Carnegie Deli

I love Carnegie Deli. I always stop by here every time I am in New York. It’s always busy and crowded and you’re elbow to elbow with strangers near you but it’s all worth it for the delicious sandwiches. The walls are filled with pictures of celebrities and it’s so loud and crazy in there that you can barely settle down. Even though the atmosphere is hectic, the service is still good. They have me hooked on their pastrami, corned beef, and desserts.

Warning: Do not try to eat anything by yourself. A normal person cannot finish the sandwiches. You know it’s serious business when you see two men sharing a sandwich. :-)

The first time I dined here one of my party was hemming and hawing over what to order and finally decided on a turkey sandwich. The waiter, an older heavyset man, shook his head. Then he said, “Honey, you’re at the world famous Carnegie Deli. You’re not going to have anything other than pastrami.” Of course, he was absolutely correct.

One would not think sandwiches could be piled as high as they are. Yes, they are a heart attack in waiting. But everyone should experience real pastrami once in his life.

Treat yourself, this place is worth it!

It’s a great place if you are craving a thick deli sandwich. Their sandwiches loaded with goodies and definitely something for sharing. A little on the pricey side but then again the portion is HUGE. All worth it.

Extra star for the man behind the counter who was so charming that we ended up walking out with an extra container of pickles AND a slice of cheesecake!

We decided to grab something after seeing Billy Elliot and we didn’t fee up to the full dinner service thing. Enter Carnegie Deli! We made sure we had cash on hand as they don’t go for credit cards there. Thus armed, we headed inside for a turkey sandwich and some chicken soup with Matzoh balls. The guy behind the counter was phenomenal at the low-key upsell, and soon we found that yeah, we really did want some extra pickles to go with that. And heck, what good deli meal would be complete without a slice of famous New York cheesecake? Strawberry, of course.

Thus loaded down with deli goodness, we trudged back to our hotel to set up a room picnic. We split the turkey sandwich and then each made two meals of our halves. Same with the soup and the pickles. The cheesecake we made a small dent in that night, but it ended up being dessert for lunch and dinner the following day (gotta love having an in-room fridge). Amazing grub, all of it.

I’m never one to believe the hype, but Carnegie Deli is as good as if not better than what people have told me. I think I first heard of this restaurant on some show on the food network a while back. But on a recent trip to NYC, and at the recommendation of my fiances friend Janet “an older Jewish lady” (sorry), my fiance and I decided to locate this place.

After 20 blocks of walking, we found this delicatessen, but without the lines. Lucky Day. Its a small restaurant, with many tables and even more people, crammed into a area that is about the size of my living and dinning room. As we waited in line sandwiched between the register and sandwich counter we admired the selection of sandwiches -better yet- piles of meat topped with bread, waiting for delivery. We snapped some pictures of the sandwiches, and then some more of the waiters who were more than happy to pose holding the aforementioned monster-sandwiches.

We were finally seated – shoulder to shoulder with a party of rather large tourists – and met our waiter Mr. Andrew Carnegie or “Andy”( A name we later found, he would rather not be called, despite his name tag.) Mr. Carnegie (no connection to the restaurant despite having worked there for entirely too long) was simultaneously the most rude and the best waiter I have ever encountered. He made my experience at Carnegie’s unforgettable.

On to the food, The Fiance and I, decided to split a “Woody Allen” sandwich. As the Menu reads, it is a corned beef sandwich, with “lotsa” pastrami on Jewish rye bread. This sandwich was as tall as my hand is long (not to brag but I have rather large hands lol). They serve all food with a selection of locally pickled pickles:new pickles, sour, Jewish etc.
With a squirt of spicey brown mustard, this had to have been the best sandwich I have had in a long time. And after 20 blocks of walking my fiance destroyed this gigantic sandwich.

My fiance eye-balled the dessert case, which was filled with enormous beautiful mounds of indulgence, that Carnegie called cheese cake. to avoid a diabetic coma, we decided not to partake in this.

I can only think of two negatives

1. The Abyss they call a restroom: In classic NYC style, the bathroom is located in corner, down a narrow hallway, down a treacherous flight of stairs. More of a back alley than a bathroom.

2. They do not take Credit Cards: to find a restaurant that doesn’t take plastic in 2009 is crazy. Keep cash handy food is far from cheap with sandwiches averaging 15 dollars.

All in all A Great Place to Grab a Great Sandwich!

Pickles in a bucket. Then, Pastrami. Rye. Mustard. Tree branch…

Basically, the guys at Carnegie Deli take a slice of good bread, and hold it under a a slicer filled with exquisite meats and cheeses for about five minutes, then spear the tower of meat and bread with a tree branch. Call that a sandwich? You bet you sweet tookus it is.

Served up with a small bucket of different types of gerkins, you’ll need to bring a friend because if you can eat it all by yourself, you are clearly trying to kill yourself (but at least you’ll die happy).

Carnegie is an institution of the Big Apple as evidenced by the many framed, autographed pics of anyone who’s anyone that has had a hankering for a good sammich hanging vigil along the walls.

If you are one of those rare individuals with a black hole for a stomach and you still have room left over for dessert, Carnegie is sure to plug that puppy with one of their lip-smacking desserts (all of which are groaningly good and impossibly huge as well). You’d think giants ate here. Honestly. :P

The best cheesecake, atmosphere, amount of food. I ordered Cheese Belintzes and an Egg Cream.

yes yes yes