Katz is a Lower East Side institution has been around since 1888 and still going strong. When walking in you can feel the history, the walls are plastered with every celebrity and personality you can ever imagine, from Bill Clinton to Jerry Seinfeld. Mr. Clinton isn’t the only president to tuck into Pastrami on Rye, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan both stopped off at this NY joint in the past. The deli was made even more infamous for the Meg Ryans ‘I’ll have what she’s having orgasm’ scene in ‘Harry meets Sally’, they even have a sign in the deli pointing to where the incident happened. It was also the site of Johnny Depp’s character meeting with an FBI contact in Donnie Brasco.
The deli is always busy with locals and tourists alike, who upon entering are handed a ticket that the servers mark at each stall depending on what you eat. Upon exiting the cashier tallies up the total and off you go, a few pounds heavier and possibly a few days closer to a heart attack. The statistics are pretty bleek for NYS health; Katz’s serves 5,000 pounds of corned beef, 2,000 pounds of Salami and 12,000 hot dogs, that is definitely food for thought.
The Pastrami is out of this world.