Gunter's and Toast Eatery - Treyf's Announcement

Hey there pastrami fans. I have an awesome post for you this time. Fresh off the Save the Deli presses, I would like to announce the opening of a new Jewish deli in SF called "Treyf". Treyf means non-kosher, basically the way I like my sandwiches with Russian dressing and/or cheese is considered treyf - so I'm super excited that there is going to be another premier deli opening in this town. I'm not sure when/where they are going to open, but I will find out ASAP. I first read about it on Save the Deli, but you can check out Treyf's blog here. Tell them I sent you.



I did some great field work, making it down to the San Jose to try out the Jewish/German - Gunter's Restaurant. I rarely make it down to the South Bay, but I had business down there a few weekend's ago and I wanted to track down the best pastrami in town. I think I found something that may have mixed up my ratings for favorite Pastrami in the Bay Area (not to worry Refuge or Miller's - you're still 1 and 1a) - as the Gunter's New Yorker pastrami sandwich was pretty hard to argue with.

Gunter's New Yorker

Great Baked Goods...mmm Black & White Cookie

The pastrami was a bit thinner, than I normally like...that being said it had an excellent flavor and I know plenty of people who prefer their pastrami on the thinner side like Gunter's serves. The rye bread and pickle also had an excellent flavor...no component of this sandwich was the best ever - but putting it all together....the rye bread with the pastrami and Russian dressing - something magical happens...it becomes a delicious delicacy treat most people think they can only get in NYC. About half way through my meal - a gentleman seated on the other side of the deli exclaimed "That looks like a Katz's sandwich." I talked to him a minute, gave him my card as he was leaving he asked "So, How did it compare to Katz's" - the answer - comparable bread, thinner pastrami, but just as tasty. Next time you're in San Jose, stop by Gunter's and try it out...it's worth the visit (They also do catering).

Toast Eatery (Photo via Toast Website)

The last place I went for this installment was Toast Eatery - located on Church street close to 30th Street in the Noe Valley Neighborhood of San Francisco. This is one of my favorite neighborhoods in SF truth be told. Ever seen the movie Sister Act? St Paul's Church right down the street was featured in the movie as they transformed the posh Noe Valley neighborhood to look like a crime ridden community.

St. Paul's Cathedral - San Francisco

Toast features a pastrami sandwich (on a roll with mayo...some people might have a problem) or a "pulled" corned beef Reuben. I was interested to find out what the "pulled" corned beef looked like so I ordered the Reuben.

"Pulled" Corned Beef

The pulled corned beef had the consistency of chipped beef you eat on toast, but still had the lovely corned beef flavor instead of the cheap Stouffer's chipped beef flavor - it was just a bit different than hand sliced or machine sliced corned beef which is something I'm always intrigued to explore. It was a very good, unique Reuben sandwich - try it out if you're in the Noe Valley neighborhood anytime of the day as it sounds like they have an excellent breakfast menu as well. Can't wait to try the pastrami next time (perhaps not on a roll with mayo)!

August 28th is the anniversary of the pastrami blog...so it's been about 12 months since I've been breaking down pastrami like an organic compound for ya'll. It's kinda crazy when I look back on how far this blog has come - I've had a great time establishing myself as the Pastrami King of the Bay Area...and I've had countless pastrami sandwiches across various states....gotten many compliments from fans....and made a couple of friends along the way. I'm looking forward to keeping it going strong for another year!

Pearl's Kitchen, Ted's 2-way Combo, The LeBron.

Howdy Pastrami fans. Some bad news to start. I fell down running at the beach and fractured my wrist, going to be in a cast until July 21st. I've been eating some great food to make myself feel better...starting off with Pearl's Kitchen. I first read about Pearl's Kitchen in Save the Deli - here . Wow...a street vendor that specializes in home cured corned beef sandwiches...I'm intrigued. I started following Pearl's Kitchen on twitter and found out they would be serving up their special corned beef this past Saturday at an event called Outside in 5 - a food vendor street festival in the Dogpatch neighborhood.


I showed up at 5 PM on the dot to wait for the Pearl's stand to set up. The anticipation and excitement were high...many others started gathering for the food. Jon - one of the owners of Pearl's showed up, took out his rye bread, his mustard, and his hot trays of beautiful corned beef. He looked at my shirt which read "I heart Canter's Fairfax" and he said "you must be the pastrami guy." I talked with Jon for a minute about his business - he likes to use Prather Ranch meat for his corned beef, but doesn't always use them as a supplier. Jon would like to get a pastrami going soon, but he needs to get a smoker to smoke the pastrami. For now...he just has killer corned beef.

6$ for a half corned beef sandwich. Jon starts by slicing a piece of his home made rye and slathering the piece of bread which seems like to be too much mustard...but it's just the right amount. Jon then hand slices the corned beef, against the grain, with great precision. His corned beef slices are just the right thickness...very uniform..he's good with his knife. I took the half sandwich over to a nearby bench to examine the specimen.




The corned beef was a deep, ruby red - a good sign. I sank my teeth into the sandwich and smiled. It tasted exactly like it would at a deli....probably better. The rye bread had an excellent flavor...and the crust was a bit chewy like it's supposed to be. A superb home made rye. The mustard was sharp and tangy - just the way you want it to be for this type of sandwich. and the corned beef....i think it was some of the best corned beef I've ever had...almost brings tears to my eyes thinking about it now...it's simply marvelous. I also sampled a piece of the noodle kugel - still hot from the oven. It had a sweet cinnamon flavor with a consistency of eggs and noodles...a sweet treat. Check out Pearl's Kitchen on twitter to see where their cart we'll be set up, trust me you'll thank yourself for trying this gem.

Ted's 2-way Combo

I've been coming to Ted's market at Howard and 10th for a few years now. I know they have tri-tip on Mondays and Wednesdays....while they have pastrami every day. If you can get to Ted's market on those days before they run out of either meat you can order a half tri-tip, half pastrami. You could have it on rye, but it's pictured above with the baytastic Dutch Crunch. The stars have to align for you to get this sandwich...and to my knowledge - I'm the only one crazy enough to order it. Now you know about it and knowledge is power folks - get to Ted's and try their pastrami - it's one of the best in the city for under 10$.


Congrats to my Lakers for taking their 16th title....the 8th title since 1985. I think this win...the game 7 to become back to back champions while simultaneously avenging our loss to Boston 2 years ago, was the biggest win in Lakers franchise history. The Lakers have little to do with pastrami, but this is my blog and I get to gloat however I damn please on here. How empowering.

So what does the NBA have to do with pastrami? The "LeBron".

This is the biggest free agency market in NBA history....leading the pack of those looking for multiyear, multimillion contracts is super talented LeBron James. People have been speculating since 2008 that LeBron might be bound for NYC, as he is friends with Jay-Z and has been seen at various spots in New York sporting a Yankees cap. The Knicks are obviously one of the worst franchises in the league and the City sees LeBron as its basketball savior. People started making LeBron to NYC teeshirts, LeBron posters were seen all over the City...and of course - The Carnegie Deli offered a 5 pound, 1 foot tall sandwich called the LeBron MVP to honor the basketball star's impending arrival in the Big Apple. Just look at that sandwich for a minute folks....holy moly...the lettuce, cheese and tomatoes at the top of the rye bread just get lost amid the pounds of staggering, stacked-high meat. The best part of the article, is at the end when the owner of Carnegie, Sandy Levine, offered the winning patron another free LeBron sandwich...on the house, which he declined to take. Yeah that's the Carnegie....it's overdone in a great way...great sandwiches with great pastrami. The Carnegie is a must visit for me every time I go to NYC in the future. However, I don't think I'd like to give up Langer's and the Lakers....LA really has it going when it comes to pastrami and basketball. This little blurb will be really funny if LeBron decides to go to Chicago and eat Manny's with Obama instead of NYC. Only time will tell.

My last subject is a shout out to another food blogger. While roaming the outside in #5 event I met a man who reviews street vendors and street food. Very cool, San Francisco based food blog. Check out his photos on his blog and you'll notice a picture of a guy wearing the "I <3 Canter's" shirt. That's me still being the phantom of the deli, not showing my face. Check out roaminghunger.com. Very cool, unique food blog.

Thanks for reading my best post in months. I hope you had as much fun reading it as I did creating it! until next time...Pastrami King out.

The Phantom of the Deli - The Bay's Dutch Crunch

How goes it pastrami fans? I've been busy - with school and personal growth. Went on a diet for a little bit - gave up the rye bread and soda for a month and lost some weight. I'm hiding my face - a la Phantom of the Opera, until I feel ready to reveal the new me.The pastrami I have been enjoying has been a dinner plate with brown rice and veggies. The spots to get a pastrami plate in the Bay - Tommy's Joynt on Van Ness, Brennan's in Berkeley, and of course the Chicken coop - all locations...all these places hand slice their lovely, smoky pastrami right in front of you!

Did anyone catch the Food Wars episode on pastrami? They took the challenge to New York to put the 2nd Ave Deli vs Katz's Deli to find out which one would win a taste challenge to be deemed the best pastrami in NYC. Check out the teaser on youtube. My good friend and pastrami brother David Sax made a nice cameo as he declared the war between 2nd Ave and Katz's would be an epic battle of two heavyweights. Sax also had a great article on San Francisco Deli food where he proclaimed "The city is on the fringes of deli greatness." Read the article here. It leads into an article from the Jweekly - a SF Bay Area Jewish magazine - with a nice story on the owners of Pearl's kitchen, which is a new food cart that serves corned beef/pastrami. The next event where they will be serving their meats will be June 26th at an event called Outside in #5...there are going to be many food vendors at the event from 6-11 - read about it on SF Weekly or RSVP on Facebook here.


I'd really like to give also give some props to my newest NYC blogger friend Brian Hoffman of Eat This - New York. Brian has been working really hard trying out all the corned beef and pastrami combo sandwiches in New York, while also taking on other foot categories such as pizza...although I have a sneaking suspicion his real true love is the smoked, cured meats. Check out his video where he went to Carnegie Deli and Katz's deli and also his great blog here.


My last topic - Dutch crunch. What is Dutch crunch? Dutch crunch is a type of bread made with sesame seed oil and rice paste that cracks while baking leaving a distinctive markings on the bread. It was first made in Holland, but it was called something different - tijgerbrood and in the UK - tiger's bread. If you're from San Francisco...odds are you've had a sandwich with Dutch crunch or you've at least been offered it as an option. I wonder how Tiger's bread in Holland stacks up to the Dutch crunch here in SF? This bread is selectively available in LA (I originally thought it didn't exist)...it's not available in NYC...It's something truly unique to the Bay Area, something we've taken and expanded upon. It's so widely available that deli men ask you in passé "Would you like sourdough or Dutch crunch." and people don't even blink...they don't even think "Hey, that's weird. I've never seen this bread outside of SF." A pastrami on Dutch crunch? Only if you live in the Bay.

San Francisco Magazine - No Beef with Pastrami

This post starts at the San Francisco International Airport. Have you tried to fly into or out of the Bay Area recently? I think I've been delayed the last four out of five times when dealing with this airport. They blame it on the fog bank...and while I can see their point...I find it completely hilarious that I can fly in or out of Oakland with no problems, while flights at SFO are being delayed down the whole board. I'm not sure there is a fix to this problem, but I have noticed the airport has gone completely downhill since Virgin America made the airport it's hub. Coincidence? I think not. Travel and Leisure ranked SFO as the 7th worst airport when concerning delays...I think it's up in 2010 from my personal experience.

I was planning to catch an 8:20 flight to Los Angeles on the evening of April 2nd - going down South to enjoy the Easter festivities. I showed up without an Ipod or a book - I totally failed on preparing media for my one hour flight - but it's just an hour right? Wrong. My flight was delayed until 10:20...and like I said this is like the fourth time in a row and I'm getting pretty sick of it. I decided to buy some magazines while I enjoyed my 12$ chicken salad sandwich from the Max's Café extension in the airport (yeah I know, but chicken salad is really good too!). I got some regulars...Sports Illustrated and National Geographic...as I was about to check out I passed the new San Francisco Magazine. It came out the day prior - the April issue - and promised to deliver the 40 sandwiches worth waiting in line for in San Francisco. My pastrami senses went up...this magazine normally features the new trendy spots to eat/drink in SF, but I've yet to see an issue dedicated solely to sandwiches.

Before I bought the magazine I thumbed through the pages extensively to see if they included pastrami in their search of the Bay Areas greatest sandwiches. I was pleasantly surprised when I got the page entitled "No Beef with Pastrami". Jan Newberry, writer for SF Mag, started the article with a soliloquy to the Bay Area's pastrami endeavors

"Like bagels and foldable slices of pizza, pastrami is one of those iconic New York foods that former residents of that city complain we don’t have here. The Bay Area still needs a decent bagel, and the pizza question may never be resolved—but when it comes to our four best pastrami sandwiches, former Gothamites can shut their pieholes and eat." That's right folks...we have pastrami sandwiches around here...and they're some of the best around - bar none! Check out the rest of the article, including other sandwiches to die for, here.


There were 5 sandwiches featured in the magazine - 4 pastrami and 1 corned beef - two of which (The Refuge and Wood Tavern) I have already reviewed and loved, but then there were two surprises in the Orson and the Spruce. I am really anticipating trying the house baked rye bread and the Orson and the Spruce pastrami has a smoked gouda with a red cabbage slaw. Towards the top of the article there was mention on the corned beef sandwich at the Sentinel which features either a classic Reuben or a corned beef with gruyère cheese. The Sentinel and the corned beef sandwich were mentioned in the top 100 things to eat in San Francisco before you die at #74 on the list and it is a favorite of people in the Financial District. However, it is rather hard to get to if you don't work around the area as there is no parking and they're only open weekdays till about 2:30 PM.

San Francisco makes some of the most appealing, interesting food in the nation and our pastrami sandwiches are fresh and exciting. The classic NY pastrami on rye is still in minds of the chefs, but they like to push the envelope in creating something uniquely San Francisco, uniquely Californian by adding such ingredients as a home baked rye bread, a special creamy cheese never thought to be compared with pastrami, or simply homemaking your pastrami - like the Refuge. The result is one of the most delicious, unprecedented pastrami scenes in the USA.

If you get to one of these places before I do, please leave a comment. I'd love to hear your thoughts! Click the interesting/funny/cool button I put at the bottom if you liked my writing. Don't forget to pick up your issue of San Francisco Magazine as well. Take care and enjoy the nice April weather!

Let's go Irish!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! The traditional meal on the Irish holiday is corned beef with cabbage, so it's only natural that they also have excellent pastrami at most of these tray-grabbing cafeteria style pubs. The examination of the Irish meat market in San Francisco has led me to a great revelation - I know where everyone gets their meat comes from. That's right...all the spots I visited buy their corned beef and pastrami from one spot in the city - Robert's Corned Meats.



I've walked by this building every weekday for the last two years - it's actually one block away from my work. One of the largest distributors of pastrami in the Bay Area had been operating under my nose, right by my work in SoMa at Bryant and 9th. I've paid some attention as I've walked by..."Hmm...that's awfully alot of beef brisket." I'd think to myself as I walked by a palette full of meat on my way to get a soda from the Shell station around the corner, but I've never actually had the gall to walk in the place...even though I knew at some point. I recently hooked up with Greg Dixon (the man behind the counter!) on facebook and I had the pleasure of speaking with him on location this past Thursday. It was by far one of the best conversations I've had about pastrami in the Bay Area.

The owner of Robert's Corned Meat is Jim Dixon AKA Corned Beef King of San Francisco (I dare not challenge his title). The Examiner had an article celebrating Robert's Corned Meat 100 year anniversay and Jim Dixon's unique corning method. Some of the success of the corning technique
he attributed to Hetch-Hetchy, the Bay Area's source of crystal clean drinking water. Greg, Jim's son is the man I went to for my pastrami blog answers. The place shovels out 10,000/lbs of meat per month which includes pastrami, corned beef, brisket - all top quality prepackaged meat. They have many different types of pastrami made from either the navel cut, the brisket cut, or the bottom round cut. Traditionally the navel cut is the most flavorful and most desired for pastrami while corned beef is normally made from the brisket "chest" cut which is naturally less fatty (we're talking relatively less), while the bottom round pastrami was a little new to me. Greg really broke it down for me who uses which type of meat at each of the big named Bay Area Irish restaurants and even added a few places I had been wondering about. "Bob Kantor of Memphis Minnie's came here looking for uncured navel cuts, but all out stuff is comes precured." I was excited when he mentioned the Lower Haight BBQ shack as I had been wondering how Mr. Kantor does his Wednesday only pastrami sandwiches and reubens. "Memphis Minnie's actually uses braised short ribs and then smokes them until the meat gets so tender it falls off." He even mentioned the Jewish style deli - Miller's East Coast Deli - the premiere pastrami spot in the city - "Miller's get their corned beef from us and in a pinch they'll use some of our NYC style pastrami, but most of the time they get their pastrami from Sy Ginsburg." Sy Ginsburg was featured in the Sax's book, Save the Deli, and supplies much of the greater Midwest with their corned meats. While I was talking with him a customer came in and bought a 5 pound cut of corned beef. Greg gave him some extra corning spices for the meat, which I thought was a nice touch. I left Robert's Corned meat armed with knowledge about the places I already loved - a truly great experience. Now let's get down to eating some pastrami!


The first place I visited was Lefty O' Doul's, which is right down the street from Union Square on Geary Street. The place opened in 1958 and features large wood paneling with pictures of old baseball starts lining the wall. None of them more featured than Joe DiMaggio himself.

Why the Yankee Clipper in San Francisco? Why not Willie Mays or Barroid Bonds? Not alot of people know that Joe D was actually born in Martinez, CA and went to high school in San Francisco. The first professional team he played for was a Pacific Coast League team named the San Francisco Seals, before he was eventually sold to Yankees for a handsome sum of 25,000$. You may have wondered why you've seen his picture around town or why the Giant's mascot is a seal - now you know!

When you walk in you grab a tray and order to the man at the counter who promptly takes out the pastrami and hand slices your pastrami. Lefty O' Doul's uses the Robert's Brand brisket cut pastrami, which has slightly less fat, but is still very flavorful. I got it on rye bread and enjoyed their pastrami with some mustard in the quiet dining room.

The pastrami came with lettuce and tomatoes on the side which i didn't really use. I just put some mustard on it and I was in heaven. As I was kinda spacing out towards the end of my meal I looked straight ahead and there she was - Marilyn Monroe - lit up with bright lights behind a pink curtain in the Seven Year Itch pose that infamously sent Joe DiMaggio into a jealous rage. The parody of the whole situation is something that is so San Francisco - which is somehow Dirty Harry and Jerry Garcia all at the same time.


For my next adventure I go across the Bay to Berkeley to visit one of my old favorites - Brennan's. Brennan's recently opened a new building just adjacent to their old location which stood for about 49 years as they recently celebrated their 50th anniversary in their new building. The new building has bigger televisions, better seats, and is right by next to the train tracks so you can see Amtrak trains passing by on their way to Sacramento. The old building had a certain charm and charisma of an old Irish pub that will never be matched by the new establishment which is brighter and more comfortable overall. I understand the move, but it doesn't mean I can't miss the old building.

The Old Brennan's

The New Brennan's

They're still the same trays!

My buddy Peter and I walked up to the meat cutter - he ordered first getting corned beef with cabbage with gravy all over it. I got a pastrami on rye with some mash potatoes. The meat man proceeded to hand cut our Robert's brand corned beef and Robert's lighter navel cut of pastrami.

The corned beef was juicy and succulent - it was a good night for the corned beef. The pastrami and Brennan's is my favorite of all the Irish spots I go to and this night was no change - top notch! It did cost a bit more money than the Lefty O'Doul's, but it was worth it!

The last place I visited for the Irish part of the blog was Tommy's Joynt at Geary and Van Ness. Tommy's Joynt has been around since 1947 and the first owner was Irish and went by the last name of Harris, but Greg at Robert's corned meat told me the owners are now Jewish. I'm not sure I consider Tommy's Joynt fully Irish - it's more a San Francisco Hofbrau with items on the menu such as grilled chuck steak sandwich, braised lamb shanks, and turkey sloppy joe's. However it was the day of the St. Patrick's day parade and most people were here decked out in green, ready for their famously good corned beef and cabbage.

World Famous Corned Beef

Founder of Tommy's Joynt

I went with three friends and everyone else got corned beef, except for me. I got the pastrami on rye again which was alot like the Lefty O'doul's brisket pastrami, very good for 5.50$ a sandwich. Peter came again and got the cheesecake, which I had a bit of - it was superb.

Pastrami and Coleslaw

Corned Beef on Sourdough - Cheesecake Upper Right

The sandwiches came with an au jus dip, if you wanted to make your pastrami and French dip it would be very easy to order on a french roll and use the au jus at your discretion. At the table there were two house mustard - a mild and a hot. The hot one clears your nasal passages - just a warning!

Geoff at The Refuge

Before I got to my Irish pastrami spots, I took my friend Geoff down to the Refuge in San Carlos. He wanted to try really good pastrami for the first time and I told him I would take him to the best. When he bit down in the perfectly sliced, perfectly smoke pastrami from the Refuge slathered in Russian dressing with a bit of Gulden's mustard he knew what it was all about. "It's so much better than the packaged stuff." Of course it is, the time and care Matt Levine takes into his pastrami is artfully mastered in his chique gastropub in the Peninsula. It's like going to a microbrewery - only for pastrami. Oh did I mention microbrewery - the guy has like 25 Belgian beers on the menu! I chatted with Matt a little bit about my NYC trip and he told me Carnegie under cooks their pastrami a slight bit because they sell so much of it - I couldn't really tell I liked it alot. He was surprised I said my Kat'z sandwich was a bit small, but after reading into it a bit more then next time I'm going to counter service and I'm tipping the guy cutting my meat like 5$ for a big one - and don't forget the pickle!

Toasted #19 - The Refuge

While writing this blog and self proclaiming myself SF Pastrami King, I've come to respect so of the true players in the pastrami game right here in the Bay Area. Jim and Greg Dixon of Robert's Corned Meats, Matt Levine of the Refuge , Robby Morgenstein of Miller's East Coast Deli, and Joe Sattler of Moishe's Pippic are truly deli men of the best kind - I thank you especially for making my pastrami just the way I like it!

Langer's on the Go, Miller's French Dip

I just came back from Southern California - man is the weather great out there. While I was in Chicago I saw a baseball field covered with ice, lifeless. February in Los Angeles, the sun was shining, the BBQ pits were filled with charcoal, and the baseball field was packed with softball players enjoying the rays....what a different world. The East Coast simply hates to hear about it - yes we're relaxing by the pool while you're shoveling snow. Keep on rooting for the Arizona Bay - if you're an LA hater. True LA locals and those that have been introduced to LA in a proper manner know the City of Angels to be a genuine thriving metropolis, with unending recreational possibilities. Some of my favorites things about LA include the beaches, the Lakers, and Langer's.

Pack of Pastrami

I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get any pastrami in on my vacation there. Saturday was the LA food festival, where many food trucks were parked in a row in a small lot in Downtown LA for foodies to enjoy, including Fresser's - a pastrami wielding food truck. My dad and I showed up to the event only to find a huge line - 2 hours just to get in the place...on top of that you only got small samples of the food from each truck - not full portions...boo. We left and tried to head to Langer's, which was also packed. It was the first nice weekend in a long time and people were out - the long wait at Langer's didn't seem appealing. I told my dad "Father's Office would be great too." which is a place that serves gourmet burgers along the lines of a Paragon/Zuni burger in SF. They had no wait and we enjoyed our burgers outside in the sunshine. When I woke up the next morning, I found out my dad had been busy while I was sleeping and picked up a Langer's to go pack! I was familiar with this pack, not because I've seen it, but because I read about it an article by the website Serious Eats - NY.

Heating Instructions

I was happy to find out my dad had procured a whole loaf of Langer's double baked rye bread - it's killer bread. "You know how they give them to you?" my dad asked me. "They put loaves that are almost the size of 2 loaves of bread on a large rack, this is actually about half of a loaf." The bag looked pretty full to me. The Serious Eats article declared "that the source of Langer's superiority (over Katz's) was its double-baked rye". I was surprised by the lack of quality of the bread at some of the NYC Delis I visited. Langer's, Canters, Brent's, Nate n' Al's, all the LA heavy hitters, have heavenly rye bread. My friend Peter said to me "You know what you are almost more than a pastrami expert - you're a bread snob." He's probably right - I loathe the bread at Saul's in Berkeley and I love it at Miller's East Deli. It's a very simple matter of taste, with a crispy crust, this article sums it up pretty well and Save the Deli supports my claim saying "most of the rye bread at delicatessens around America is not worth the effort it takes to chew. Of all the ryes I tasted in my global research into Jewish delicatessens, none were more disappointing than the supposedly legendary New York rye." Many people tell me "Oh I don't like rye bread - it's bland and I don't like the seeds" and so on and so forth. The level of difference between a proper double baked rye and a regular rye is like comparing pastrami to spam. There is a BIG difference. I took the Langer's bread we had left over in the plane back with me and enjoyed it for several days..I think there might be one piece left in the fridge - but it's not what it once was.

Russian Dressing and Tomatoes - Langer's #29

Pastrami Service

#29 W/o Bread

My President's Day Sandwich

We sat outside on the patio and enjoyed our pastrami while humming birds buzzed above our heads. Poor Sue is allergic to gluten and had the pastrami without bread, poor Sue! They tasted pretty darn close to the real Langer's sit down - which is as always excellent, if not the best.

Jessica and I Love Our Cel-ray Sodas

I took some friends to Miller's in SF today for their very first pastrami experience. When I walked in I watched the meat cutter doing his work. He grabbed a big piece of pastrami - like a 5 pound cut - and took a knife to the center of it hand slicing the middle, yellow, fatty part of the pastrami that would ruin the sandwich if put in the slicer. He then put the pastrami into the slicer and made a nice sized pile of pastrami to go on the next sandwich. My friends Jessica and Rose were very excited when they saw the menu. "Do we have to order pastrami?" They asked me. I said the same thing Grandpa Ralph said to me when I was a young guy squirming in the booth at Langer's - "You'd be a fool not to get the pastrami."

Grilled NY Special - The Best Pastrami Sandwich in SF City Limits

Cheese Blintzes and Potato Pancakes

The Elusive Pastrami Dip - IN SF!

Philly Cheesesteak

I started by ordering everyone cel-ray sodas. They came in bottles, which is only in California for some strange reason, everyone else has cans. They actually had been miscapped with caps that read "ginger ale"...how odd. Everyone liked the cel-ray soda from the start this time around! For appetizers we tried the Cheese blintzes and the Potato Pancakes. The pancakes were out of this world good with sour cream and apple sauce on the side. They were very crispy and had the feel of a human formed pancake. I liked the cheese blintzes, but my guests thought they were a bit too sweet. Perhaps I should have fooled them into eating the derma or kishke without telling them what it is - next guest that comes with me and lets me order for them is in trouble. When my friend Jessica looked at the monstrous menu she noticed they had pastrami French dips. I was looking for this type of sandwich in SF and it was right under my nose - I was always looking away from the French Dip section because it's not really my thing - especially at Miller's. Her pastrami dip was pretty good! When I tried it she reminded me "You have to dip it!" handing the au jus over emphatically. My sandwich was superb as always. The Grilled NY special at Miller's is a true work of art, but I try not to get it for takeout because it tends to fall apart in transit. If you're going to order take out from there - order a regular pastrami sandwich or the Chief (half pastrami, half corned beef) - the bread sticks together better when it hasn't been slathered with coleslaw after being toasted. Jessica ordered her pastrami dip 2 reasons - she loves French dips and she hates rye bread (or at least that's what she said before we sat down). She took the last quarter part of my grilled NY special, the part the had the crispy, grilled Miller's rye bread crust. She was flabbergasted when she tried it "I should have followed your lead." she said after trying the last little corner my sandwich. "So how was that rye bread?" I asked her. She just made a face and said "Well, that was an especially good rye." Robby Morgenstein has told me that he gets his bread from somewhere in New Jersey, so I know there is good rye somewhere on the East Coast. I'll have to ask them specifically where they get their rye bread from next time. I've also read that Zingerman's in Ann Arbor, Michigan has legendary Jewish rye bread that you can order online. If you can't make it to LA, you can still get Langer's rye and pastrami overnight. So, if you dislike rye bread, I really urge you to try some of the best before you decide completely against it! I've tried pastrami many ways now, and the best way to have it is with good company, on rye bread, with a Dr. Browns soda of your choice.