Serious Eats New York: The Great Pastrami Taste-Off: Katz's in New York vs. Langer's in Los Angeles

15 January 2010

Famed food columnist and reviewer Ed Levine has published part 1 of his two-part "Great Pastrami Taste-Off" pitting Katz's of New York and Langer's of Los Angeles. Who will win this incredibly important showdown?! Read on for the introduction:

Ever since I wrote my pastrami story for the New York Times a few years ago, I've wanted to conduct a taste test between Katz's Delicatessen in New York and Langer's Delicatessen in Los Angeles. Why? Many reasons, actually. I never tasted them side by side for that story. Nora Ephron opined on the record in the New Yorker that Langer's served the best pastrami sandwich in America. Jonathan Gold stated categorically that Los Angeles has a far superior deli culture to New York's. David Sax said the same thing in his book, Save the Deli.

So aiming to settle this East Coast vs. West Coast rap-style pastrami controversy, we decided to conduct a definitive pastrami taste test. And we invited the Los Angeles apologist herself, Nora Ephron, to participate. She graciously accepted, in record time.

Who wins part one? Click here to read the article and find out!

Photo credit: Carey Jones / SeriousEats.com