National Pastrami Day 2012 - Miller's East In San Rafael

National Pastrami day is here! January 14th is the date started originally by Togo's several years ago. This year Togo's is actually offering sandwiches to someone for a whole year in a contest known as  the "Pastrami Challenge". Someone will win the contest by eating one of their two and half foot long sandwiches filled with over a pound of pastrami. Whoa!

I've been celebrating the holiday for the past 3 years and I plan to go to The Refuge tomorrow for the holiday. I know it's a busy weekend and the 49ers play tomorrow, but please find some time this weekend to honor the national holiday. While you're enjoying your pastrami reflect on past, present and future pastrami sandwiches And what they mean to you. To me it means good food with family + friends and always reminds me of my grandpa at Langer's.

I was lucky enough to try the new Miller's East Coast Deli in San Rafael this past Tuesday. They were only open to friends and family as they opened a little too early and were unable to quell the demand of the North bay pastrami urge and had to shut down for some fine-tuning. The official reopen will be this Saturday, just in time for National Pastrami Day.

We showed up around 6:30 for our dinner and  Robby Morgenstein, owner of Miller's, also came by to say hi. For appetizers we got the stuff cabbage roll and well as two Empire sodas - one cream flavored and one cola flavored.

 

Cabbage Roll

 Sodas

The cabbage roll was very flavorful and I enjoyed the meat and rice on the inside of the stuffed roll. My girl said the tomatoes may have been canned, but that didn't seem to bother me. The cream soda was just OK, but the Cola was a real winner and I would recommend it to anyone who comes in the restaurant. Cel-ray or Black Cheery Dr. Brown sodas are also excellent, but you should give the Empire Cola a chance.

I got a corned beef and pastrami sandwich and my lady did the same but got it Reuben style toasted with sauerkraut. I actually liked her sandwich better.

My Sandwich

Reuben with Corned Beef and Pastrami

I could tell they were working some things out in the kitchen as they weren't sure they could do a half pastrami/half corned beef Reuben and they had to confirm the cooks could do that. They'll be better in a few weeks as far as knowing the menu and serving the food, however the taste is excellent and tastes similar to that of the Miller's East Coast on Polk. I recommend trying this place soon, but perhaps wait a few weeks for the initial buzz of the first Jewish Deli in the North Bay to calm down before expecting to get your sandwich in under 10 minutes. It'll be busy at the start and I hope they are more prepared for the pastrami demand for their reopening. More business is good, we're "Saving the Deli" in the Bay Area.

Lunch with David Sax, Greenblatts's, Deli Board/Wise Son's: Another Blogger's Take

Happy April! The weather has changed, the sun is out....What better time to enjoy a pastrami sandwich then outside in the California sun. This Sunday I'm going to be at the Yelp Softball Game at Balboa Park and I'm thinking about making one of the dishes that's in the book "America's Great Delis: Recipes from Coast to Coast" by Sheryll Bellman - specifically the Corned Beef Reuben dip that was from a Baltimore Deli. I'll take pictures - but if you'd like to come to the softball game - it's an open invitation to anyone who would like to come (5$ for refreshments I believe).

There is some epic deli experience in this photo above. David Sax, author of the best-selling book "Save the Deli", is on the left with Robby Morgenstein, Owner of Miller's East Coast in the middle. David Sax is deli royalty, but he also writes for various other publications...which is why he was in SF. Sax was writing an article on Yelp and being Yelp Elite and I was obliged to give him some quotes about what being Yelp Elite entails for me. He was interested on how things have changed since I've become Yelp Elite and whether non-elite users talked to me more or if restaurant owners themselves talked to me more because they know of my Elite status. I told him I thought some owners cared more about what I write now and that I get random owners shooting me a message sometimes. Robby Morgenstein offered his opinion on yelp a few minutes later. He was upset about how frugal some of the reviews can be and said "Boy, all I have to do is look at someone wrong and they will give me a 1 star review. Ridiculous." Sitting at the table and listening to David Sax and Robby Morgenstein talk about delis and yelp was a real treat for me - I mean they are two people I respect greatly in the deli community and they're talking about the social/review network I am on daily - pretty special. For the record, I had a grilled NY pastrami as usual and David Sax had a brisket sandwich on a Kaiser roll. At the end of the meal David said to Robby "You know what I want from you next time I'm here?" Robby looked at him with excitement and David replied "I want some onion rings on my sandwich next time - right on top of the brisket." Robby asked "Thin or thick?" to which David said "It's your restaurant." Priceless.

 

The sandwich above is from Greenblatt's Deli in Los Angeles. Many people have suggested this place to me as having some of the best pastrami in the Southland and  I finally made it to the place - it helps they're open till 2 in the morning. The sandwich looked close to the Brooklyn Sandwich at Canter's, but upon first bite I knew this sandwich was slightly better than the Canter's pastrami. The rye bread was that crazy crispy, chewy double baked rye you only get in LA (or at least I've only found in LA) and the pastrami was machine-sliced thin, but had an excellent sweeter less spicy flavor. I was very impressed with my Greenblatt's sandwich and I recommend trying it out if you're on Sunset and feel that pastrami itch. They even have a large selection of fine wines and a big deli counter to take things to go, if you please.

 

I've been getting pretty chummy with the Deli Board. They know me by name and face now...and I've been going there every week consistently for the past month and I must say I'm always impressed and happy with my meal. The first sandwich above was the "Rach" which is a pastrami on dutch crunch with Russian dressing. I talked about the Bay Area's obsession with Dutch Crunch bread in this previous post and I commend Adam (Owner of Deli Board) for making a sandwich that is both Bay Area and Deli in the same package. The second picture was a trio of sliders known as the "three amigos" special. I think if they were actually the three amigos....I guess Steve Martin would be the pastrami....maybe Chevy Chase...I'm not sure. I have become a really big fan of the Deli Board's soups and salads as well...try a Board Cobb out and tell me you don't think it's excellent, big, and tasty.

I was very pleased to see another blogger's write up for the Deli Board and Wise Son's deli. Rachel Allen of the blog "The Jew and the Carrot" wrote an excellent post on the two delis and how they're opening up the Jewish Deli scene in San Francisco - check it out here and comment on her page and tell her you love Deli Board, you love or are going to try Wise Son's and that the Pastrami King sent me here....You have your instructions my pastrami subjects...make it happen. I honestly get a warm feeling inside when thinking about these two delis and how successful they have been penetrating the deli wasteland of San Francisco. Soon people will be talking about our fabulous Jewish delis - instead of making songs about how we don't have them - like this song from Rita Abrams. We, the pastrami fans of the Bay, need to work to change this attitude that we don't have any good delis in the city and Deli Board and Wise Son's are breaking the old anecdotes that "San Francisco has no worthwhile Jewish Delis". Blasphemy, I say.

Rachel did a tremendous job on her article and it made SF look progressive and hip in the deli community: Kudos Rachel! On the other side of the spectrum, I was disgusted by the recent 7x7 article on pastrami sandwiches in the city entitled "Refreshingly Unhip: SF's Oldschool Pastrami Sandwiches". Take a look at that article folks...there are many things wrong with this picture. My first issue, the writer of this article never used rye bread....ever. I'm sorry....but an "old school" pastrami sandwich comes on rye bread. I'm all for new Dutch Crunch experiments like Adam's Rach (I actually want to commend him a 2nd time down here...way to go making it both Bay Area and Deli at the same time.), but  an "old school" pastrami sandwich looks like the sandwich I got at Greenblatt's. It's on rye bread....maybe with some coleslaw...but if it were a truly traditional, old school it would come with mustard and that's it. Four of the sandwiches were on soft rolls....and one was on a Kaiser roll...not very traditional...maybe the kaiser roll...but certainly not a soft roll if you wanted "old school". My second issue with this article is the deli selection. They get gold stars for Moise's Pippic and Miller's East Coast....but the rest of the class doesn't belong in the pastrami conversation. M&L, Yellow Submarine and Roxie center were poor choices...choices that reek of someone who gets subs...but never gets pastrami sandwiches. With a little more research....7x7 could have found out that Memphis Minnie's has a special pastrami on Wednesdays or Wise Son's makes their own pastrami and serves it on Saturday...but of course those places are new, so if you really, really wanted to get Old School SF on em' they could have gone to David's Deli, Max's Opera Cafe, Lefty O'Doul's and Tommy's Joynt on Van Ness. All those places were opened some time ago, are well known to SF locals, and serve traditional pastrami sandwiches on rye bread...hell Lefty's and Tommy's hand slice the pastrami in front of you.  Burrfish on you for not taking time to do this article properly...7x7....I'm disappointed.

That's all for now, Folks.  @Pastramking on Twitter. E-mail is PastramiKing@gmail.com - my yelp address is Pastramiking.yelp.com and please join my Facebook fan page. My next post is going to be in the Bay Area most likely....was thinking about Spruce or Orson Cafe....please let me know what you'd like to see and I'll try to make it happen.

Wise Son's Pastrami Sandwich, Yelp Praise

Hey there pastrami fans. I hope you had an awesome Mardi Gras. This past weekend, I finally was able to try the Wise Son's pastrami sandwich...and boy was it awesome.

This sandwich was a bit hard to obtain...as Wise Son's is only serving on Saturdays as a pop-up inside Jackie's Cafe on Valencia (@ Duboce). The pastrami was sweeter than most of the pastrami I have tried - more salty/sweet than spicy. The slices were larger, thicker hand cut slices - which I normally prefer over the machine-sliced, thinner slices of pastrami. The brine had a large fat layer on it that let you know without a doubt in your mind that this was pastrami and not corned beef. I have never seen a corned beef with that type of brine on the outside, although it did have pinkish hue (not as ruby red) that some corned beef has. The rye bread was very good, the rye crust was chewy and crispy...but it still wasn't as good as the double-baked rye of Langer's. A very lovely presentation and a tasty pastrami - a definite 5 star in my book. Can't wait to try it again!

Speaking of Langer's....I had a guy harass me a bit when I ordered my sandwich @ Wise Son's with Swiss cheese and coleslaw. He said "That's not kosher, it goes against the grain." I smiled....this guy is 40+ years old and screams East Coast...but I'm confident in my deli ordering skills. I'm confident because I know the first deli I ever went to - Langer's in Los Angeles - has been proclaimed the best deli in the world by many, many people. "I'm not Jewish, I'm Polish. I do not adhere to Kosher law." I replied - then with a question to him "Where do you like to get your pastrami, usually?" He told me he was a a big fan of Max's Opera Café, but that he's from Brooklyn and "nothing beats Brooklyn." I have a bit of an issue with this statement. Many people try to claim Brooklyn when claiming the best deli food, but more often than not - I ask them which deli and where and their response is some small place I've never heard of or they give me an Italian deli instead of a Jewish Deli as an example. I know of some delis in Brooklyn - Mile End comes to mind as well as David's Brisket House and Ben's Best (Queens) - but I do think it's a cop out to claim Brooklyn without backing any claims. At least give me the name of the place that makes Brooklyn unbeatable. After he claimed Brooklyn, I responded "Oh yeah - Max's Opera Cafe uses Robert's Corned Meat in the city, they do good business." He looked at me like how the hell did he know that? then following up "and if you're going to claim Brooklyn on me - I'm going to have to claim LA. You ever been to Langer's? Best pastrami in the world." He told me "no" and I told him he's "missing out" and I hand him my Pastrami King card. Yes - I can tell a old Jewish maven from Brooklyn he's missing out on the best deli food without flinching - because I am the Pastrami King!

I got some awesome love on yelp this past few weeks - two awesome reviews. The first review was from a a girl named Tram, from San Jose, who reviewed the Deli Board. Check out the review here, but my favorite part is in the beginning.

"Theodore.. if it weren't for your review, I wouldn't have ordered the Boca sandwich.. I came here from San Jose w/ a one track mind: I MUST get Boca or else my heart would stop instantly."

Nice! Thanks a bunch Tram. I'm glad that Boca treated you well and I'm sure the owner of the Deli Board will be happy to know I'm sending him pastrami lovers. The second review that mentioned me was from a friend Luis A. We went to Miller's East together and he was blown away by how good it was. Check out Luis' review here.

A small excerpt "I was referred to this place by 'THE PASTRAMI KING' and now I know why he is called that. This guys truly knows his craft and was not kidding about the food here." I'm blushing from all the praise on yelp. It's amazing to see how many people have reached out and talked about how I led them to a great deli experience.

I got some news David Sax, writer of the book "Save the Deli", will be in the Bay Area to do a story on yelp and yelp elites. I'm not sure he knew I was yelp elite, but he does now and I'm hoping to have some pastrami with him sometime next week. Hopefully will get some pictures for the blog of David. I am also planning on going to Los Angeles at the end of the month and will be trying a few places there (hopefully).

My e-mail is Pastramiking@gmail.com. Follow me on Twitter @Pastramiking. My yelp stuff is always pastramiking.yelp.com. and please, join my facebook fan page. There is a link at the top of the page for "liking" the fan page - do it!

SoMa Throwdown! Ted's Market Vs. Ak Subs. (Save The Deli Book Signing)

Hello to all my loyal Pastrami Subjects. I've been having a small case of the writer's block, but I'm finally ready to get a new post...it's been a month. What really got me back into the writing mood was a trip to Kansas City. While KC doesn't have any worthwhile pastrami - they do have another thing I adore - BBQ! I got to sample two places in the KC area - one was great and the other not so much. Oklahoma Joe's is located in a gas station in Kansas City, KS (not MO) - they had the best pulled pork I've ever had and the people were really cool. We talked a bit about the gas price differences between the Pacific Coast and the Midwest and how much I liked BBQ...he was so nice that he added some of that epic pulled pork to my cowboy dinner (which came with brisket, 2 ribs, and some sausage). If you're in Kansas City I highly recommend OK Joe's. The other spot I went was the oldest, probably most well-known BBQ spot in KC name - Gates and Sons BBQ. My boss made me promise him (He's a KU grad) that I would try the burnt end sandwich - sadly it disappointed and I longed for my Memphis Minnie's brisket in San Francisco - How ironic?! I featured Memphis Minnie's in a previous blog and I went there just last wednesday night with a group of friends and enjoyed their Reuben for a second time. I've seen the real deal and Memphis Minnie's in the city has better BBQ Brisket than anywhere I've ever tried- even a big BBQ town like Kansas City.


I have a very important announcement! On October 19th a book will be released to the public called "Save the Deli". It was written by my new personal hero - David Sax - a Jewish deli fan and Vanity Fair writer. He has his own blog at http://www.savethedeli.com/ and he was very nice to add my pastrami blog on his blog index. Please check out his website and I want everyone to get the book and come to the Berkeley book signing at Saul's Deli, 4 PM October 24th! I have a link of the event on Bay area yelp to help people remember http://www.yelp.com/events/berkeley-save-the-deli---book-reading-with-writer---david-sax , but it is also on the Save the Deli website along with other dates in different cities. You'll get a chance to meet the writer of Save the Deli and the opportunity to try Saul's wonderful deli food. I've been several times to Saul's and it's very good, but a little pricey. Expect to pay 20$ total for yourself to do it right! I'm looking forward to meeting David and creating new relationships with pastrami fans in the Bay Area.

My dad sent me a great link yesterday from an interview with Current, soon to retire, Los Angeles Chief of Police. He was also Police chief in NYC for many years. He said straight up, "Los Angeles has better Corned Beef Sandwiches than NYC" and that he would try to get sandwiches from Langer's Shipped to New York. http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2009/10/what_bratton_will_really.php How about them apples NYC? although from reading some of Save the Delis blogs - I do see New York truly has Jewish "delicacies" like rolled beef or kreplach. I'm still prideful of Langer's and the Los Angeles pastrami scene with truly is the best pastrami in the world - says New Yorkers transplanted in LA. Take this into consderation - I don't hear anyone moving from LA claiming Katz' mops the floor with Langer's, but I've heard the opposite a few times. one of them here http://www.epinions.com/review/Langer_s_Delicatessen_44825460/content_389117152900 another one quoting David Sax from an interview with Vroman's bookstore in Los Angeles. “Brace yourselves, New York, because what I am about to write is definitely going to piss a lot of you off, but it needs to be said: Los Angeles has become America's premier deli city. Wait…Stop…Put the gun down. It's true.” “The delis [in LA] are bigger, are more comfortable, and ultimately serve better food than any other city in America, including the best pastrami sandwich on earth. Los Angeles is both the exception to the rule of deli's inevitable decline and the example for the rest of the nation of how deli can ultimately stay relevant. If we are to save the deli elsewhere, we can learn a lot from LA.” So I guess I can put a stop to my search for greatest pastrami sandwich in the world...I mean David did the research and found that the place I KNOW is the best in LA to also be the best pastrami sandwich in the world - HOWEVER!!!!! I still think the refuge in San Carlos, CA might have outdone Langer's and is just not as well known on the scene because it's not really a Jewish Deli, but rather a pub that serves pastrami sandwiches. The Refuge doesn't have matzo soup or whitefish - but it does have the thickest tastiest pastrami I've ever had - including Langer's.



I celebrated my birthday the 19th of September with a lunch at Miller's - my favorite deli in the city. I got the grilled NY pastrami special with macaroni salad along with an order of potato pancakes. Potato Pancakes have a very special meaning to me. The tradition in my Polish family was to have Borscht on Christmas Eve and to have Potato Pancakes Christmas morning. I think I associate potato pancakes with opening Legos, Video Games, and other childhood memories (remember that bright shiny bike!?!?). They're so important to me that when asked on the yelp profile survey what my last meal would be - I made sure to say both a pastrami with potato pancakes on the side. The combo of the two for me is killer and something I will only do once in a moon. My 25th birthday is just such an occasion.

Alright so let's get down to business. I work in an area of San Francisco known as South of Market or SoMa. There are two sandwich places people swear by - Ted's Market or AK Subs - anything else is just meh. Both places have been known to have lines outside the door during peak lunch hour and both places pack a great value sandwich. So which place has the better pastrami for your 6$????



AK subs is located at Harrison and 8th in SoMA and you can see the big blue building from the 5th street exit coming from the Bay Bridge. You may have noticed the Hancock ad on the side of the building that was there for entirely too long after the movie bombed. I remember my friend Mike, who was working at another architecture office, walked by me one day on the street and said, "Dude, you ever tried AK - it's like SoCal Prices." He's another LA transplant and like me or any other person from LA who has moved to SF we notice the price gouge - especially when it comes to sandwiches and burgers (I'm looking at you Ike's sandwiches and BurgerMeister, with a vengeful eye and an empty pocket!). However AKs is refreshing. You can get a drink and a soda for a little more than 5 bucks and the sandwich is large and in charge. They have different soups daily, of which my favorite is the Potato Leek soup on Tuesdays...remembers Tuesdays! The pastrami sandwich at AKS is known as Tony's Hot Pastrami and comes with melted swiss cheese and a bread of your choosing. I got it on Rye of course.




The pastrami is very good. Nice color and a tasty flavor - quite impressive for a sub shop. However the yellow mustard and the rye bread aren't the bomb like some other spots. For around 7$ with a drink though, it's quite a value. If you order more than 10$ worth, AK subs will deliver during lunch time - good to know. Suggest it for your company meeting next time and get the pastrami. The lady behind the counter is very sweet and helpful (and cute to boot).

Ted's Market is located at Howard and 10th across the street from the Royal Motors VW/Audi shop. People come from the DPT (the ticket people) and other government agencies to get their sandwiches here. Once I talked to a guy from the MTA, who worked on traveling routes for San Francisco MUNI. I see cops in here regularly coming in to make their lunch breaks. I think when you see cops at a restaurant it normally means there is good food there....cops and old couple know where to eat. Ted's market was also featured in Will Smith's movie - The Pursuit of Happyness (I'm not spelling it wrong - watch the movie). There are pictures of Will Smith with the owner of Ted's and pictures of what the market looked like in the movie. I remember I was working at Virgin Megastore when they were filming the movie. If you lived in SF in 2004-2005, it was almost impossible not to run into them filming a scene from this or the Zodiac. I digress back to Ted's - this place is not a place to go if you want to get a sandwich FAST! The line always goes around the bend by the sodas - at least ten sandwiches away from you ordering. There is a reason people wait for their sandwich - it's the BOMB and hey look at it this way - at least you don't have to make an appointment for your sandwich like overrated Ike's. I ordered the steamed New york pastrami on Rye with Russian dressing and tomatoes for 5.25$ and it came out looking like this.



The Bread was pretty even between AKs and Ted's - neither one would be considered hot stuff by a true pastrami guru - it was just ok. However the Pastrami and Cheese on the Ted's pastrami tasted better. You can see the Swiss on the Ted's sorta melted into the bread because of the hot pastrami - it wasn't pre-melted like I'm guessing the AK subs pastrami they grill the Swiss on the pastrami when they hand it to you. I prefer the Ted's way. If you look at the pastrami, Ted's pastrami was a deeper color and definitely has more fat...meaning more flavor. Ted's also has better sides than AK's even considering their potato leek soup on Tuesdays. Ted's has mozzarella and tomato salad, Greek pastisto, macaroni salad, potato salad, and much more. On top of pastrami, they have tri-tip MWF, roasted pork T&TH, and roasted turkey everyday all day. If you're gonna get a lunch time pastrami in SoMa, I highly recommend Ted's over AK's subs.