Lower East Side, Manhattan · restaurant
A cavernous, fluorescent-lit deli hall with a ticket-based ordering system, walls dense with signed celebrity photos, and organized chaos that has been producing the same results since 1888. The hand-carved pastrami sandwich on rye is the raison d'être (thick-cut, cured in-house, served hot) and the matzoh ball soup and potato latkes hold their own alongside it. Order at the counter, find a table, don't rush.