The pastrami at S&P — a rebranding of Eisenberg’s Sandwich Shop, founded in 1929 — provides a glimpse of what a normal-size sandwich must have been like during its lunch counter heyday. Located in both Murray Hill and the Upper East Side, this spot maintains strict kosher standards without compromising on taste.
Food critics consistently rank this as one of the city’s most authentic Jewish deli experiences, where quality trumps quantity every time.
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By now, the meat is incredibly tender and almost jiggles when touched.
Once at the counter, our master carvers slice up each piece of pastrami into our legendary sandwiches, carved to order.
It is often associated with Romania, though that country’s pastrami is more of a dry, spice-rubbed beef jerky. When they’re not busy with sandwiches, our carvers are also slicing up pounds of pastrami to ship nationwide via Katz’s nationwide shipping program.
THE FINISHED PRODUCT
At long last...a pastrami sandwich is born!
The unctuous, slightly smoky, luscious pink meat has a unique curing process, and exactly where pastrami came from is still a mystery. Both parts of the brisket are used, resulting in the correct relationship of lean meat to fatty, and the cure has been perfected for a century and more. Times Square is probably the last place you’d expect a great new pastrami sandwich, but there it is at two-year-old USA Brooklyn Delicatessen.
Moreover, Katz’s, pastrami’s most famous purveyor in the world, started out in 1888 as a sausage factory (note the sign “Fabrik Wurst” on the side of the building), and probably didn’t start serving pastrami sandwiches until a later date.
The honor of serving (or at least selling) the first pastrami goes to Lithuanian immigrant Sussman Volk, who owned a Lower East Side butcher shop that used a Romanian immigrant’s recipe to produce pastrami — but probably not the kind we enjoy today.
This gives pastrami the dark, spiced “bark” you see on the outside of every piece.
After each piece is rubbed, the meat is slowly smoked for hours in our customized house smokers. The hand-carved pastrami here isn’t just food—it’s a New York experience that’s been featured in countless movies and TV shows.
Each sandwich arrives as a towering masterpiece of smoky, pepper-crusted beef stacked between soft rye bread.
This infuses the meat with flavor and gives pastrami its distinctive pink color, even when fully cooked. I recently made a two-day pastrami run with a friend, retrying eight sandwiches in Brooklyn and Manhattan, and have sampled several since then. 1501 Broadway, entrance on 43rd Street, Times Square
A few years back, barbecue restaurants experimented with pastrami and Hometown led the way.
The bustling atmosphere and old-school ticket system add to the authentic deli magic that keeps locals and tourists coming back for more.
Fair warning: one sandwich easily feeds two people, but you’ll want it all to yourself.
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New York City serves up some of the world’s best pastrami sandwiches, each piled high with tender, smoky meat that melts in your mouth.
But does it really? The meat is consistently tender and flavorful, no matter what time you visit.
Pro tip: come hungry or bring friends to share, because the Monster Sandwich truly earns its intimidating reputation with every massive, delicious bite.
4. 454 Van Brunt Street, Red Hook
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THE PROCESS
To start, we make our pastrami in-house, from scratch.
Here are the top five, in order of preference.
It’s no surprise that Katz’s produces the city’s best pastrami — it’s the focus of the entire operation.