Katz’s Delicatessen ★9.1

A ticket, a cutter, and fifteen thousand pounds of pastrami a week

Most New York institutions coast on the story. Katz’s Delicatessen still runs on the mechanics: you take a numbered ticket at the door, carry it to a man who carves your pastrami by hand and slides you a warm slice while he works, and you settle up on the way out. Nothing has been softened for your comfort — which is why it stays the Lower East Side’s least pretentious late stop.

The Concept · The Story

It opened in 1888 as Iceland Brothers, run by Morris and Hyman Iceland in what was then the most crowded immigrant quarter on earth. Willy Katz bought in during 1903 and the sign became Iceland & Katz; his cousin Benny bought the Icelands out in 1910, and in April 1917 their landsman Harry Tarowsky joined the partnership. Those three families held it until the centenary year of 1988, when Lenny Katz, Izzy Tarowsky and Arthur Makstein sold to Martin Dell; Martin’s grandson Jake came in during 2009 and runs it today. The slogan over the counter — “Send a salami to your boy in the Army” — was Rose Tarowsky’s line, written while her own son flew bombers in the South Pacific.

What to Order

Pastrami on rye, and there is no second answer. The beef navel is cured for roughly thirty days without additives, then smoked, steamed and carved by hand rather than machine — which is why the slices arrive thick and irregular instead of neat. The counter moves something like fifteen thousand pounds of pastrami, eight thousand of corned beef and four thousand hot dogs in a week. Corned beef makes a genuine argument against the pastrami; a Reuben settles it. Round it out with matzo ball soup, a potato or kasha knish, latkes or an all-beef frank, and drink it the old way — a chocolate egg cream or a Dr. Brown’s.

The Space

A cavernous, fluorescent-bright hall: formica tables, salamis strung behind the counter, walls papered with signed photographs, and neon reading “Katz’s Delicatessen Known As The Best”, with “Katz’s That’s All” glowing above the servers. One table carries a sign of its own, marking where Meg Ryan filmed her scene in 1989, and it is almost never empty. The hall has also played New York in Donnie Brasco, Across the Universe and Enchanted. Expect noise, elbows and a queue that moves faster than it looks.

Good to Know

How does the ticket system work? Everyone takes a numbered ticket at the door, each station marks your order on it, and you pay on the way out. Losing it carries a flat penalty, so guard it.

Counter or table service? Both. The counter is the classic move — pick one cutter and stay with him; a waiter-served section exists if you would rather sit.

Do the cutters really hand out samples? Yes, a slice usually lands in your hand while they carve; a small tip in the cup at the start is the house custom.

Is Katz’s kosher? It is kosher-style rather than certified: traditional Jewish deli cooking, no rabbinical supervision.

Can you take the pastrami home? Yes — the deli ships its cured meats around the country, a habit going straight back to those wartime salami parcels.

Opening hours