Mrs. R. and I are in the Big Apple this weekend. We got in late so after settling in we sauntered out for a "light" dinner. In my east coast city there are plenty of fancy restaurants, even some celebrity chefs. They're too expensive for us at home (anyway, Mrs. R. is a terrific cook) and in The City crank that price up a notch. But what we can't get in our city of residence is NY Deli. Our city is deli illiterate. I used to live in Manhattan and I know what I'm missing. So we popped into the Carnegie Deli on Seventh Avenue and I ordered my "usual": Corned beef on light rye, side of potato salad and a Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray. Mrs. R. ordered potato pancakes and a side of coleslaw with a chocolate eggcream to drink. There was a plate of Kosher Dills and half sour pickles on the table.
In case you have never been to one of these New York institutions, be advised the serving sizes are obscene. I mean that in (almost) every sense of the word. The main point is that portions offend one's sense of what is morally proper. I doubt even a crocodile could open his mouth wide enough to bite down on one of the "overstuffed" alleged sandwiches. Each of the three potato pancakes was continent sized. There was no way we could finish what was put before us. I blame the deli for this. It is socially irresponsible to have portions this size. Period. Smaller portions were not an option. Granted I knew this going in. I was just so starved for genuine deli I sinned. The good news is that we packed up the left overs and had them shipped to sub Saharan Africa where Oxfam told us they could feed a family of four for a month.
In driving to our destination we passed the theater where The Colbert Report is taped. In these days of starving continents, crumbling economies and bank failures, it is good to be reminded that sometimes what will get you through is Faith:
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I know a lot of your readers won't get this but...
I've spent plenty of time in NY and Boston; I've lived in California and Chicago; but Detroit is my home town (more or less) and Detroit deli beats all the others hands down.
The secret is the bread. NY's corned beef and pastrami are the tops, detroits nearly as good. Detroits new dill pickles are better.
But the bread! A detroit rye is twice-baked...very hard on the outside, very thick and chewy on the inside. It makes the perfect home for corned beef, swiss cheese, russian dressing, and cole slaw.
PalMD: I don't know Detroit but I grew up in the midwest in a city with a large German population. Its bread was as good as any in NYC. NYC had some pretty good bread (either it isn't as good as I remember or it has gotten worse),. My deli experience this weekend was as you say, the corned beef was terrific but the bread (which was dwarfed by the corned beef) was just so-so. I was surprised. I can say that in the sixties NYC bread was great but I can't say that with certainty now. Again, Detroit I don't know, but if it is anything like the city I grew up in (also midwestern) you certainly have cause to brag. The twice baked part I don't know about either. It's interesting. I'll have to check out my childhood baking methods with my sister who still lives in the ancestral city.
May not understand your comment PalMD, simply because I've never been to Detroit but you did have my mouth watering.
I swear bread is mostly air now, if that adequately describes it.
Where we live we get The Colbert Report a day late. Won't tell you exactly where we live but ... Loved the side note that said: "Do as I say, not as I panic"
It's interesting because I was contemplating the 50's and 60's this morning and what has transpired in my own life to form my current opinions and habits.
It was a "Do as I say environment" back then, and one where the government and "they said" - so it was a it must be true attitude. Not pretty when I reflect on this as some of those attitudes have gotten us to where we are today.
I get to Detroit once in awahile...Which specific deli(s) in Detroit?
I found this today...and wondered if anyone here would comment?
http://tinyurl.com/56bqt7