My spouse and I
dined at the Carnegie Deli on a Saturday afternoon in late December 2015
(Christmas weekend). Carnegie Deli does not accept reservations, and because it
is located in the Sands Casino, can be busy at prime times. (They do have a
special seating queue for loyalty members of the casino.) The Carnegie Deli is
open for lunch and dinner Tuesdays through Sundays (closed on Mondays). Parking
is available in the Sands garage or in a surface parking lot.
We have visited
the original Carnegie Deli in Manhattan several times, although sadly, it has
been closed since April 2015 because of an illegal gas hookup, and its future
is uncertain. The Lehigh Valley location only resembles the original space in
that they feature signed celebrity photos on the back wall.
The Carnegie Deli cures and smokes all of their own meat
products, and bakes all of their famous cheesecakes at their commissary in
Carlstadt, New Jersey. The Deli is known for its old world, kosher-style
favorites like pastrami, corned beef, and brisket; they claim that their
sandwiches weigh in at over a pound each.
The Lehigh Valley
outpost of the Carnegie Deli is a large, bright open space, with primarily
table seating and just four booths. The restaurant does not feature a bar where
you can have a drink (although they do serve alcohol at the tables). A take-out
counter is available. The restaurant has black-and-white checkered tile floors,
wooden tables and chairs, and red leather booths. The kitchen area is somewhat
open to the dining area, and there are display cases in the front and rear of
the space that hold desserst, drinks, and other cold items (the cases are not
serve yourself).
After customers are seated,
waitstaff delivers two kinds of pickles as a snack. The restaurant has recently
started offering half portions on their large sandwiches. (Previously, there
was a sharing charge, which appears to have since been eliminated.) The regular
(extra-large) sandwich portion size is still available; however, the sandwiches
do not seem as large as they used to be in NYC. The restaurant currently serves
sandwiches with a choice of fries (the best value), potato salad, or macaroni
salad. (We seem to remember these sides costing “extra” previously.) We have
tried the knishes, the potato pancakes, and the macaroni and cheese, but we
return again and again to the pastrami or corned beef sandwiches, which are now
served on your choice of white, wheat, or rye bread (although we cannot imagine
eating pastrami or corned beef on anything but a good Jewish rye bread!).
Condiments (brown mustard, mayonnaise, and ketchup) are on every table so that you
can dress your sandwich according to your taste. (Nearly 20 years ago, we were
almost thrown out of the Manhattan location for requesting mayonnaise on our
pastrami sandwich, so the restaurant has come a long way since then!) We
ordered two desserts: the housemade rice pudding (which was not sweet enough
for our taste, and could have benefitted from being served slightly warm and
perhaps with some whipped cream), and the fresh strawberry cheesecake. (The
rice pudding portion was immense, but the size of the cheesecake was “normal”,
not what we think of as “Carnegie Deli” size.)
Service was
perfunctory; most guests just stop in for a quick bite between gaming, so the
Carnegie Deli really is not a place where patrons tend to linger.
Authentic deli meats
are hard to find in the Lehigh Valley, particularly good pastrami, so the
Carnegie Deli fits the bill without having to drive to Manhattan. (Truth be
told, even in Manhattan, we usually prefer Katz’s Deli over the Carnegie Deli,
but we will happily “take what we can get” in Bethlehem!)
