What I Ate: February 22, 2008

At lunch, we went to the Carnegie Deli to try their famous pastrami. We didn't know what to expect except sandwiches that featured so much meat that it was unlikely anyone would be able to eat the whole thing. We ordered a Woody Allen (half corned beef and half pastrami) and the first thing that struck us was just how flavorful the pastrami was. It wasn't overly salty, in fact the salt level was quite low and mild and you can really taste the spices they use - but not enough to discern them individually. It was some good pastrami. The pastrami was so good in fact that eating the corned beef became out the question. When there's so much pastrami, why both with the corned beef?

I do believe that if they didn't give out monster sandwiches, then they would have less business. It's part of the gimmick and the touristy nature of the place. I spoke to the current owner, Sanford Levine, and he suggested that I visit the production plant the next time I'm in town. I'll do that for sure and see if I can get an article out of that!

Oh, we also followed up our meal with a strawberry shortcake which was a bit to rich (the heavy cream filling) so we left most of the filling.

And, I had a New York Style Egg Cream (seltzer water, milk, and chocolate syrup - no eggs in it) for my beverage. It wasn't all that special - just tasted like a watered down milk shake with way too much Hershey's syrup.

The wait staff was also very curt, but extremely efficient. We were seated rapidly, served quickly, and checks were computed as the waiter stands there and right before they inform you "pay at the cashier, leave the tip on the table". No problem!

Carnegie Delicatessen (Google Maps)
854 7th Ave
New York, NY 10019
(800) 334-5606

For dinner, we tried to go to Hagi - a Japanese restaurant that came highly recommended by Dave Lu. I had looked on Yelp in the morning, so I knew it was near Rockefeller Plaza, so we walked over to that area around 6pm. When we got there, I just couldn't find it, so I used Google on my mobile phone to get the address which it reported as 152 49th St., New York, NY. I still couldn't find it. So, I punched that address into Google Maps and it said we were on the wrong side of 5th Ave! It showed 152 E 49th St. after I hit search on Google Maps. So, we started walking - quickly. By the time we got past Lexington and reached 3rd, I knew something went terribly wrong. There was a 150, but clearly no 152. I called the number Google had given for Hagi and the woman who picked up said they were across from Rockefeller Plaza (which is not really true - they are a block from Rockefeller Plaza) underneath some Japanese restaurant. 152 W 49th St! Google Maps for Windows Mobile! How could you fail me at such a time! By now we were concerned about time since we had a theater show to go to, so we jumped on the subway and headed to the theater district.

After picking up our tickets at will call, we swung into a Subway to quickly eat before our show (Phantom of the Opera). I had a sandwich not available in our California Subways - Buffalo Chicken. At first it was just spicy and sour (from the vinegar in the hot sauce), but after I had them squirt some Ranch dressing (they didn't have any bleu cheese that I could see) on it, it was quite good. I wish we had this in our Subways.