2nd Ave. Deli and Luke's Lobster
 

We had not been to 2nd Ave Deli in a while until today. When you sit down you not only get sour and new pickles and green a tomato but health salad. Health salad is basically cole salw but with a vinegar base and not a spec of mayo. All were harbingers of the food to come. The pastrami was equal to if not better than Katz's. My wife said that she was about to cry it was so good. It was perfectly moist with an abundance of flavor and fat and the right texture. The corned beef was wonderful as well. And as noted in the past, the big difference between Katz's and 2nd Ave is the side dishes.

Then we ordered noodle kugel (pudding.) I have a recipe a relative gave me that draws applause but theirs was simpler and delicious. They give you a chocolate soda chaser with the check. It was similar to chocolate egg cream.

Although the price is hefty, this is the best Jewish Deli experience you can have.

Now to the traif side.

Last week we went to Luke's Lobster for a lobster roll. I am not a lobster roll cuckoo, so I cannot compare it to the other candidates in town but Luke's version was excellent. The lobster meat was sweet, fresh, and done to a turn. The meat was plentiful with no fillers with the slightest hint of mayo. For $16 you get a lobster roll, a bag of designer chips, and designer soda. The store on East 7th is tiny, so plan on take-out.

lukeslobster.com/


NB: Il Laboratorio del Gelato has moved to a much larger location at the corner of Ludlow and Hosuton

Katz's and Gelato - perfect harmony

We used to fatten up on 2nd Ave and Veniero's.

The UES has both (almost). One of these days the 2nd Ave Deli will open on 1st and 75th and there's a Luke's on 81st ST.

A friend has just moved from Jersey to 80th and Lex. I've been to her place four times in the past couple of weeks to help her buy an HD TV, suffer through the Time Warner installation experience (times three, the incompetents!), and so on. We've hit some local places--Flex Mussels, Fulton--but look forward to Luke's, especially to see how its lobster rolls compare to Pearl Oyster Bar's on Cornelia Street downtown.

OMGosh - - deli, pickles, pastrami & kugel ... so, so miss the east coast

I won't even mention fresh Lobster Roll from this land locked state!

I remember going to 2nd Avenue Deli with my New Yorker uncle in the mid '80s, my first New York City Jewish deli experience as a wide-eyed 13-year-old suburban boy from northern Virginia... From the different-from-Virginia customer service (more quick, to-the point!) to the food options (what's the gefilte fish? what's celery soda? what's matzoh ball?), I remember I felt intimidated because I didn't understand anything on the menu and the waiter was getting impatient! My uncle suggested my first ever matzoh ball soup, pastrami sandwich and cream soda and my taste buds were thankful after.

Glad to hear you think 2nd Avenue Deli still is making great meals. I went a few years back but you remind me I must go next time in NYC! Thanks for this report, Aduchamp.

San Francisco has great great restaurants, but a great Jewish deli is not among them (I've tried them all, of course). I'm looking forward to trying 2nd Ave. next time I'm in the city. And health salad -- I haven't heard the term since I moved away from home 40 years ago.

We have relatives all over the country and have sampled deli and I have not been to Nate & Al's in LA, but there is nothing that compares to NY Jewish Delis. And while there numbers are dwindling the survivors are both hardy and delicious. And I must try the Montreal versions of the meats and bagels.

What's surprising is that there do not seem to be any good delis in South Florida, either, according to the "experts" I've heard.

They would certainly have the customer base. I wonder why.....

Thanks for the report...2nd Ave has always been my favorite...I did not know they were opening uptown..

What's surprising is that there do not seem to be any good delis in South Florida, either, according to the "experts" I've heard
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There used to be Wolfie's and Pumpernik's. But according to those old NY'ers they were pallid imitations of the NY delis.

If you are in the LES and not in the mood for Katz's - give my new favorite - The Meatball Shop - a try. You can each craft your own meal according to your diet and level of hunger and/or thirst.

So why do you think they cannot replicate good deli in Florida?

So why do you think they cannot replicate good deli in Florida?

They confused the early bird with a good roasted chicken.
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Not all delis in NYC were created equal either. There were some in Brooklyn that weren't very good.

It could be the ones who weren't so good that went elsewhere.

But still.......what is it about the food that does not translate?


Maybe we should ask David Sax!

http://www.savethedeli.com/2010/10/2...rback-preview/

Look here, too:


http://sheryllbellman.com/carnegie_t...er_s_59641.htm

We once took a friend who used to work for the Food Network on a visit to New York to the old 2nd Ave Deli. We ordered, among other things,chopped liver and theirs is very good. (BTW Russ and Daughters makes an excellent chopped liver.) And she took one taste and spit it out. The taste was too strong for her.

Then one night on Andrew Zimmern's program, the fellow who eats cat's shit and alligator balls was at a Jewish Deli. He was talking about tongue and chopped liver as if the people at the next table were wearing loin clothes and had chicken bones through their nose.

I wonder if the tastes were too alien to the non-Jewish community and they toned it down.

I also think the further one gets geogrpahically from their ethnic origin in terms of time, distance, and concentration of people the more it changes.

Once a friend who is food writer gave me a book post production and I found factual mistakes in it reagrding the two foods I know best Jewish and Spanish. The author was of neither group but was a generalist. I think in the world of food critics and so-called foodies, people accept certain things as genuine, when they are somewhat removed from the original.



There are many ethnic foods that do not travel well. The Mexican food in NYC is so-so while 99% of the pizza outside of NY is not worth eating.

<<<I have not been to Nate & Al's in LA, but there is nothing that compares to NY Jewish Delis>>>

I have been to Nate & Al's and in my opinion it isn't as good as either Jerry's or Art's, both of which are on Ventura Blvd in the Studio City area.

<<<while 99% of the pizza outside of NY is not worth eating>>>

I agree that was true when talking about old-style NY pizza (the pizza-by-the-slice kind that was being discussed in another thread recently). It's no longer true, though, if you're talking about Neopolitan pizza (coal-fired brick oven thin crust). San Francisco, LA and even Phoenix have outstanding pizza in that category -- rivaling NY.

Aduchamp1 says: "99% of the pizza outside of NY is not worth eating."

I would also wager that there's a whole lot of NYC-based pizza that's not worth eating, either. But I've had pizza every bit as good as what's served at the top NYC locations in other US cities, including but not necessarily limited to Pizzeria Regina and Santarpio's in Boston, Modern Apizza in New Haven, and Lou Malnatti's and Giordano's and Gino's East in Chicago. Not the same style pizza in some cases, of course, but that's something different.

That all said, the best pieces of pizza I ever ate were a pair of slices from Di Fara in Brooklyn. But they're otherwise so high-maintenance I'm not keen to return.