Langer's Deli

Langer's Deli is a Los Angeles favorite, a kosher-like deli known for its corned-beef and pastrami sandwiches on the best rye bread you can get outside of New York City.  I was eager to visit the diner, if for no other reason than to escape the overabundance of "California cuisine" (sushi and avocados) that follows me everywhere.

Driving to Langer's, which is somewhere East-LAish, I was keenly aware that "we're not in South Bay anymore."  The deli sits on the corner in a neighborhood that is the last place you'd expect to see a kosher deli.  I was surprised that the line was out the door and halfway up the road.  This must be a d*mn good sandwich for people to wait outside for it, I thought.  Fortunately, the wait was very short, and we were at a quaint diner table in no time.

The menu is a bit daunting if you don't eat deli food every day.  Lots of options.  They help you out by pointing out that their most popular sandwich is The #19.  Clearly this helps with quicker table turn-around by minimizing time wasted to indecision and menu gawking.  The #19 is made with their famous pastrami, topped with swiss cheese, coleslaw, and russian dressing, served on rye bread - clutch.  Sounded weird to me but I figured it was the most popular for a reason, so we ordered one #19 and one #something-else, which was a corned-beef sandwich with sauerkraut and swiss cheese, also on rye.  Having recently discovered an appreciation for sauerkraut, I had high hopes for this one.

What do you order to drink at a deli?  I poked around the drink menu for something that screamed "deli."  The first on the list of beverages is the "egg cream".  Huh?  I asked the waitress to explain the "egg cream" to me.  Milk, seltzer, and syrup.  Gross. I ordered one.

Waitress: Chocolate or vanilla?
Me:  Oh...(hesitating, as if there was actually any competition) What do you recommend?
Waitress:  Chocolate.
Me: I'll have chocolate (duh).

My egg cream came seconds later, and I don't know why, but I was actually suprised that it tasted EXACTLY like chocolate milk mixed with seltzer water that had gone flat.  Next time I'll go for the milkshake, but at least now I can say I've experienced an egg cream.

Two gigantic sandwiches arrived at our table.  I dove into the #19 pastrami sandiwich to see what all the hype was about.  I was immediately surprised by the texture of the rye.  I expected a strong bread to hold up to the creamy coleslaw, but the deliciously flavored rye was actually soft and fluffy.  My first thought on the popular sandwich was that there was just too much wetness from the coleslaw, but I supposed that's the appeal for some.  I followed with a bite of my corned-beef sandwich in an analytical, comparative fashion.  The bread on the corned-beef was toasted, so it had that stronger texture I expected, but had also been buttered, which detracted from the bold rye flavor that was so nice in the untampered bread.  I was hoping for more sauer in my sauerkraut, and found the sandwich tasty, but lacking a bit of the bite I'd hoped for.

As is my routine with sandwiches, I proceeded to take my sandwiches apart so I could eat each component separately.  I prefer sandwiches in their non-sandwiched state because you can take out the parts that taste the best.  The pastrami that was extracted from my #19 was tender and flavorful and absolutely delicious when separated from the coleslaw.  Unfortunately, I could not rescue the beautiful rye from the sogginess that was its destiny.  Even the crusts, my absolute favorite part of the sandwich, were were beyond repair having fallen victim to leaks.  The corned-beef was equally delicious, but didn't have the same wonderful kick as the pastrami.  Due to my obvious lack of appreciation of a sandwich (and apparently coleslaw), I feel I should share the opinion of my lunch date, who thought the #19 was an amazing sandwich. He left his intact and clearly enjoyed the mess factor. 

By far the best part of my experience at Langer's took place on the way out.  I insisted that we take home a loaf of the best rye bread I've ever had.  At the counter, I watched them slice the bread and toss the ends to the side, leaving our loaf "buttless".  STOP RIGHT THERE!  I asked what they do with the ends of the bread, and was promptly told that they were thrown out.  I asked if I could have them, since the butts are my absolute favorite parts of the bread, acually they're the only ones I usually eat, and was sent home with a paper bag filled with the day's bread butts.  THANK YOU LANGER'S...a dream come true!  I also left with a roll of poppy-seed bread...or cake...whatever you call it.  The poppyseed filling, the most I've ever seen in such a pastry, is surrounded by a soft, semi-sweet dough that half melts, half crumbles in your mouth as you eat it.  Absolutely scrumptious.  My dog agreed, and polished off the loaf of take-home rye and poppyseed bread he stole from off the counter a few days later.  I guess I'll be making another trip to Langer's pretty soon...