Katz Deli

I love visiting New York for a day. Any longer and I feel stifled and nervous. I spent a year feeling like the world was going to cave in around me in Buenos Aires, and after that I promised myself never again. But New York for a day is perfect. Just enough time and money to eat the most delightful treats and gawk at strangers.

The hands-down best meal that Cailley and I had was at Katz, the Jewish deli where Meg Ryan had her most public fake orgasm with Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally. There's even a little sign that hangs from the ceiling over where she sat, hoping "you get what she had." I did. The food is simple and mouthwatering. Corned beef, pastrami, salami or reuben sandwich layered with sauerkraut on rye topped with stone ground mustard and served next to new and old pickles. Cailley and I split a corned beef (they were $15!). The walls were covered with photographs of Katz, the original owner, and celebrities. Katz seemed a perpetually oldish man, with a heavy nose pulling his neck into his chest and an apron which, for the frequency that he wore it, must have been grafted onto his skin. He only wanly smiled in the photos, as if mildly amused at his own celebrity and slightly annoyed at the distraction. The tables were all family style. We ordered at the counter from cappucino colored Spanish speakers who called me "my love" and gave us samples of the corned beef on plates. We took the food on a tray to a table next to an Asian woman with the strongest Jersey accent I've ever heard. This, I thought mid-way through my sandwich, is New York City.