
thelucernehotel.com). $
Milburn Hotel,
242 W. 76th St. (
&
800/833-9622
or 212/
362-1006; www.milburnhotel.com).
