USC’s Two Block Around The Park Project: Langer’s Delicatessen Stands Apart

Robbie Heeger, a key member of the University of Southern California’s student journalism team responsible for the “Two Block Around the Park” project (documenting life in the MacArthur Park area, home to Langer’s Delicatessen-Restaurant), recently put together a comprehensive look at Langer’s Deli as part of his participation in the project (part of USC journalism professor Hernandez’s class). Robbie did a great job, and we’re proud to have been featured by him. He put together multimedia and interviews, and wrote a complete review of his experience at Langer‘s. Here’s just an excerpt:

Langer’s classical Judaic deli menu is as long as the arguments that can be overheard on a given Saturday afternoon. From potato pancakes and kishka – an Eastern European concoction of breading and chopped sausage – to matzo ball soup and of course, hot pastrami, Langer’s commands each dish on its menu like it’s grandmother’s cooking.

The pinnacle of this restaurant’s menu however, was not its fabled pastrami, but rather its arguably most simple dish: the French fries.

Simply put, they are perfect.

Jagged cut, golden brown, slightly crunchy on the outside and entirely too hot on the inside, the Langer’s Delicatessen French fries embody all that a fried string of potato should aspire to be.

Click here to listen to an audio interview with Trisha Langer.

CBS News Sunday Morning: Delis

Make sure you set your DVR to record CBS News’ Sunday Morning Program with Charles Osgood this weekend (Sunday, 11/21/10). The program will feature a discussion of the American deli, its past, present and future. Though primarily focused on New York delis, the west coast makes an appearance, as does Langer’s Delicatessen-Restaurant. So check it out this Sunday on your local CBS station (in Los Angeles, it’s KCBS 2).

Privy Los Angeles: Langer’s Deli

Lifestyle review site Privy Los Angeles has published a great review of Langer’s Delicatessen-Restaurant:

A true LA institution, Langer’s Deli is what makes the city stand out. Famous for its pastrami, this venue is hugely popular for its sandwiches. Its bread is the best you’ll find in a deli in Los Angeles and arguably better than the delis in New York including renowned Katz’s Deli. A hard crust with a soft center, it’s unbeatable. The luncheon meats are great. Seasoned to perfection the pastrami sandwich, on rye, with coleslaw, swiss cheese, and Russian dressing makes for an absolute perfect combination of flavors.

Click here to read the complete review and visit Privy Los Angeles

Foursquare Los Angeles: Langer’s Deli

We’re very excited about a new Venue Review that appeared on Foursquare Los Angeles for Langer’s Deli:

For over sixty years, Langer’s has been serving up mouth-watering delicatessen favorites to Angelenos and visitors.

Langer’s pastrami is in a league of its own. It is cut thick so you can actually taste the juicy morsels of marinated brisket that have just the right amount of fat lacing the peppery edges. The bread is also spectacular. The edges are oh so ever crisp while the body remains soft, yet hearty enough to support the generous servings of sandwich filling. The rye is subtle as to not overpower the sandwich. The creamy, cold cole slaw adds a crunch with a hint of sweetness, and the swiss cheese lightly chimes in with its nuttiness and slight bitterness. Finally, the Russian Style Dressing: it’s dressing done right.

LA Weekly’s Jonathan Gold: 99 Essential Restaurants

Langer’s Delicatessen-Restaurant is proud to be a part of the LA Weekly’s latest 99 Essential Restaurants list authored by Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic (and friend of Langer’s) Jonathan Gold.

Langer’s has finally become the institution it deserved to be all along: patronized by big shots, home to a radio show, beloved by the national food press, occupying a corner renamed Langer’s Square. It has become common knowledge that the late Al Langer was among the last of the great deli men, a guy who traced the contours of a properly steamed pastrami the way a great sushi chef does a fresh yellowtail….

…Bite into a Langer’s pastrami sandwich: thick slices of hand-sliced beef, glistening with peppery fat, as dense and as smoky as Texas barbecue; thick-cut seeded corn rye, hot, crisp-crusted and soft inside, with a slightly sour tang that helps tame the richness of the meat; a dab of yellow mustard as important to the whole as a sushi master’s wasabi. The fact is inescapable: Langer’s serves the best pastrami sandwich in America.

We are honored and humbled, Jonathan. The entire Langer family thanks you from the bottom of our collective heart.

Click here to read Jonathan’s complete review

Sheryll Bellman to speak in Pomona

America’s Great Delis author Sheryll Bellman will make a rare Southern California speaking appearance this weekend to discuss America’s deli culture at the Jewish Book Festival on Saturday evening at Temple Beth Israel in Pomona.

Sheryll is a big support of all things Jewish deli, and her book is one of the best on the subject (we even sell it here at the store).

For more information, click here to read the LA Times’ coverage of her upcoming event.

And if you attend the event, tell her hello from Langer’s Deli!

Personal Wine Buyer: Langer’s Deli

Tom Delorme of PersonalWineBuyer.com recently paid a return visit to Langer’s Delicatessen-Restaurant after a long break (we hope it was just because he was out of town). He had wonderful memories of the first visit, including our cabbage soup, so he wondered if his nostalgia for our quality was just sentimentality. His discovery?

Truth be told, it was better than last time. The bread’s crust was thicker — it was more like a shell than a crust — and of course the pastrami was delicious. My next trip I might just get a pastrami on rye with mustard — I can’t imagine it could get much better than that and the absence of cole slaw, cheese and dressing might be a better format to let the real stars of the sandwich shine. I left knowing that was one of the best sandwiches I have ever had — and perhaps at the very top of the list.

It’s a great article, and it includes a digest of Langer’s history.

Gourmet Pigs: An LA Pilgrimmage

The well-traveled and seasoned food reviewers at Gourmet Pigs recently paid their first visit to Langer’s Delicatessen-Restaurant. Two reviewers ordered; one got a #19 sandwich and the other a delicious pastrami platter (pictured). It’s a great review with excellent photography.

Upon first bite I understood why Langer’s is so popular. The pastrami itself was tender, smoky and peppery with just the right amount of fat that the thin slices retained both a great meaty flavor and an almost melt-in-your-mouth consistency. The cole slaw added a nice texture contrast between the tender pastrami and the chewy bread, though the swiss cheese was somewhat lost amongst everything.

Click here to read the complete article

Citysearch Blog: Bite This – Langer’s Deli

Food blogger Mar Yvette writing at the CitySearch Blog recently recounted her visit to Langer’s Delicatessen-Restaurant and took some great photos of our food while giving her appraisal of her first-ever Langer’s encounter:

Call me crazy, call me a charlatan, call me so-busy-checking-out-all-the-new-places-opening-up-in-LA-every-day-there’s-hardly-any-time-for-anything-else, but I had actually never stepped inside Langer’s Deli up until two weeks ago….

The pastrami is so tender it melts in your mouth, the bread is soft yet manages to keep it all together, and the slaw sweetly complements the dressing’s tang.

It was sensational.

 

An Immovable Feast: Langer’s Deli

Food blog An Immovable Feast recently visited Langer’s Delicatessen-Restaurant for the very first time, largely due to recommendations from friends and a mention from Jonathan Gold in the LA Weekly:

Like I wrote earlier, while I love good pastrami, I would not call myself an expert. But I have been to Katz’s and the Carnegie Deli in New York and Canter’s here in Los Angeles, and this sandwich from Langer’s was the best pastrami I have ever had.

The story has terrific photography and the entire piece is well worth reading. Click here to check it out.