Eat Something Good

We had quite an adventure Saturday night.  Steve spent most of the day fixing both of our cars and washing his motorcycle.  He was very productive and very proud of his motorcycle.  Then we decided to head into the city (NYC) for a little pho (vietnamese noodle soup) and bubble tea in Chinatown.  Well, we didn’t quite make it to our destination.  We were cruising along just fine before we completely stalled out.  Steve had to push the bike with me on the back off into the side street.  Then we tried to push start it.  All he needed was a big push and run.  I just didn’t have it in me to do it so we decided to grab a bite to eat wherever we were.  There are still areas of NYC that completely confuse the heck out of me.  Like I’m familiar with the street names but that’s about it.  We made our way onto a major street, Houston.   From blocks away you can see the sign for Katz’s Deli.  So that’s where we ended up going.

Katz's Deli

Katz’s Deli is very well known to New Yorkers.  If you’re into pastrami and very good pastrami then you know about Katz’s.  I’ve never been there and not gotten a pastrami on rye.  Steve & I both had one with some pickles, cole slaw, french fries and our Dr. Brown’s sodas.  Diet cream for me; Cel-ray for him.  I still don’t know how he drinks that stuff, celery flavored soda!  Let me tell you a little more about the place.  Along one wall there are tables that offer waiter services.  For the rest of us, it’s like going to the cafeteria.  There are sandwich lines and then there’s a separate line for sides and beverages.  The deli guys are nice there and usually offer you a little piece of meat before you order.  And all that waiting and being crowded melts away much like the fat on this meat.  When you order a sandwich, they slice the pastrami (shaped much like a brisket) right in front of you.  It’s nice and hot.  They put it on hearty slices of rye that holds the sandwich together nicely.  Of course there are squeeze bottles of mustard on every table.  I can only imagine how

pastrami on rye

many gallons of it they go through in a day.

Most of the time the pastrami is right on.  Juicy and very tender.  And it’s well seasoned but not overwhelming as some pastramis can be.  On saturday night I was slightly disappointed because it had an inedible part and it grossed me out.  But I don’t want to speak poorly of Katz’s pastrami cause it is some of the best I’ve ever had.  Even after my brother and sister in law moved to California, they got pastramis mailed to them.  Katz’s is cool like that.  There’s a huge sign letting people know that their meats can be had even if one isn’t in the NYC area.  The only thing is, it’s a rather expensive treat.  It’s $24/lb for pastrami.  Just one sandwich costs $14.95.  Isn’t that crazy?  But if you’ve never had one, it’s worth the investment & the experience.

So we got our annual fill of Katz’s pastrami and I was dreading going back to the motorcycle.  I wasn’t looking forward to doing the pushing/running thing so Steve got some young kids to  help us out.  When he came back towards the bike I thought he had failed in his mission to seek such eager beavers out.  The guys wanted to meet him around the corner because they thought Steve might’ve been a psycho.  I have to admit, when he’s upset, he can look quite intimidating.  Anyway, the darndest thing.  The thing started up even without the kids’ help.  And we were psyched and on our way once again to battling NYC traffic.  We were cruising along and just as we were about to ramp onto the FDR drive, we totally wiped out.  It happened in slow motion for me.  We were sliding sideways on the right.  I was surprised to hear Steve say that the bike fell onto its left side.  He said we flew.  I just saw Steve’s shoe go flying and him hitting the ground.  I don’t even remember hitting the ground.  I wasn’t freaked out as it was happening but later on it caught up to me.  Okay, now it’s bad enough that our dinner plans had changed because we stalled out, but to have our first motorcycle accident together all in one night?  It gets worse.  As soon as we were able to stand up, Steve hurried me to pick up the bike so we could take off.  Somebody doesn’t actually have a motorcycle license so we had to split in case the cops showed up.  (This woman on her bicycle nearby was just staring in our direction.  I’m pretty sure she was speechless, she saw the whole thing.)  So we’re speeding away and it’s after 8pm and starting to get dark.   As soon as we were on the FDR ramp, Steve realized that the headlights and tail lights weren’t working.  We traveled half way home without any lights.  That was freakin’ scary.  Nobody could really see us well and I just hung on for dear life.  I later took Steve to the emergency room.  He bruised his ribs and his right arm is very sore.  I have a limp but it’s just from my toe being smashed.  I didn’t bother to get checked out.

Apologies for this major digression from food talk.  I just wanted to give you guys an idea of what our night was like.  The pastrami was good though.  We once took Steve’s brother and sister in law there.  They’re all the way in New Hampshire and don’t get the variety many of us do.  He’s not much of an eater anyway.  But after he ate half of  his sandwich he exclaimed, ‘that was really good and I don’t even like pastrami!’  It was the highlight of the evening.  A friend of Steve’s later mentioned that they had some great beef brisket and I was all darn, I wanted to share one pastrami and one brisket with Steve but he wanted just pastrami.  Next time!  And there will definitely be a next time.  Alrighty, hope you guys enjoyed my tale.  Take care and as always, Eat Something Good!

Katz’s Delicatessen
205 East Houston Street
New York, NY 10002