Grub

I can't believe I've eaten two of these in as many days.
I'm pastramied out and bloated.
At Katz's you get a ticket when you go in and hand it over to the guys as you collect your food at a long row of counters. Ordering a pastrami sandwhich is a ritual of sorts;
You get in line in front of a "cutter", slide a $1 bill across a glass counter and the guy cuts your sandwhich from a steaming piece of meat,first giving you a little tidbit to chew on while he works away (that's where the buck comes in).
Its a fun and more interesting way to get your food than the waiter/waitress section of the place. Your bill is toted up at the cash register at the door.
No ticket, no exit.
If you lose your ticket they charge you $50.
It's a system that's been in place for over a hundred years. Famous to many as the venue for the "food orgasm scene" in "When Harry met Sally", there's a ton more interesting history to the place which makes it special. Check out the link in the earlier post for more on this awesome deli.
For gentler palettes another Lower East Side institution serving up all things fish is Russ & Daughters. I once spent a great last afternoon in New York in Tompkin's Square Park after collecting provisions from these two places.
But that's another story all together.



As you can see the Lower East side is as different from Midtown as you can get. It used to be the first stop for the various waves of immigrants into the city and up until fairly recently (the last 5 years or so) was considered to be one of the less desirable places to live with high crime rates and dirty streets. Today gentrification has changed all that and rent for a third floor studio walk up starts at around $1700 a month.


Its still a world away from Midtown though.

More downmarket in some eyes but more interesting in mine.

I'm sure purists will say its yuppified and lost it's edge and it probably has but I prefer to avoid crack addicts in areas where I get drunk.

Speaking of which, its time to head out again.

T