From a true Friend of Langer’s Elina Shatkin comes this cool list of “LA’s best New York-style delis” list from LATimes.com – here are the top 5:
1.Langer’s Deli
2. Brent’s Deli Northridge
3. Brent’s Delicatessen & Restaurant
4. Junior’s
5. Factor’s Famous Deli
On Wednesday, January 13, 2010, the Los Angeles Times published a page-one profile of two of Langer’s servers who also work part-time at Canter’s Delicatessen entitled “Double-dipping waiters sandwiched between two delis” by Robert Faturechi.
Langer’s Delicatessen-Restaurant enjoys an excellent relationship with The Los Angeles Times, having been profiled and chronicled in innumerable accounts over our nearly 63-year history.
While we were generally pleased with the presentation of our hard-working, valued servers, the article described our location as being “surrounded by drug dealers and vendors selling fake IDs,” which not only misrepresents the MacArthur Park neighborhood but denigrates our many neighbors who work to bring a new vibrance to the area.
Worst of all were unfortunate misquotations of Norm Langer which suggest he harbors negative thoughts about Canter’s Delicatessen and the Canter family.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Everyone at Langer’s has nothing but respect for Canter’s – along with all the Jewish delicatessens here in the Southland. As David Sax noted in his recent book “Save the Deli,” Los Angeles is unique for our cohesive family of delis, which he calls the best in the world. Our collective reputation is high because of the great efforts made by every Los Angeles delicatessen to serve the best food, with the best service possible, for every single customer. And in our book, Canter’s is a leading and unique member of the Los Angeles Jewish deli family, period.
We are disappointed that this otherwise interesting article contained such misquotations, including the particularly egregious “they [the Canter family] don’t talk to me…most of them don’t like me. I’m the guy getting all the publicity.”
Everyone at Langer’s Delicatessen-Restaurant, from the owners to the managers and the employees, works hard to build and maintain the respect of our customers and the community. We are saddened that such a misquotation would be published and disparage our positive relationship with Canter’s Delicatessen and the Canter family.
We hope this sets the record straight.
– Norm Langer, owner, Langer’s Delicatessen-Restaurant
The Los Angeles Times has published an interesting story about Langer’s servers who also work at Canter’s on Fairfax. The story features two of our servers, Sal and Eva, and includes a mini-photo essay on Sal at work:
Salvador Lopez, a waiter at Langer’s, has the routine down pat. After a hectic lunch shift serving sandwiches on rye at the pastrami mecca next to MacArthur Park, he negotiates a series of surface streets — up Normandie, across Beverly — to make his way into the Fairfax district.
He beelines into the locker room of another renowned Jewish deli, shedding the signature Langer’s bow tie for a tight-fitting black T-shirt that reads: I ♥ Canter’s.
Lopez is not a delicatessen double agent, funneling trade secrets on Russian dressing and blintzes. The 29-year-old is one of several waiters who openly works at two of the delis that compete for the title of Los Angeles’ best.
Click here to read the complete story
Elina Shatkin of LATimes.com has great coverage on David Sax’s “Save The Deli” book which comes out in just a very few days:
“In the 1930s there were something along the lines of 1,500 kosher delis in New York,” Sax says. “Now, there are about two dozen in all of New York City. That’s an 80% to 90% decline. This has been echoed in other cities around the country.”
Yet Los Angeles delis have managed to thrive in a niche market. Acre for acre, Sax maintains that Southern California boasts “more delicatessens of higher quality, on average, than anywhere else in America.”
…
But Sax reserves his highest praise for Langer’s, near MacArthur Park — where the pastrami sandwich “encapsulates perfection at every turn”
Click here to read the complete story at LATimes.com
Langer’s is hosting an exclusive booksigning event with David Sax on October 28th – click here to sign up now for this limited availability event! The event includes lunch, a signed copy of David’s book (plus a chance to meet David), and a $10 Langer’s Gift Certificate for use on a subsequent visit to the restaurant.
Thanks to Google Alerts, we re-discovered this gem of a story on Langer’s written back in 1997 by Denise Hamilton for the Los Angeles Times. Here’s a sample:
LOS ANGELES — Al Langer, whose pungent pastrami on chewy rye is widely considered the best in Los Angeles, knows it takes more than a tasty sandwich to keep a delicatessen afloat for half a century.
In part, it’s a crapshoot, admits the 84-year-old patriarch of Langer’s Deli, which has seen good times and bad in the MacArthur Park neighborhood where he opened shop 50 years ago this month with $500 in his pocket.
But the scrappy New Jerseyite says it’s also a matter of knowing when to hold, what to fold and how to change with the times.
Take the deli’s location. As the once-prosperous commercial and residential Jewish neighborhood became filled with struggling Central American refugees, Langer held on, convinced that there would always be customers for his matzo brei, kippers and those fat, famous sandwiches.
Maybe so, but not at night or on Sundays anymore.
Langer’s gets a mention in today’s profile of LA’s two biggest bagel vendors, Brooklyn Bagel and Western Bagel:
Norm Langer, whose Langer’s Deli is across from MacArthur Park, says: “I can’t sell a sesame bagel in this neighborhood.” Brooklyn delivers his most popular bagels: onion, water and egg. Langer says bagel preferences reflect the change in his neighborhood since 1947, when the area was predominantly Jewish.
So says The Los Angeles Times’ Chris Erskine in a recent column on the diminutive size of Team USA’s Olympic gymnasts:
One question: Where exactly are the women in women’s gymnastics? I’ve got more meat on my thumb than most of these poor kids.
Here’s a tip: The No. 19 at Langer’s Deli — the warm pastrami, with a layer of coleslaw across the roof. Juicy as a steak, this pastrami. In fact, I’m sending these scrawny Tinker Bells some Langer’s right now, in honor of all their good work this week. Please tell Bela Karolyi to keep his fat paws off.
Former Los Angeles mayor and restaurant owner Richard Riordan gave an interview published in the LA Times today in which he is quoted as possibly assembling a landmark restaurant consortium – possibly to include Langer’s? Well, you decide:
…He’s played with the idea of putting together a group of landmark Los Angeles restaurants for a special co-operative marketing push. Besides the Pantry, he’d include Philippe, Musso and Frank, the Apple Pan, Pacific Dining Car and maybe Nate’n Al, “but their food is terrible. I guess I’d probably pick Langer’s before Nate’n Al’s.”
Thanks, Mr. Mayor! (We think!)