Tag Archives: deli

Deli, Lower East Side/Chinatown, Restaurant Reviews

Katz’s Delicatessen

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I never got around to writing about Katz’s, because the last time I went was before I started this website. Now that I live closer, and since the good folks at Hendrick’s Gin sent me a $25 gift card along with some cool Katz’s swag like gin and juniper soaked pickles and an apron, it was time to go back.

Nothing has changed inside since my last visit, which was pre-2009, aside from some new pics of celebs on the wall. I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of a line at 6pm on a Friday. I thought it would be mobbed. My wife and I opted for waiter service. As soon as we sat, a nice platter of pickles came out. The tomatoes were the winner, oddly enough. I usually devour half sours like an animal!

We wanted to try more sandwiches, but we went with two fulls and one half. First up, the full sized tongue sandwich. This is served cold.

This was my least favorite of the three. The slices were too thick, and the meat wasn’t quite cooked properly. Too tough, too chewy, and too sinewy. Felt like it needed to be cooked lower and slower, so that everything became tender. As far as tongue goes, PJ Bernstein is the king. Without question.

Next up was the half sandwich of liverwurst. This was also served cold.

These thick slices of velvet deliciousness were very much welcomed after the tongue. This was great, and it was a lot of liverwurst for a half sandwich. Some of the best wurst I’ve had!

Last, and clearly the best of the three, was the combo pastrami + corned beef hot sandwich, full size.

In my prior visits, I recall not liking the pastrami so much. At times it was too fatty and sinewy as well, chewy as fuck with those hard ridges along the edge not rendering out properly. But this time it was perfect. And the corned beef was stellar; I’ll go with corned beef over pastrami any day of the week in most cases. But anyway, the sandwich was so juicy and tender, it really didn’t need any mustard.

I can’t wait to go back and try both the roast beef and the brisket. Those were the other two “must have” items that we just didn’t have the stomach space for on this trip. I feel like I rediscovered an old favorite in coming here. It definitely put a smile on my face. One critique I will give is that I think they can benefit from some improved rye bread. I realize it’s just a vehicle to deliver the meat, but I was expecting better.

KATZ’s DELICATESSEN
205 E Houston St
New York, NY 10002

Brooklyn, Deli

Defonte’s

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I finally got over to Defonte’s to try some sandwiches. My buddy Nick and I rode over on our Zooz bikes. It took us 10 or 15 minutes from downtown Manhattan – a trip that would otherwise take a half hour and cost an arm and a leg in cab or Uber fees.

These things really are the best way to get around the boros, especially for food crawls! If you want one, get one with my coupon code JOHNNYPRIME for $100 off at THIS WEBSITE.

Anyway, we started with the hot roast beef dip sandwich that’s topped with fried eggplant and fresh house made mozz. Awesome!

Next up was the Italian special, which is a cold sandwich that features a variety of Italian meats, along with some spicy bomba sauce, lettuce, tomato and dressing. This was the big winner for me.

I’ll be back here for sure, especially to try the roast pork sandwiches, and something chock full of mortadella.

DEFONTE’S
379 Columbia St.
Brooklyn, NY 11231

Deli, Press Reviews, Restaurant Reviews, Upper East Side

PJ Bernstein

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I stopped here for lunch and was really pleased with the meal. Started with a fried knish and wasn’t disappointed. Hot and crisp, super velvety interior.

The Butcher’s Special sandwich, with tongue, corned beef and pastrami, was a big win. Half a pound of meat!

The Rueben sandwich is served open face style, and was equally delightful.

Topped that off with some fries and pirogies. The fries were perfect. As for the dumplings, I preferred the meat ones over the potato.

Then washed it all down with some chicken soup. DELICIOUS!

This place is great. I definitely recommend.

PJ BERNSTEIN
1215 3rd Ave
New York, NY 10021

Deli, Long Island, Press Reviews, Product Reviews, Restaurant Reviews

Babylon Village Meat Market

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If you’ve been following along with my meat adventures on Instagram, you might have seen me tag or mention Babylon Village Meat Market in some of my posts since the summer. This market carries some really high quality beef, including rare beef from Japan like snow beef, olive fed wagyu, etc. Marbled to holy hell.

 

In addition to the rare stuff, they also have plenty of prime, dry-aged steaks, and everything else you might expect to find at a village meat shop, from salami to sandwiches, from porchetta to potato salad to produce to prepared pasta. They’re even launching their own brand of jerky, which is insanely tender and delicious.

Below is a nice unboxing video I made, from when the owner sent me a care package wishing me good luck in the new apartment. I was blown away by his generosity.

I can’t wait to dig into more of this stuff!

BABYLON VILLAGE MEAT MARKET
85 Deer Park Ave
Babylon, NY 11702

American, Deli, New Orleans, Restaurant Reviews

St James Cheese Company

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This nice sandwich and cheese shop is a fun place to stop in for a quick lunch if you’re in the area. The bloodies are good, and the sandwiches and cheese are nice.

I could’ve used a little more roast beef on this sandwich, and thinner sliced, but the smoked blue cheese sorta made up for it. That was unique. But I think I’m starting to notice a NOLA trend with small amounts of sandwich meat down here. Not a good look!

ST. JAMES CHEESE COMPANY
641 Tchoupitoulas St,
New Orleans, LA 70130

Deli, Italian, Midtown West, Restaurant Reviews

Vintner Wine Market

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My wife and I strolled by this cool spot on Sunday and popped in for a beer and a sandwich. Vintner Wine Market sports hundreds of cool and unique beer selections in their fridges, as well as wines (by the glass and bottle). But what really got my attention was the roast beef sandwich.

This baby comes with horseradish cheddar, mayo and red onion. Simple and delicious. And the baguette was nice and fresh.

Good sized sandwich. We will be back here for sure.

VINTNER WINE MARKET
677 9th Ave
New York, NY 10036

Brooklyn, Deli, Restaurant Reviews

Lioni

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Lioni is a famous place in Bensonhurst for sandwiches, mozzarella, and generally any Italian food specialties.

My wife and I stopped in here on the recommendation of a friend who grew up across the street. We ordered two sandwiches:

The Sophia Loren (#12) was made with prosciutto, fresh Lioni mozzarella, stuffed sweet peppers, lettuce, olive oil, salt and pepper.

This thing was awesome. At $16 and over a foot long it can feed two people with ease. The bread was superb, and the meat quality was awesome – no stringy bits, which is sometimes common with average, run of the mill prosciutto. They only use the good stuff here.

The other sandwich was one I concocted myself – generally a no-no in here as they like you to order by number (they have about 300 different sandwiches on the menu). It was bresaola, banana peppers and provolone.

The bresaola was incredible. This one cost $19 and that’s because the bresaola was so top notch. I’ve never had better. The sandwich, however, needed some kind of sauce or hydrating ingredient. I added a spicy honey at home and that seemed to do the trick nicely.

I highly recommend this deli. Great sandwiches!

LIONI
7803 15th Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11228

Press Reviews, Product Reviews

Perdinci Meats

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I discovered Perdinci Meats at a food show in the Javitz center. I contacted their representative because I was really blown away by the quality of their meats, especially the dried, cured pork loin, or lonza. They sent me a variety pack of sample meats, including salami, guanciale (pork cheek), pork belly, that delicious lonza, and some softer spreadables like nduja and finocchiola.

These babies were tucked away in my fridge for quite a while, and I was happy to see that they held up just fine and didn’t spoil with proper storage.

The lonza is still my favorite, but all of the other products are excellent. I highly recommend this stuff.

Deli, New Orleans, Restaurant Reviews

Central Grocery

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This legendary Italian deli in New Orleans is world famous for creating the muffuletta sandwich.

Muffuletta is technically a massive sesame seeded bread, but the name has been coopted here to describe this particular sandwich. When I first saw them back in 2009, I thought they were giant burgers.

So what exactly is in the sandwich? It’s essentially an Italian hero (high quality Italian meats and cheeses) on that circular shaped muffuletta bread, but with one special ringer: the magical olive and giardiniera salad (pickled cauliflower, hot peppers and carrots).

There are lots of joints serving this sandwich all over New Orleans, and even now in NYC.

But the one and only, the original, is Central Grocery. It’s either $10.95 (half) or $20.95 (whole). Below is a half on top, and a whole in my hand.

If you can’t find a place serving muffuletta near you, and if you can’t hop on a jet to NOLA, I highly suggest making one at home. Olive salads and giardiniera salads are usually available in jars at gourmet grocery stores. If you can’t find the bread, just slap those salads on top of a regular Italian hero and you’ll pretty much have it sorted out.

CENTRAL GROCERY
923 Decatur St
New Orleans, LA 70116

Commentary

Morton Williams & Whole Foods

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I don’t really review supermarkets, but every so often I feel the need to pipe up about something that bothers me. And don’t be alarmed, I WILL say some good things too, but let me get to the bad shit first.

I don’t know if its’ some new fucking food waste trend, or if it’s just the shitty condition of Manhattan grocery stores in general, but the produce at these two supermarkets have royally sucked lately. Every time I go to the Columbus Circle, 9th Avenue and 57th Street locations of these joints, the greens, veggies and produce are half rotten. And Columbus Circle is supposed to be THE FLAGSHIP Whole Foods location, from what I understand.

I can’t even remember how many times I’ve picked up a head of broccoli only to have the stems bend like rubber under its own weight. I’ve purchased a head of lettuce for $3 or $4 and had to throw half of it out because it was turning fucking brown.

Yes, yes. None of us like to waste food. I know all about “ugly food” initiatives, and I support them. Why toss it if you can sell it, or give it to someone who is hungry?

But this garbage should be discounted if the condition is going to always be shitty. In Manhattan, this crap is double the price of the suburbs. We are getting raped here.

Part of the reason, I’m convinced, is because of those dumb fucking sprinkler systems that spray water on the produce every minute. Dumb. It just asks for rot to form on the food. The other reason, maybe more specific to Manhattan, is the heat in Summer, slow delivery times due to traffic, and poor refrigeration. Either way I’m not happy about it.

On the other hand, Whole foods has an awesome deli and fresh pre-prepared food area, along with a kick ass bakery, beer selection and olive bar. Morton Williams has a nice deli too. I picked up this sandwich the other day and really enjoyed it: smoked turkey, provolone cheese, roasted red peppers and pesto on a roll: $7.25.

Another item for the plus column: beef selection. While the items can get pricey at times, the quality is very good. Whole Foods offers dry aged beef, and both joints have some great sales if you watch out for them.

Also, sometimes the choice quality stuff at Morton is just as good as prime. You may recall my article about this from a while back.