Trying the smoked meat at Schwartz’s is one of my foodie quests. As far as I know, it’s not legal to ship to U.S…
Montreal doesn’t qualify for the city comparison (IMO) as it isn’t the U.S.
The smoked meat at Schwartz’s is OMFG delicious.
Well I’m a heck of a lot closer to Montreal than LA! 
Schwartz’s is mind blowing good but there are other good places there too.
I think some CT and NJ (and maybe Philly) delis probably match or exceed most everywhere in the USA, but you could argue that anything within 2 hours of NYC is part of that larger metro region I guess.
Rein’s is 30 minutes from my house (Manhattan 2 hours) and it deserves a seat at the table in discussion of great delis. It’s no Schwartz’s though!
Neal, I seem to recall you getting up to Philly every once in a while (is it because you have a son in college here?).
At any rate, Hershel’s East Side Deli in the Reading Terminal Market blows 4th Street away. The menu is nowhere near as extensive, but if you want a great pastrami sandwich (on rye with mustard is the way I like it 
), this is the place to go. They even have a few of those low stools at the lunch counter - I visit with a Jewish buddy of mine fairly regularly, and this pastrami is the real deal (or at least as real as it gets south of Carnegie Deli).
John,
In my opinion Langer’s is the only LA deli that still works hard at purveying quality food. Some of the others did, but no longer do. Deli is a shrinking segment here: Carnegie, Stage, Art’s, Junior’s, Jerry’s have all closed for a variety of reasons. What new deli has opened in LA in the recent (or not so recent) past? Which still smoke/cure their own meats and fish? I may be mistaken, but don’t most (maybe all except Langer’s) buy premade from the same purveyors? Maybe I shouldn’t have said that they suck; perhaps ‘all the same and no better than average’ would be more accurate. YMMV.
Mark when did Art’s close? He was at our home many many times. He passed but his kids run it. Isn’t Jerry’s in Encino still open?
Sorry, yes, Art’s is still open after Art’s death. Jerry’s is still open in some locations, but has closed many. Hepatitis will do that… I hope that Art’s kids will not run aground as Marvin Saul’s kids did.
Peter, where in CT do you live btw? Where is Rein’s? I have in-laws in Fairfield and visit about every other year. At this point the clam pizza at Pepe’s is my munch of choice.
With any of these locality-based throw-downs we have to define the boundaries. To me NYC doesn’t extend too far outside the city limits. No way does it extend to CT. CT itself has a population disadvantage over someplace like L.A., but it’s hard to consider the whole state a locale. NJ is tricky as it relates to NYC. I consider them different, but can see close in parts of NJ being the NYC metro area. Orange County is continuous with L.A., but I consider them a different realm.
Philly definitely has some decent delis. My inclination was to guess they would rank second, but L.A. really does have quite a few decent delis. I will have to note the place that Bob like’s. Good snacky lunches are always key to a visit anywhere. I find 4th street to be very good. I still like the sandwich at Langer’s better, but 4th Street’s are those massive affairs. IIRC on my last trip the sammie was $20 and the brisket plate was pushing $25. It’s a little easier to be good when a lunch for two is north of $60.
Corey is correct that hipster alt-deli cuisine is gaining popularity. I’m not sure how I feel about it as I do love the classics. Hopefully the former doesn’t make the latter less viable. I will say, and perhaps I mentioned it before, that one of the absolute best pastramis I have ever had was made by wine-board member Saul Cooperstein who did a sous vide version using A5 Kobe beef. In fact before the whole hipster deli got popular Saul did a pop-up dinner with his deli “revisited” dishes that a group of the winos offlined at. Matching wine with deli wasn’t easy.
Chicago has lost its great delis, but there are a couple of servicable options: (i) The Bagel on Broadway and at Old Orchard (restaurant but no counter (they will do takeaway), pretty expensive, but they qualify for me because the serve chicken livers and eggs) and (ii) Kaufman’s on Dempster in Skokie (counter, no real sitting options). There is pretty decent smoked meat/pastrami and Fumare in the French Market, and there used to be great cured salmon at City Provisions before Cletus shut down. The loss of access to Yiddish and delis in my lifetime is (in my view) an unspeakable tragedy.
Best corned beef and tongue? My place. May work on pastrami this summer if I can find decent deckle.
Thanks for the recommendation. Yes, my son goes to school in the Phil area (although he graduates in May!) so I will definitely check it out
I hear you, David.
Nisht fur dich gedacht!
John, I’m in south-mid state, near Middletown. Rein’s is in Vernon, just east of Hartford… maybe even beyond the 2 hour limit I mentioned earlier about NYC. Really very good. I put it in a second tier below Schwartz’s but on par with some pretty good places in NYC.
Try Sally’s or Modern Apizza next time you’re in New Haven! Lots of outstanding seafood up and down the coast too, of course, and Ibiza in New Haven is otherworldly for Spanish food, I think the NY Times named it one of the best Spanish restaurants in the country.
Near me there’s a wealth of funky and good places too… CT is a surprisingly good foodie state for a small place. The “half way between NY and Boston” thing helps, as does the shellfish/seafood resources we have.
I spent nine years of my yout’ working in delis in Chicago. By NY standards (which I discovered mid-career, to my dismay and delight), everything in Chicago was mediocre at best. Ashkenaz, Sam & Hy’s, Mort’s Home Catering, Mahzel Deli, Zayde’s, Belden Deli, Manny’s, The Bagel and most recently, Eleven City Diner… all meh. None of them ever cured a brisket or smoked their own pastrami. By the mid-70’s, pre-sliced, packaged ‘lox’ was the norm. It was rare to even find house roasted RB or turkey. Most used pre-made beef chopped liver— the horror! Chicken soup from powder, frozen matzo balls, the whole horrid schmear.
My fondest deli memories were as a child, at Ma & Pa Froikin’s hole in the wall on Devon Avenue— the corned beef was so aromatic, juicy and tender… (insert Catch-22 moan)
Haven’t hit the LA shops yet, nor Fumare in Chicago, but, for pastrami/smoked meat I rank’em Schwartz’s>Rascal House (gone)>Katz’s>Second Ave (original location)>Carnegie.
I’ve tried Schwartz’s in Montreal and the pastrami is delicious but it does not taste like traditional pastrami does in any good Jewish deli. Someone must know but it’s either a different cut of meat or the smoking procedure is completely unique.
It is “smoked meat” and is not meant to be just like a pastrami. It is darned amazing though!
Eric, are you saying that we’re trying to compare oranges to apples? That ??? in Montreal is delicious, whatever it is. ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Lou,
From what I understand Schwartz’s uses brisket and also uses more spicing. Katz’s seems to have a little more spicy crust than Langer’s.
Mark, Yes I realize that some of the artisinal in-house production has been lost in delis and most of the places aren’t going to have nice smoked fishes like Russ and Daughters. But that change to the deli basically being more of a sit-down for a meal place has been reality for decades now and it really seems to be the same across the country So I judge them mostly on that, the quality of a sandwich, soup, or a few other items.
Langer’s has not house-smoked their pastrami for 20 years. I don’t think Katz’s does either. They both use outside providers and to me there is really nothing wrong with that. If the provider can be specialized, enact the desired formula, and provide a fresh product, I don’t see a big issue. Langer’s has their pastrami done by RC Provisions in Burbank for quite awhile. RC also makes a slightly different version for Canter’s. I’m pretty sure Langer’s is a navel cut.
Yup. Freaking amazing.
Anyone been to Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor? I know, it’s more like Son of Deli. But really good. I can’t eat that deli stuff anymore anyway, gets me right in the kishkas!
I don’t know about Langer’s, but I think that’s wrong as to Katz’s