Langers #19 and 44!
My favorite. Bar none.
If anyone asks you what the 1970s were like in Los Angeles, drag them down—immediately, if not sooner—to Langer’s Deli, the best Jewish deli in America, for the pastrami. The setting is vintage coffee shop, a bright, mid-century beauty sitting just off of MacArthur Park in the middle of one of the West Coast’s most densely populated neighborhoods. Besides Katz’s in New York, you won’t find many classic delis serving hand-carved, thick-cut pastrami this delicate, this delicious. The house double-baked rye dusted with cornmeal and sliced continuously throughout the day is nearly unequaled in its class. The menu is a cavalcade of stars, and that #19 sandwich—pastrami with swiss cheese, coleslaw, and dressing—is a beauty, but you owe it to the meat, the bread, and yourself to start simply, with just pastrami on rye. Maybe a little mustard. Mustard would be fine.