Katz's Deli

Phone: (212)-254-2246 and (212)-254-2247
Fax: (212)-674-3270

Web Site: http://www.katzdeli.com

Before I went to The Not-Really-Semi-Annual New York Everything Gathering (tm) to see Yossarian, I went to this place for a snack before the party in his apartment. When you first go to Katz's Deli, you receive a ticket in the entrance, in which is is used to track how much you will have to pay for the food. Unlike a run-of-the-mill restaurant, you don't just order and receive your food. You can have waiter service if you want, but the best thing to do in here is when you take a tray, go up to one of the different cooks and ask them for something like a hamburger, a plate of French Fries, or a bowl of Matzoh Ball Soup. That's when the cook marks down how much you will pay for the food. I got my snack (a bowl of soup, and the fries), and I paid seven-odd dollars. Well, I like this place. I'm surprised how much of a roast beef sandwich I can get when I order one, and the fact that I can finish it!

The atmosphere is old-school. You see all kinds of people in Katz's Deli. Well, you'll also see the pictures of celebrities like U.S. President Bill Clinton, a picture of Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker with a big salami from the shop. If you have seen the movie When Harry Met Sally with Meg Ryan's faking an orgasm scene, that scene takes place in the same deli.

Katz's Deli is one of my places to go if I'm hankering for dinner in the lower East Side. If you're going for something meaty that will fill the stomach quick, this place is where it's at.

On the other hand, there's the Katz's in New York City at the corner of Houston and 1st Ave. It too is a kosher-style deli, not actually kosher; however unlike the one in Austin, Texas, it's not open 24 hours, and the food is very good.

They have a weird system of paying where you get a ticket as you enter, then get your food from the counter and they mark the ticket as you go. When you're done, you bring the ticket to the exit and pay.

You used to be able to bribe the staff there to give you even better food (leaner corned beef, more french fries, etc.), by slipping them quarters with your ticket, but that was years ago, when quarters were worth something - not sure that it still works.