"Food Wars" hosts Harry Kersh and Joe Avella travel across New York to find the best tacos in the city. They'll be visiting three different locations in just one day to see what the city has to offer. This is "Food Tours."
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00:00Today we are going to be enjoying New York City's most famous sandwich, the pastrami sandwich.
00:07Of course, we're starting here, Katz's Deli.
00:09I've had one pastrami sandwich in my whole life.
00:12I came to New York for a vacation about five years ago.
00:14Okay.
00:15And I don't remember loving it.
00:17So I'm interested to see where this goes.
00:19I changed my mind on hot dogs.
00:20You did?
00:21So I feel like today I'm going to change my mind on pastrami.
00:23So I figure we'll split a pastrami sandwich here and a couple other places
00:26and you'll see what New York City has to offer.
00:29I'm very open-minded.
00:31If anywhere is going to change my mind about pastrami, it's going to be New York.
00:34That's right.
00:35Let's give it a go.
00:40Katz has been around since 1888 and has been at this location since 1930.
00:46That's a long time.
00:47Yeah, it's a lot of sandwiches.
00:48A lot of history.
00:49There's a lot of celebrities on the wall, which I've been enjoying.
00:51Got Danny DeVito over there behind us.
00:53Barbra Streisand.
00:54I trust him with my life, let alone my sandwich recommendations.
00:57Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:58What are we looking for?
00:59What constitutes a good pastrami sandwich?
01:01Thick sandwiches, my guy.
01:03You're not going to believe it.
01:05I want piled, high, thick slices of pastrami.
01:08To me, the best pastrami, it almost falls apart when you bite it.
01:12It melts in your mouth.
01:14I'm telling you, this place specifically, you're going to pastrami heaven.
01:17You're going to want to be buried in this meat, I'm telling you.
01:19This place is awesome.
01:20This was one of the most highly recommended places to me by just friends and family.
01:23Everyone was like, you're going to New York, you have to go to Katz's specifically.
01:27Also, this place has got great pickles.
01:29You like pickles.
01:30I'm not so big on pickles, but I'll allow you to have one.
01:33And potato knishes, my man.
01:36I'm really getting in touch with my Jewish heritage today.
01:38I'm very here for it.
01:39If you're going to convince me on pastrami, maybe I can convince you on pickles.
01:41We'll see.
01:42I feel like that might be a harder task.
01:44Yeah, we'll see.
01:45How do we order at this place?
01:46It's a little bit chaotic.
01:47You get one of these when you walk in.
01:48They jot down everything on the card.
01:49Pay on your way out.
01:50Okay, easy.
01:51Save our seats.
01:52I'm going to get us a sandwich.
01:53I will do.
01:54What's happening?
01:55Can I do a pastrami sandwich on rye, please?
01:59Yes, please.
02:04Here we go.
02:05I'm losing my mind.
02:06This looks so good.
02:08That's just like a brick of meat.
02:10As you can see...
02:11What?
02:13Are they applauding because that guy showed up on time?
02:17That's too funny.
02:18I think I might actually...
02:19Hang on.
02:20I'm not playing.
02:21Did you call it?
02:22He's pretty much called that.
02:24Look, I was right.
02:26The thickness of the sandwich is in my DNA is what I'm telling you.
02:29You can see the fat dripping off it already.
02:32Look how much meat they've managed to cram in there.
02:35I can't stare at this thing any longer without trying it.
02:37I feel like we should dive in.
02:43Oh, man.
02:46Looks are deceiving.
02:47You think, oh, man, such a big sandwich.
02:49I'm going to get this whole thing in my mouth.
02:50It's literally like a pillow.
02:51That's so soft.
02:52It's perplexing how this much meat could be so soft.
02:55A lot of the time, particularly with sandwiches,
02:57I'm often worried about the ratio of ingredients.
03:00I don't usually want one thing to overpower the rest.
03:03And when I saw this, I was a bit worried that you might just be getting pure pastrami and nothing else.
03:08Yep.
03:09Honestly, I think they've kind of nailed the ratio here.
03:11Yeah.
03:12It looks like it's whatever bread.
03:13It looks like it's a whatever rye.
03:14Let me get a little bit.
03:16Right?
03:18But it's literally holding this giant fist of meat down.
03:22Yep.
03:23Wild, right?
03:24It's really, yeah.
03:25It's containing it, which is quite an impressive feat.
03:28And now as a part of the video, I want to do mustard talk.
03:30Mustard talk.
03:31My guy with the mustard knife just papow across the whole bread, right?
03:36I mean, I normally wouldn't add more.
03:38I'd just eat the sandwich the way that it is.
03:40But just for like, for scientific purposes?
03:43I think I can go more mustard.
03:45Because the meat is so rich and like buttery almost.
03:47I do think you want like something to balance that out.
03:51I feel like when you have a sandwich like this with so few ingredients.
03:53Because this is basically just bread, meat, mustard.
03:56Every ingredient has to be right.
03:58Nowhere to hide.
03:59Really nowhere to hide.
04:00Nowhere to hide with the flavor that's made.
04:02If it was even a little dry, or if the edges were a little too crispy,
04:06or if the fat was still a little bit too chewy,
04:08you'd be like, forget it, I can't finish this.
04:10I know.
04:11I know.
04:12I'm like angry how good this is.
04:14With like no effort at all, this just comes apart.
04:17Just falls right apart.
04:18Talk to me a little bit more about pastrami.
04:20Okay.
04:21This is beef, correct?
04:22Yeah.
04:23What sort of seasonings?
04:24They're good people of cats.
04:25They're not giving away any recipes, right?
04:27Sure.
04:28So here is what are the usual ingredients you'd find.
04:32Check this out.
04:33They got garlic, coriander, black pepper, paprika, cloves, allspice, mustard seed.
04:37Mm-hmm.
04:38Right?
04:39Have you ever like slow cooked meat?
04:41You ever done anything like that?
04:42Actually haven't, no.
04:43I don't really have a grill at home, so it's tricky.
04:45Have you?
04:46And it's fun, but it's like hard to get right.
04:49Have you ever achieved anything close to this level of tenderness?
04:51Are you kidding?
04:52No.
04:53No.
04:54You can tell, again, how much time and effort has gone into making this.
04:58Yeah.
04:59Because to make beef this tender, you can't do that quickly, can you?
05:03No, no.
05:04Well, I do know that they will cure it for around 30 days.
05:0830 days.
05:09That's a long time.
05:10That's a very long time.
05:12But just that idea, that process of making it now to serve it next month.
05:17I don't have the attention span for that.
05:19I don't have that at all.
05:20My brain has been melted by TikTok and Family Guy clips.
05:23I'd get distracted and start doing something else instead.
05:25Yeah, tell me about it.
05:26Like even as you're talking to me, I'm just imagining that like floating knife
05:29cutting the things of sand or whatever.
05:31Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh.
05:32The subway service guy.
05:33The subway service guy just coming.
05:34Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh.
05:35Yeah, OK.
05:36Sounds good.
05:37So you came in as being like, eh, pastrami, I'm not that into it.
05:39How are you feeling right now?
05:40I've like immediately been convinced this is so good.
05:42Told you.
05:43I don't know what happened with the last one I had.
05:45It was a long time ago, so I don't remember exactly.
05:47You went to some who cares place.
05:49Got some who cares sandwich.
05:51Yeah.
05:52The last time I had one, the meat didn't taste nearly this beefy.
05:55OK, well, there you go.
05:56Because this does still have a really strong beefy flavor to it, which I love.
06:00Man, I think I'm going to try some of these pickles, though.
06:02I'm also known for the pickles.
06:03I got a regular and a half sour.
06:04I love pickles.
06:05Yeah, I'm not into them at all.
06:06What is it about pickles that puts you off like taste, texture, both?
06:10Yeah, yeah, yeah.
06:11I just love them, man.
06:12I also feel like they just pair very well with a lot of these deli meats.
06:16Yeah.
06:17Because these tend to be really fatty.
06:18Yeah.
06:19A bit salty.
06:20You get something acidic.
06:21Yeah.
06:22You know what I don't like about pickles?
06:23Is that they would always put the pickle slice next to the fries when you get a sandwich
06:26or a burger.
06:27And then those fries are ruined.
06:28And then everything that touched the pickle tasted like a pickle.
06:31So it's more like, I didn't ask for this.
06:33And then you ruined the thing I wanted.
06:35So this one's the half sour.
06:37And then they just do like a standard pickle.
06:39Yeah.
06:42The meat is hitting me, dude.
06:44Already?
06:45You barely dented that.
06:46I know.
06:48We also have potato knishes here.
06:50I know technically you're the expert here and I'm in your town.
06:53But while we're talking about traditional Jewish foods, knish is the one, man.
06:57So good.
06:58So it's like fried dough that's filled with potato and cheese.
07:01It's just all the most comforting foods combined.
07:05It's like fried on the outside so you can have it on the go.
07:11Do you think we could get on this wall?
07:12How do we get on the wall?
07:13Here's what it would take.
07:15Us framing a picture of ourselves.
07:17Sneaking it in here and hanging it up when no one's looking.
07:20Do you think they'd notice?
07:21Just a little one.
07:22I don't think so.
07:23I don't know.
07:24Signs the food wars, guys.
07:26Oh my god, I want to do that so bad.
07:28I can't believe we forgot.
07:29Why have we not done that?
07:31Let's walk by Dwayne Reed.
07:32We're going to get a picture of ourselves.
07:34It's so funny.
07:35Sneak a photo on the wall.
07:39Are you not going to eat that?
07:40No.
07:41I'm probably going to eat yours at this rate.
07:43I've destroyed this thing.
07:44Stop eating.
07:45I'm not kidding, man.
07:46We've got two more to go.
07:49Well, I'm glad you enjoyed the food, but we've got more pastrami to eat.
07:53We're eating our way through this city.
07:54We've got more meat to eat at NYC.
07:58I'm so sorry.
08:01There it is.
08:03Empire State Building.
08:04The Statue of Liberty.
08:05Famously destroyed in Cloverfield.
08:07Yeah, and King Kong.
08:08Yeah, that building's got the crap kicked out of it.
08:10Man.
08:11This is stop number two in our pastrami tour.
08:15Second Ave Deli.
08:16Famous, of course, for not being on Second Avenue.
08:18Of course, that makes sense.
08:19I am actually really hungry.
08:22I want to get into this pastrami.
08:23This place is legit.
08:25Of course, we'll get the pastrami sandwich.
08:26I want to get a few other fun things they have here.
08:28Matzo ball soup.
08:29Of course.
08:30Dude, it's going to knock your socks off.
08:32Opened in 1954.
08:33Moved locations in 2006.
08:35But pretty much everything has remained the same.
08:37I'm loving the vibe in here.
08:38Yeah, it's nice, right?
08:39Feels very authentic.
08:40Very old school.
08:41Even the chairs are kind of barely held together.
08:43Nice creak if I lean backwards.
08:45Ooh, yeah.
08:46They've had these since 54.
08:47I can tell you that.
08:48These are top of the line in 54.
08:50But I feel like, yeah, with things like pastrami,
08:53if you get a recipe, why change it, you know?
08:55I'm excited to try the food.
08:57So, tell me what you'd like to get.
08:59Hello.
09:00Don't be shy.
09:02We will do a pastrami sandwich.
09:03Yeah, I think we're going to split one pastrami on the right.
09:06Matzo ball soup.
09:07And a coffee for me.
09:09Can we get some water as well?
09:12I'll just hold this outside.
09:20Thank you so much.
09:26Matzo ball soup.
09:27A little appetizer.
09:28You have this very often?
09:29Yeah, I've had it a few times.
09:30I do like it.
09:31I don't really think you should get it.
09:32And I don't go to too many places that have it on the menu.
09:34This is, like, maybe as classic a comforting Jewish dish you can get.
09:38Yeah.
09:39It's so good, man.
09:40I got dill in the broth now.
09:42Mm-hmm.
09:43Ooh, fantastic.
09:44I feel like it's kind of hard to come by this in the UK.
09:46Unless you maybe go to, like, north London,
09:48which is quite a Jewish area.
09:50Oh, really?
09:51Mm-hmm.
09:52But, like, broadly speaking,
09:54compared to, like, in New York,
09:57we don't have as much of a Jewish culture,
09:59which I think is sad because so much of the food is so good.
10:01Yeah.
10:02The challah bread, man.
10:03Gorgeous.
10:04If people watching this at home haven't had challah bread before,
10:06It's really good.
10:07go crack it down.
10:08It's so good.
10:09It's, like, almost a brioche, like, a little bit of sweetness to it.
10:13The soup, I think, perfect appetizer,
10:15but I think we're here for the main event.
10:17Yeah, this looks real good.
10:19Once again, look at the thickness on that.
10:21I couldn't think cats could have been beaten,
10:23but this might be thicker.
10:25Look at that.
10:26I want to point out, once again,
10:28the rye bread, unassuming.
10:29Mm-hmm.
10:30Thin slice.
10:31I guarantee it's incredible.
10:32I'm curious.
10:33Did they mustard our...
10:34I don't think they have.
10:35I think we managed to mustard our sandwiches,
10:37but they do have it on the table.
10:39I'm going to need that, I think,
10:41with this amount of, like, rich, salty, fatty meat.
10:44I do feel like we got more meat than the last place.
10:47I think we do.
10:48Agile mustard is an interesting choice.
10:50Can we get this?
10:51If you just squeeze this,
10:52you can see the fat, like, running off of it.
10:55Now, this meat is sliced a lot thinner.
10:57It is.
10:58It's a thinner cut, but, like, so many layers of it.
11:00I know.
11:01You can see just a lot of, like, the crust in there,
11:03the pepper and the...
11:04Yeah, okay.
11:05I can't talk anymore.
11:06I got to take a bite.
11:07Let's go.
11:12Okay.
11:13Mm.
11:14It's, like, really buttery.
11:16I think that the fat on this has melted perfectly.
11:19It's incredible, the consistency of this meat,
11:21where it stays together and can, like, pile up in the sandwich.
11:23Yeah.
11:24And then the second you just kind of pull, it just falls apart.
11:26As soon as you bite into it.
11:27It's got a real, like, steaky taste to it, almost.
11:30You really get the beef here,
11:32which I think is really, really good.
11:34You get some mustard?
11:36Yeah, but it's, like...
11:37I think that's the best part, like, it's fattier,
11:40but has more of, like, a savory flavor to it.
11:43This is really good.
11:44Fattest flavor, man.
11:45Yeah, it's the fattest flavor.
11:47Once again, the rye bread, holding it down,
11:50not trying to outshine anything,
11:52doing its job.
11:53I'm surprised.
11:54You would think.
11:55You would think it would be saturated by now, but...
11:56Yeah, you see this much quite, like, fatty meat,
12:00and you assume that it would just soak straight through the bread,
12:03the bread's gonna be, like, falling apart.
12:04Especially when it's, like, this thin.
12:06It's a thin slice of bread.
12:07It's kind of remarkable how well that holds up.
12:09Yeah.
12:10It feels like a sandwich that's, like,
12:12greater than the sum of its parts, almost.
12:14And look at this.
12:15Even though it's, like, thinner slices,
12:16almost like American bacon,
12:17but that means that your meat-to-crust ratio is different.
12:22Yeah.
12:23It has more of the pepper flavor than a wider slice.
12:27You can see the crust is, like, all throughout the sandwich.
12:30Yeah.
12:31So that every time you take a bite,
12:32you're getting, like, every part of the meat.
12:34It's an interesting strategy.
12:35All that flavor.
12:36Last place, wider slices, and they're thicker.
12:39Yeah.
12:40This, thinner.
12:41The flavor ratio is completely different.
12:43At this point, hard to say which one I prefer.
12:45I agree.
12:46I'm gonna have to stew on it.
12:47I know.
12:48And we've got more pastrami to eat.
12:49I know.
12:50So we can't make a decision just yet.
12:51Fantastic sandwich, man.
12:52Fantastic.
12:53This place is great.
12:54Mm-hmm.
12:55Mm.
12:56Mm!
12:57You would think that something a little, like,
12:59sat in salt for possibly up to 30 days would be salty,
13:01but it's not.
13:02Not really, no.
13:03The sodium, the salt, it's not very high.
13:05It's more peppery, if anything.
13:06I'd agree.
13:07I think you get more of the pepper,
13:08particularly in the bits where you kind of get the crust on the outside.
13:10Yeah.
13:11It's salty in the sense that it's well-seasoned.
13:13I just want to let you know.
13:15We also, we have bread with seeds.
13:18Oh.
13:19This is without seeds.
13:20Mm-hmm.
13:21Some people prefer this.
13:22I don't serve it unless they ask for it
13:25because some people are allergic to seeds.
13:27So it's still the rye bread, but with seeds.
13:29It's still rye bread with seeds, so it's a little different taste.
13:32Do you prefer it?
13:33I prefer it with seeds.
13:35Let's deal with the seeds.
13:36You know, if you're allergic to seeds,
13:38you have a problem that it's not going to have your camera.
13:41No seed allergies there.
13:42You're all good.
13:43Bread Update, they have an even rye-ier rye,
13:46and I welcome that.
13:47I like my rye with a lot of seeds, so.
13:49I welcome it because after the week we've had,
13:51I just need any kind of dietary fiber.
13:53But we'll see.
13:57I prefer that.
13:58I prefer it with the seeds.
13:59It's a better rye.
14:00Better rye flavor.
14:03Doesn't overpower anything.
14:05Tastes more of like a classic rye.
14:07I'm not mad about it.
14:09So we had a lot of food thrown at us just now.
14:11We ended up getting two different types of their pastrami sandwiches.
14:15They have different types of rye bread with seeds and without.
14:18I'll tell you straight up, the with seeds, right up my alley.
14:20Do you have a preference of which bread you like more?
14:22Pretty close for me.
14:24I think maybe the seeded, but there's not a ton in it.
14:27I do think the classic rye bread, you can't really go wrong with that formula.
14:30Yeah.
14:31Of just kind of having it there as the solid, sturdy foundation.
14:34It definitely has a taste, but not too much taste.
14:36But yeah, I think maybe if you want something slightly different,
14:38a little bit out there, seeded is a good way to go.
14:41Do you notice the cut of meat is like thinner strips?
14:44Yes.
14:45With more, dare I say, bark or pepper skin.
14:48Yeah, I was kind of into it, to be honest.
14:50I feel like the more layers you get, the more interspersion you get of the bark,
14:55of the seasoning, which I really like,
14:57because it makes sure that you get a bit of everything in every bite.
15:00So I think that's a good way to go about it.
15:01The meat here was great.
15:02It had a real beefy, steaky flavor to it,
15:04which I personally, again, thought was really great.
15:07This is a contender.
15:09Absolutely.
15:11We're on the one train for like an hour, so we're chilling.
15:18We're in the Bronx.
15:19We're at Liebman's.
15:21Bit of a haul from where we were before today,
15:23but I wanted to take you up here because this is one of the last authentic
15:26Jewish delis here in the Bronx in this neighborhood.
15:28Used to be hundreds, last one.
15:30These guys have been here forever.
15:31They actually opened a year before.
15:33Second Avenue Deli.
15:34Not somewhere that the average tourist would probably think
15:36to come and look for a good pastrami.
15:38Locals only, baby.
15:39So obviously we're here for the pastrami sandwich.
15:41Anything else on the menu that we should get while we're here?
15:43Yeah, they got this like celery drink or something that's been around forever,
15:46like pre-dates Coca-Cola taking over everything.
15:49It's by Doc Brown, not the time travel doctor, the soda doctor.
15:53But it's a celery beverage, supposed to be really good,
15:55and they still have it on the menu, so.
15:57Yeah, I can't say that I've tried that before,
15:58or that I'm particularly excited by the idea of a celery beverage.
16:01But we can give it a try.
16:02I feel like juices and stuff, they put celery in that, right?
16:05Because it's like a watery plant, am I using the right word there?
16:08They put them in the healthy smoothie options, which I tend to not order.
16:13This is probably good for you.
16:15Let's hope so.
16:16I mean, a doctor invented it 100 years ago.
16:18True.
16:19And again, after the week we've had, any nutrients are welcome at the moment.
16:22Check it out.
16:23Cel-ray.
16:25Cel-ray.
16:26I don't know why it's going to be called celery.
16:28No.
16:29Just call it celery soda.
16:30That E, took out an E, added an A.
16:34Yes.
16:35Same amount of letters.
16:36Should we try some celery juice?
16:37Yeah, yeah, yeah.
16:38Cheers.
16:39Celery soda.
16:40Cheers to a great day of pastrami.
16:46I would not have thought that was celery.
16:47No.
16:48I don't get any celery from that.
16:50What does celery taste like?
16:51I only eat it when I dip it in stuff.
16:53Celery is just like crunchy grass water, right?
16:55It's like not particularly good.
16:57This doesn't taste of celery.
16:58I get almost more like a sort of apple-y taste.
17:01Yeah, yeah, yeah.
17:02Like a citrus, but not too citrusy, right?
17:04That's very refreshing.
17:06I would quite happily finish that whole thing.
17:08I think they swapped celery with green apple.
17:10I think that's what happened.
17:11Sorry, they're both green, right?
17:12And no one's noticed.
17:13No.
17:14I'm absolutely not mad about that.
17:15They're supposed to be like, what's going on here?
17:16Yeah.
17:17They make it taste exactly like apple.
17:18All right, well.
17:19That's pretty good.
17:20Yeah.
17:21Nice.
17:22Now that our palates are suitably cleansed.
17:23We're here to do the dang thing.
17:24It's the minute.
17:25All right.
17:26All right, man.
17:27I've noticed that this one has like a spiral formation.
17:30It looks really good.
17:31It does look really good.
17:32I'm seeing them juices.
17:34Yeah, man.
17:35Glistening.
17:36The bread, yo.
17:37Glistening.
17:38The bread has got a nice little bounce to it, too.
17:39But it's like thicker.
17:40This is like a thicker than most rice we've had.
17:42Yeah, visually this is a gorgeous sandwich.
17:44I want to take a look.
17:46OK, again, the thinner strips closer to second avenue.
17:48Yeah, thin strips.
17:49Marbling.
17:50The fat content is there.
17:51I feel like this is going to be tender as hell.
17:53Give me some of that.
17:55Go on.
17:56Quite a generous dollop there.
17:58Into one of these.
17:59Just spread it like a maniac.
18:00Nice.
18:01Yep.
18:02All right, man.
18:03I feel like the last thing to do is to taste.
18:04OK, let's go.
18:05Mm.
18:06Mm.
18:07Mm-hmm.
18:08Oh, my God.
18:09That is so tender.
18:10I think it's tasting the savoriest one we've tasted today.
18:11Really buttery.
18:12It might be.
18:13This one, though, it is like, because it's packed in there really tight.
18:14Mm-hmm.
18:15I feel like it's a tougher chew than the previous ones.
18:16Yeah, it's pretty dense in there, isn't it?
18:17Yeah, it is really dense.
18:18I wasn't expecting that.
18:19It does feel like you're getting value for money.
18:20Yeah.
18:21Yeah.
18:22Mm-hmm.
18:23Mm-hmm.
18:24Mm-hmm.
18:25Mm-hmm.
18:26Mm-hmm.
18:27Mm-hmm.
18:28Mm-hmm.
18:29Mm-hmm.
18:30Mm-hmm.
18:31Mm-hmm.
18:32Mm-hmm.
18:33Mm-hmm.
18:34Mm-hmm.
18:35Mm-hmm.
18:36It does feel like you're getting value for money.
18:37Yeah.
18:38This one definitely feels like, oh, man, I got a lot of meat in this sandwich.
18:39Mm-hmm.
18:40Know what I mean?
18:41Yeah.
18:42I'm gonna wash down the little celery juice.
18:43Mm.
18:44This probably tastes the closest to, like, bacon we've had all day.
18:45Mm!
18:46Yeah, I think it's that marbling.
18:47All right.
18:48I'm gonna take a break.
18:49Oh!
18:50You need a nap already.
18:51Yeah.
18:52Texture-wise and flavor-wise, fantastic.
18:53Oh, yeah.
18:54It's really, really good.
18:55It's fantastic.
18:56I'm really looking to pick in details here.
18:57Yeah.
18:58Wrapping it up in a ball. Mm-hmm. Put it between bread and then cutting it
19:01And that's why it looks like that versus like layering it over like slice of meat
19:06Is there a train station in there?
19:10All aboard the twos being delayed guys
19:13We should have gotten off at the kitchen stop. I don't know why I'm just feeling like delirious
19:19We've eaten a lot of a trail. I've hit a level of like
19:22Pastrami that I never thought I would experience
19:25You've reached a pastrami a saturation point. I think I might reach total pastrami. Yes. I'm 100% pastrami right now
19:33Have you tried a pickle yet? I have not known that might that might level me out
19:36But Peter Piper get in there my guy me back down pick pick your favorite one
19:41So is the star boys
19:46I think this is great. This is what you want. We're talking
19:48I
19:58Feel like I have failed to bring you around on pickles today. I haven't tried one
20:02All right, big time. What is it? There was a sour one you had? Yeah, I think so
20:07The darker ones tend to be slightly more sour
20:12So, what am I doing? What am I doing right now?
20:15What are any of us doing James like where are we it's really briny I feel like refreshed or I don't feel like that was good
20:23Re-energize. Yeah, so we accidentally eat a bug like when you're riding your bike. He's like, oh, come on
20:30Pickles to bugs
20:32All right. That's just me. I definitely like really like the vibe of this place
20:35It feels like I live here and I just popped in for a meal. I come here every day. They know your name
20:39Yeah, the guy's been like greeting the customers on the way. I haven't seen you in a while. Yeah, I know everybody here
20:44That has that energy, right? Yeah, I like it. I like it. Yeah friendly. Yeah, it's nice
20:48So we ate a ridiculous amount of pastrami sandwiches
20:53First of all when we started you were like, yeah, I'm not so into pastrami
20:57But now after we visit all these places, what do you think?
20:59I mean, I guess the good news is that I think I am a pastrami convert
21:02I use all of these have really been fantastic, right as you went through the day
21:06Like what was it about pastrami sandwiches in general that won you over?
21:09I wasn't sure going into this kind of like what the standard
21:13Seasonings and I guess flavor of the pastrami was gonna be yeah, but just the taste of it is fantastic
21:18Varying levels of like beefiness. I would say sometimes you get more beef. Sometimes it's more the seasonings on the outside
21:23Yeah, but generally just very good
21:25I like the texture a lot, especially when you get the layers you get like a little bit of chew
21:29But then once you bite into it and start to chew it
21:31It just melts in your mouth and it's fantastic. The rye bread has also been great
21:34I love the flavor that the rye adds the structural integrity. I think is really important to have there as well with a sandwich
21:39This dense so yeah all in all I think it's just a really simple but elegant sandwich for me
21:44I'm going into this as like the pastrami has got to be number one
21:47It has to just be like perfectly cooked perfectly sliced
21:50And of course the bark the outside the seasoning that had to be throughout the sandwich
21:55But you know, you can't have like too much of it because it's gonna be like a peppery mess. So
21:59Figured that very simple yet very delicate balance of all the elements of the sandwich
22:05And I say all three of these places did a phenomenal job
22:07I think one thing that is really interesting me is to see
22:10How different the three sandwiches that we've tried have been when on paper it's just three basically identical ingredients
22:16You would think yeah, you would think but then when you actually try it
22:19Subtle things can make big differences. I totally totally agree
22:22We kept talking about the bread could talk about mustard even the cut of the meats, right?
22:26It all at all
22:28Factors in greatly to how it tastes it's like a subtlety to it like these all these places
22:32They're like they're a master at it, you know
22:34I think one thing that's shown through is that all these places have years of tradition behind them years of practice behind them
22:39They really have honed their art and I think ultimately it's gonna come down to like a matter of personal preference for our decision
22:45Because these are all fantastic pastrami sandwiches. I'd happily recommend any of these spots to anybody but we're gonna pick a favorite
22:51You go first. So I think of the three and again, I will emphasize fine margins here
22:56These are all fantastic sandwiches razor that happily any of these. Yeah, I
23:00think my favorite was
23:03Second Avenue deli. Whoa
23:05Yeah, I was about second Avenue. I liked the slightly thinner cut of meat. I loved the vibe in there
23:11Mm-hmm. It was really great very much like a family run. Yeah traditional Jewish deli, which is great
23:16I just think every element of that sandwich worked was balanced
23:20The beef had a really like steaky beefy flavor to it. Yes, which I loved personally
23:25Yeah, the rye bread was great particularly with the seeds as well. Thank God
23:30I think that remember the cut of that meat being similar in shape to this one, but way softer way tender
23:36I think so. Maybe a little bit. This was I'd say pretty close in terms of like tenderness for me
23:40I think the way they kind of like layered it just lent to a better mouthfeel about a texture when you actually bit into the
23:45Sandwich, so yeah again fine margins, but I think for me second Avenue has just edged it out. I agree with you
23:52You do that was also my favorite. It's unanimous. Yeah. Wow. Why did you enjoy that one?
23:56All the reasons you just said yeah
23:59No, I'm very eloquent
24:00I think that the the difference between that one of these other two really was the just incredible like
24:07Flavorfulness of the meat but the bread the mustard everything together. It really was like
24:13They just it just had something extra to it that I really can't place my finger on
24:16Yeah, it was incredible love the sandwich, but like say all fantastic. There are no losers here
24:22That's right. I have to pick a winner, but there are no losers. I mean pastrami man. Everyone's a winner man
24:26I'm feeling especially my cardiologist. I guess getting paid
24:30Yeah, I have eaten more pastrami today than I have in the rest of my life combined. I'm feeling
24:37On some kind of weird level right now a bit, bro
24:40I don't know what the plan is for the rest of the day, but probably going to lay down. Yeah, I'm going home
24:45perfect