New York City: Carnegie Deli (February 1994)

My spouse and I dined at the Carnegie Deli in February 1994 when we went to New York City by limousine to celebrate Valentine's Day. That winter was very snowy, and we had to reschedule the trip more than once. I was once told to leave the restaurant when I requested mayonnaise to accompany my pastrami sandwich (they only allow mustard)! The Carnegie Deli is located at 854 7th Avenue (between 54th and 55th Streets) in Midtown Manhattan. It was opened in 1937 adjacent to Carnegie Hall. The Parker family's delicatessen is now in its third generation of owners. USA Today has called the restaurant the "most famous" deli in the United States. The restaurant offers pastrami, corned beef, and other sandwiches containing at least 1 pound of meat, as well as traditional Jewish fare such as matzoh ball soup, potato pancakes, chopped chicken livers, and lox. The restaurant also offers other, non-Jewish (or at least non-kosher) food such as ham, sausage, and bacon. Available for order are cheesecake portions of over a pound per serving. The restaurant's motto is: "If you can finish your meal, we’ve done something wrong". In addition to the large servings, the restaurant is also known for its surly waiters, who allegedly try to impart some of the stereotypical gruffness of New York to visitors. Leo Steiner was a Jewish American restaurateur who was co-owner of the Carnegie Deli, located next to Carnegie Hall at 55th Street and Seventh Avenue. While his partner, Milton Parker, mostly worked behind the scenes, Steiner worked the crowd with his Jewish humor in the restaurant, which became a destination for both celebrities and tourists in the theater district. Steiner joined Milton Parker and Fred Klein in 1976 to purchase the Carnegie Deli. Under the management of Parker and Steiner, the deli became known nationwide, attracting celebrities such as Woody Allen, Jackie Mason and Henny Youngman, and opened branch locations in Atlantic City, New Jersey; Secaucus, New Jersey; and Tysons Corner, Virginia. Steiner became the public face of Jewish food, appearing in a television commercial for rye bread. He created a 60-pound Statue of Liverty carved from chopped liver, complete with a torch fashioned from a turkey wing, for the United States Bicentennial and was asked to prepare corned beef and pastrami for visiting heads of state attending the G7 economic summit meeting held in 1983 in Williamsburg, Virginia. Portions of Woody Allen's 1984 movie Broadway Danny Rose were filmed in the restaurant. The deli's corned beef and pastrami, celebrated by smoked meat connoisseurs nationwide, were cured in the store's cellar using Steiner's own recipe in a two-week-long curing process. The Carnegie Deli used a half-ton of brisket to prepare a week's supply of corned beef by the time of his death. Steiner admitted, "You could eat it after seven days, but if you wait until the 13th you're in heaven." Portions of Woody Allen's 1984 movie Broadway Danny Rose were filmed in the restaurant. The Carnegie Deli was the favorite hangout of comedian Henny Youngman, and Adam Sandler included a reference to the deli in "The Chanukah Song" in 1996. Steiner was eulogized by comedian Henny Youngman as "the deli lama". The walls of the deli are nearly completely covered with autographed pictures of celebrities who have eaten there. Menu items have been named after famous patrons, including a corned beef and pastrami sandwich named after Woody Allen after the deli served as a filming location for Broadway Danny Rose. A number of items on the menu feature Broadway themes and Yiddish vocabulary, including dishes like "nosh, nosh, Nanette" (after the musical, "No, No, Nanette") and "the egg and oy" ("The Egg and I"). There are also some humorous items in the menu, like the famous liver sandwich named "50 Ways to Love Your Liver" after the Paul Simon song "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover."




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