Katz's – thirty days of brine on the Lower East Side

At the corner of Houston and Ludlow Streets, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Katz's Delicatessen has been carving meat for New Yorkers since two brothers named Iceland opened a small storefront there in 1888. Willy Katz bought into the business in 1903 and the shop was renamed Katz's by 1910, moving across the street to its present corner during the construction of the subway and gaining the storefront facade it still wears between 1946 and 1949. It is a deli in the old sense: a ticket at the door, a counter-length line of carvers, salamis hanging from the ceiling, and a mustard that has never needed updating. It holds a Bib Gourmand in the MICHELIN Guide, the distinction reserved for cooking of real quality at a moderate price — recognition, in this case, for a sandwich that has barely changed in over a century.

01The room and the setting

Walk in and a person at the door hands over a printed paper ticket — lose it and you pay for the privilege, so New Yorkers learn fast to keep it folded in a pocket. Order from whichever counter serves your craving, and the carver marks the price on the ticket before you find a seat among the Formica tables, the neon signage and the walls lined with photographs of the actors, boxers and comedians who have eaten here since the days when Yiddish theatre filled the houses on nearby Second Avenue.

The diner became part of American cinema history when Meg Ryan's character staged her famous demonstration at a table here in the 1989 film When Harry Met Sally, a scene shot in a dining room that seats roughly three hundred people under the hanging sign reading "Send a Salami to Your Boy in the Army."

02The family behind it

Ownership has passed through only a handful of hands. Willy Katz's son Lenny eventually ran the store, and by the late 1970s it belonged to Benny Katz's son-in-law and to Harry Tarowsky's son Izzy — neither of whom had heirs to leave it to. In 1988, on the deli's 100th anniversary, long-time restaurateur Martin Dell bought in alongside his son Alan, a chef who had managed a neighbouring deli, and Martin's son-in-law Fred Austin. Alan's son Jake officially joined the business in late 2009 and is currently in charge of all major operations, making him the family's third generation at the helm.

Insider tip

No individual reservations; open 24 hours on weekends; nearest subway F train to Second Avenue or Delancey–Essex St.

The deli's most famous slogan dates to the Second World War, when the sons of the owners were serving overseas and the family tradition of mailing them food became the company's catchphrase, "Send A Salami To Your Boy In The Army" — reportedly coined by Rose Tarowsky, whose own son flew as a bomber pilot in the South Pacific.

03The cooking

Katz's pastrami is cured in a brine for roughly three weeks, rubbed in spices and smoked for three more days, then boiled, steamed and hand-sliced to order. The cut used is beef navel, chosen for the way slow curing builds flavour while keeping the meat moist and tender — a deliberately rich result next to leaner factory versions.

The deli makes a point of contrasting its own method with industrial curing: a finished pastrami or corned beef can take up to thirty days to cure, against the roughly thirty-six hours of a pressure-injected commercial product, a claim the business repeats on its own site as the simplest explanation for why its meat tastes the way it does.

04What to order

The Reuben layers that same meat tradition with Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and Russian dressing on the in-store menu; the matzo ball soup and a square knish make honest sides.

05The neighbourhood

Katz's sits in the thick of the old Jewish Lower East Side, a short walk from the Tenement Museum, which sends its own visitors to Katz's before or after tours of the neighbourhood's immigrant history. The deli's own account of its past — Friday nights of franks and beans for a community without cars or subways of its own, Yiddish-theatre crowds spilling in from Second Avenue — is really a history of this few blocks of Manhattan as much as of one shop.

06When to go and booking

Katz's does not take reservations for individual diners; only parties larger than ten can request a group booking by phone. As read on the restaurant's own site in October 2026, it opens at 8am Monday to Thursday and closes at 11pm, then runs continuously from 8am Friday through to 11pm Sunday — effectively open around the clock on weekends. The nearest subway stops are the F train at Second Avenue and the F, M, J or Z trains at Delancey Street/Essex Street.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.