Some relatives were in NY recently, and we took them to a few decent decent restaurants. they loved Beijing Duck House, Momofuku and Peter Luger. To complete the NY experience we went to Katz. Hmm!. A huge place, overcrowded at lunch. Decent but not great pastrami sandwich on rye, but I knew we were in trouble when the matzo ball soup was loaded onto the tray, and I was barely able to lift it. It was enormous congealed white rock surrounded by a pretty nasty broth exuded by chickens wanting to take revenge on the human race.
Biting into the ball was not a pleasant experience. Thick, grainy, gooey and not quite tasteless; there were still notes of matzo flour and something slightly dank, not sure what it was but it took one bite before I went back to return it. As I went to the counter, I saw that they were offering the chance to send parcels of Katz delicacies to the troops. This would be far more effective. Drop a few of these on Isis, and they would be begging us to stop.
I was there in June and had an egg salad sandwich that was barely edible. Three separate bites had broken shell in them. The bowl of pickles had specks of pastrami on them – which as a vegetarian was disappointing. I found my meal sloppy and a bit dirty.
Next time you’re down here and make it to TGM ask for the Pastrami on the buttered rye (like the corned beef) - I find it to be the way to go…so delicious.
Haven’t been for a while but I order a “moist” pastrami on rye and a knish and was always satisfied. The last time I was there my cousin ordered the sandwiches and I ended up with dry pastrami (i.e., not much fat) and that wasn’t very good.