Battle: NY Pastrami

Oh my! How can anyone ingest such a monstrous pastrami sandwich from one of NY's legendary delis? Yet, you look around, and it seems everyone is doing it -- even with a side of fries! Regan and I decided to split one. We knew if we would've tried to knock one down each, we would have had to sleep it off on the sidewalk out front. Katz's is perhaps NY's most famous pastrami sandwich, and with good reason. It has been in business since 1888 and continues to draw hordes of drooling folks looking for the ultimate NY sandwich.

They slice all their pastrami by hand and what you get is a thick pile of juicy, smoked beef served on rye bread with deli mustard. They also give you an enormous pickle and a couple pickled green tomatoes, just in case the 2-pound sandwich wasn't enough for ya! The sandwich carries a hefty price tag at $15.75, but when you consider it could almost feed a family of four, this is quite a bargain.

We really enjoyed Katz's, and no trip to NY is complete without trying it once. On our next visit to NY the following year, we had finally digested the pastrami and decided to give another much-loved deli a chance for best pastrami in the city. 2nd Ave. Deli is a proper kosher deli that first opened in 1954.

Walking in, you can see the love put into the deli case. 

This place feels like a neighborhood gathering spot and doesn't have the full-on tourist vibe like Katz's. Cozy little booths adorn the interior. You get the feeling that over your shoulder you may hear Frank and Estelle Costanza ordering tuna on rye and complaining about the booth they are in.

The pastrami is sliced super-thin but piled as high as the one at Katz's. Now it just becomes a matter of personal preference. I loved this pastrami and prefer the thin, melt-in-your-mouth version at 2nd Avenue. Regan also agrees that this is the superior version of the east coast heart clogger. We again split the sandwich, but all around us people were shoveling down the entire thing! 

We were so full -- but what the hell! -- we were only in NY for a short while, so we ended the perfect pastrami sandwich with a piece of warm, chocolate babka. That created in Regan an obsession for finding an authentic West Coast babka that even came close -- a desire that remains to be fulfilled. Now we know why Jerry and Elaine didn't want to settle for anything less. ("Might as well get a Mengele!")