Carnegie Deli | |
---|---|
Restaurant information | |
Established | 1937 |
Closed | December 31, 2016 |
Food type | Jewish delicatessen |
Dress code | Casual |
Street address | 854 7th Avenue |
City | Manhattan, New York City |
State | New York |
Postal/ZIP Code | 10019 |
Country | United States |
Coordinates | 40°45′51″N73°58′53″W / 40.7641°N 73.9813°W |
Website | www |
The Carnegie Deli was a Jewish delicatessen, formerly a chain, based in New York City. Its main branch, opened in 1937 near Carnegie Hall, was located at 854 7th Avenue (between 54th and 55th Streets) in Midtown Manhattan. It closed on December 31, 2016. [1] [2] There is one branch still in operation at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, and the deli still operates a wholesale distribution service. [note 1]
The Parker family's delicatessen was in its third generation of owners. Among the United States' most renowned delis, it was operated by a second-generation owner, Marian Harper Levine.
The restaurant offered pastrami, corned beef, and other sandwiches containing at least one pound (450 g) of meat, as well as traditional Jewish fare such as matzoh ball soup, latkes, chopped chicken livers, and lox. The restaurant also offered other, non-Jewish food such as ham, sausage, and bacon. Available for order were cheesecake portions of over one pound (450 g) per serving. The restaurant's motto was: "If you can finish your meal, we've done something wrong." In addition to the large servings, the restaurant was also known for its surly waiters, who allegedly tried to impart some of the stereotypical gruffness of New York to visitors.
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Leo Steiner (c. 1939 – December 31, 1987) was a Jewish American restaurateur who was co-owner of the first Carnegie Deli, located at 55th Street and Seventh Avenue in Midtown Manhattan near Carnegie Hall. While his partner, Milton Parker, mostly worked behind the scenes, Steiner worked the crowd with his Jewish humor in the restaurant, which became a destination for both celebrities and tourists in the theater district. Steiner was born in Newark, New Jersey. He worked in his parents' grocery store in nearby Elizabeth, New Jersey, where he grew up. The one-time owner of Pastrami & Things, a delicatessen located at Third Avenue and 23rd Street, he joined Milton Parker and Fred Klein in 1976, purchasing the Carnegie Deli from the trio of Bernie Gross, Max Hudas and Thomas North. Klein, who had not been actively involved in running the business, dropped out shortly thereafter.
Under the management of Parker and Steiner, the deli became known nationwide, attracting celebrities such as Woody Allen, Jackie Mason and Henny Youngman, and opened branch locations in Atlantic City, New Jersey; Secaucus, New Jersey; and Tysons Corner, Virginia. Steiner became the public face of Jewish food, appearing in a television commercial for rye bread. He created a 60-pound (27 kg) Statue of Liberty carved from chopped liver, complete with a torch fashioned from a turkey wing, for the United States Bicentennial and was asked to prepare corned beef and pastrami for visiting heads of state attending the G7 economic summit meeting held in 1983 in Williamsburg, Virginia. Portions of Woody Allen's 1984 movie Broadway Danny Rose were filmed in the restaurant.
Milton Parker, who died in 2009, had written a book (with Allyn Freeman) called How to Feed Friends and Influence People: The Carnegie Deli, providing the history of the family's ownership.
On April 24, 2015, the main Midtown Manhattan branch of Carnegie Deli was closed temporarily due to the discovery of an illegal gas line in the restaurant. Con Edison was investigating the incident, [4] later fining the eatery $40,050. [5] On July 28, 2015, Carnegie Deli was subsequently closed for upgrades to its gas lines. [6] The deli reopened on February 9, 2016. [7] [8]
On September 30, 2016, it was announced that the Midtown Manhattan branch of the deli would close by the end of the year. The owner, Marian Harper Levine, stated that she needed a more permanent break from operating the restaurant, saying, "At this stage of my life, the early morning to late night days have taken a toll, along with my sleepless nights and grueling hours that come with operating a restaurant business in Manhattan." [5] Two branches in Las Vegas, Nevada and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania remained open, as well as the wholesale distribution service. [5]
At midnight on December 31, 2016, Carnegie Deli on Seventh Avenue closed after almost eighty years of service.
In 2011, Carnegie Deli opened a storefront within Madison Square Garden. [9] [10] After the closing of the Seventh Avenue location in 2016, this location became the last physical Carnegie Deli location in New York.
The Bethlehem location closed at the end of 2017. [11] [12] For one week in December 2018, Amazon Prime worked with the owners of the Carnegie Deli and Eddie Fahmy from A2z Restaurant Consulting, a New York based consulting firm to bring the restaurant back to life on Lafayette Street in the Nolita section of Manhattan as a pop-up restaurant in celebration of the second season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel . There were more than 6,000 reservations taken to dine-in with servers in period attire. Food was offered at 1958 prices and all purchases were made as suggested donations to charity. [13] In May 2019, Amazon Prime with A2Z brought Carnegie Deli back again, this time as a food truck which travelled around Manhattan for three days giving out sandwiches and cookies for free in order to help promote The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. [14] The Las Vegas location closed in 2020.
This section needs additional citations for verification .(October 2016) |
The deli's corned beef and pastrami, celebrated by smoked meat connoisseurs nationwide, were cured in the store's cellar using Steiner's own recipe in a two-week-long curing process. The Carnegie Deli used a half-ton of brisket to prepare a week's supply of corned beef by the time of his death. Steiner admitted, "You could eat it after seven days, but if you wait until the 13th you're in heaven." The Carnegie Deli was the favorite hangout of comedian Henny Youngman, and Adam Sandler included a reference to the deli in "The Chanukah Song" in 1996. Steiner was eulogized by Youngman as "the deli lama."
The walls of the deli were nearly completely covered with autographed pictures of celebrities who had eaten there. Menu items were named after famous patrons, including a corned beef and pastrami sandwich named after Woody Allen after the deli served as a filming location for Broadway Danny Rose. A number of items on the menu featured Broadway themes and Yiddish vocabulary, including such dishes as "nosh, nosh, Nanette" (after the musical "No, No, Nanette") and "the egg and oy" ("The Egg and I"). There were also some humorous items in the menu, such as the famous liver sandwich named "50 Ways to Love Your Liver" after the Paul Simon song "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover." It was a place frequented by many reporters in the city, including staffers from Black Rock (aka the CBS Building) such as Bob Simon.
In March 2012, the deli introduced a sandwich dedicated to newly arrived New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow. The sandwich, named the "Jetbow", was priced at $22.22, weighed in at 3.5 lbs and consisted of corned beef, pastrami, roast beef, American cheese, lettuce and tomato on white bread. [15]
In 2021, Carnegie Deli announced a collaboration with comedian Mel Brooks, in which the deli offered specialty foods to complement Brooks' memoir, All About Me! [16]
The deli opened several branch locations in the 1980s, including two New Jersey branches in Secaucus and Atlantic City and one in the Washington, D.C. suburbs in Tysons Corner. [17] However, most of these branches have since closed and are no longer in operation. One, in Beverly Hills, California, was financed by oil billionaire Marvin Davis and designed by restaurant designer Pat Kuleto at a cost of $4 million to be the "best deli in the world", in response to Davis' complaint that the delis in California were not as good as those in New York. [18]
The deli operated a second location on the Las Vegas Strip, which opened at the Mirage in 2005. The Las Vegas location closed a few weeks prior to February 9, 2020. A third location opened in 2006 at the Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey and served as the "healthy choice" restaurant at the park; however, the menu was smaller and only had the restaurant's most popular items. The fifth location was at the Sands Casino Resort in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. It opened on November 22, 2009, and closed at the end of 2017. [11] [12]
In addition to the retail operation, the restaurant sells cheesecakes and merchandise such as T-shirts and baseball caps online.
In March 1979, Mimi Sheraton penned a New York Times newspaper review that rated Carnegie Deli the "Tops" in pastrami and corned beef preparation and taste. Sheraton wrote "The generous sandwiches of both corned beef and pastrami are simply wonderful." [19]
In 2013, Zagat gave it a food rating of 23, and rated it the 8th-best deli in New York City. [20]
In 2012 USA Today called the restaurant the "most famous" deli in the United States. [21]
Pastrami is a type of cured meat originating from Romania usually made from beef brisket. The raw meat is brined, partially dried, seasoned with herbs and spices, then smoked and steamed. Like corned beef, pastrami was originally created as a way to preserve meat before the invention of refrigeration. One of the iconic meats of Eastern European cuisine as well as American Jewish cuisine and New York City cuisine, hot pastrami is typically served at delicatessen restaurants on sandwiches such as the pastrami on rye.
Katz's Delicatessen, also known as Katz's of New York City, is a kosher-style delicatessen at 205 East Houston Street, on the southwest corner of Houston and Ludlow Streets on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City.
Canter's Deli is a Jewish-style delicatessen, opened in 1931 in Boyle Heights, and later moved to the Fairfax District of Los Angeles, California, near the border of West Hollywood. It has been frequented by many movie stars and celebrities.
The Second Avenue Deli is a certified-kosher Jewish delicatessen in Manhattan, New York City. It was located in the East Village until December 2007, when it relocated to 162 East 33rd Street in Murray Hill. In August 2011, it opened a second branch at 1442 First Avenue on the Upper East Side. In November 2017, it opened a cocktail lounge called 2nd Floor above its Upper East Side branch.
Shopsy's is a Jewish delicatessen restaurant chain in the Greater Toronto Area and a brand name owned by Maple Leaf Foods for a line of meat products. Originally a deli in the former Toronto Jewish area on Spadina Avenue from 1921 to 1983, it moved to Toronto's entertainment and business districts on Yonge and Front Streets in 1983. In the late 1940s, the business expanded into the production of deli meat products for both the home and business markets. Today, the main Deli is located at Toronto's Sheraton Centre and Maple Leaf Foods continue to sell Shopsy's branded hot dogs.
The Stage Deli, located on Seventh Avenue just two blocks from Carnegie Hall, was a well-known New York City delicatessen, patronized by numerous celebrities. It was first opened in 1937 by Russian-Jewish immigrant Max Asnas. The deli was known for Broadway-themed dishes including the "Mamma Mia!" sandwich. It had other menu items named for the celebrities who had dined there, including Sarah Ferguson, Adam Sandler, Dolly Parton, Martin Short, and Ron Blomberg.
Kenny & Zuke's Delicatessen was a Jewish delicatessen in Portland, Oregon serving primarily non-kosher foods. The restaurant closed permanently in November 2023.
Milton Parker was a co-owner of the Carnegie Deli, located at 55th Street and Seventh Avenue next to Carnegie Hall in the New York City borough of Manhattan, serving as the behind-the-scenes preparer of towering pastrami sandwiches while his partner Leo Steiner was the tummler who entertained celebrities, locals and tourists.
Leo Steiner was an American restaurateur who was co-owner of the Carnegie Deli, located next to Carnegie Hall at 55th Street and Seventh Avenue in the New York City borough of Manhattan. While his partner, Milton Parker, mostly worked behind the scenes, Steiner worked the crowd with his Jewish humor in the restaurant, which became a destination for both celebrities and tourists in the theater district.
The roast beef sandwich is a sandwich that is made out of sliced roast beef or sometimes beef loaf. It is sold at many diners in the United States, as well as fast food chains, such as Arby's, Rax Roast Beef, and Roy Rogers Restaurants. It is sold in many pubs in the UK and at festivals. This style of sandwich often comes on a hamburger bun and may be topped with barbecue sauce and/or melted American cheese. The roast beef sandwich also commonly comprises bread, cold roast beef, lettuce, tomatoes, and mustard, although it would not be uncommon to find cheese, horseradish, fresh/powdered chili pepper and even in some cases red onion. Roast beef sandwiches may be served hot or cold, and are sometimes served open faced.
Montreal-style smoked meat, Montreal smoked meat or simply smoked meat in Quebec is a type of kosher-style deli meat product made by salting and curing beef brisket with spices. The brisket is allowed to absorb the flavours over a week. It is then hot smoked to cook through, and finally is steamed to completion. This is a variation on corned beef and is similar to pastrami.
Brent's Delicatessen & Restaurant is a Jewish deli and restaurant located in Northridge, California. The restaurant was opened in 1967 and purchased by Ron Peskin in 1969 for $1700. The deli has expanded to a second location in Westlake Village, California.
Pastrami on rye is a sandwich comprising sliced pastrami on rye bread, often served with mustard and Kosher dill pickles. It was popularized in the Jewish delicatessens of New York City and has been described as New York's "signature sandwich". It was created in 1888 by the Lithuanian immigrant Sussman Volk, who served it at his deli on Delancey Street in Manhattan.
American Jewish cuisine comprises the food, cooking, and dining customs associated with American Jews. It was heavily influenced by the cuisine of Jewish immigrants who came to the United States from Eastern Europe around the turn of the 20th century. It was further developed in unique ways by the immigrants and their descendants, especially in New York City and other large metropolitan areas of the northeastern U.S.
A Jewish deli, also known as a Jewish delicatessen, is a store that serves various traditional dishes of Jewish cuisine, mostly Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine. Known for their robust sandwiches, such as pastrami on rye, they also specialize in traditional Jewish diaspora soups and other ethnically rooted dishes. As retail delicatessens, most also sell a selection of their products such as sliced meats by the pound, prepared salads, pickles, and offer dine-in or take-out.
Manny's Cafeteria and Delicatessen, commonly known as Manny's Deli and sometimes known as Manny's Coffee Shop & Deli, is a delicatessen in Chicago, Illinois, United States, located in the Near West Side community area. It has been described as "the biggest, best-known, and oldest deli in the city". The deli has long been a meeting place for Chicago politicians and became the subject of national interest because of its popularity with President Barack Obama. One writer called Manny's "the second-most-likely place to see local politicians, after City Hall", and former governor George Ryan referred to it in his memoir as "one of my favorite places to eat lunch in Chicago" and reminisced about once receiving a phone call from Nelson Mandela while eating a corned beef sandwich there.
Kornblatt's Delicatessen was a Jewish deli in Portland, Oregon. The business operated from 1991 to March 2023.
Sarge's Delicatessen & Diner is a Jewish deli and kosher style restaurant in Manhattan. It was opened in 1964, on Third Avenue in Murray Hill, by Abe Katz, a retired New York City Police Department sergeant. Eater NY named it one of the 19 Vital Jewish Delis in NYC.
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