As many of you know my family came to visit me this year for Christmas instead of the other way around. There is nothing like Christmas in New York. The window displays, the tree, the snow! So much to see and do, but most importantly eat. Coming from a family of foodies the to do list did not include the MOMA or Central Park. Instead it looked like this: Sylvia's, Katz, DimSum, brick oven pizza, Gray's Papaya... ..
Despite the crazy snow storm, we decided to make the long trip from the upper east side to Katz. Katz is not just any deli. It opened in 1888 by a family of Russian immigrants. It hasn't changed much since. They are known for great corned beef. The key is not to use any fillers or preservatives. They slowly age the beef for 30 days unlike some companies who do it in 36 hours. I've passed by numerous times but as a resident have never actually been myself.
When we got there, we found the line to be over an hour long! The line came out the door and was going down the block! I've been by before and never saw this. It must have been because it was the week before Christmas and New Years. Stupid tourists. My mom was getting over the flu so we were unable to wait that long in the cold.
I felt terrible because I know food was one of the main things they were looking forward to during their trip. After they left, I started thinking and checked out the Katz website. Turns out you can order the meat online (corned beef $23.75lb). It's not even too pricey. Where they get you is the shipping. Because it has to stay fresh, they pack it in dry ice and will only ship overnight. The shipping cost runs about $30.00 per order.
The website sells everything you need to make a great sandwich. You can buy the bread, meat, mustard, and pickle. They also give you sheets of wax paper in case you want to wrap your sandwich as they do. You can even buy a Katz t-shirt or hat. The meat arrived as promised on the next day. I got a report back that the meat was "the best corned beef in the whole world". After all making corned beef is an art they have been perfecting for over a 100 years!
In addition to buying stuff for yourself you can send a salami to a boy in the army. During WWII all three sons of the owners were serving in the war. They started the tradition and the slogan, "Send a salami to your boy in the army". You can still send a salami to a military address; the only product and international address they will ship to.
I know you might think it's a bit weird to do a review while I didn't eat it myself. But as I've said before, I come from a family of foodies. So if your not in the New York area, or can't stand waiting on a line for over an hour, mail order is the way to go. Order a lot because prices aren't too bad while shipping is high. I hope to get myself the real Katz experience. But until it warms up a bit, mail order will have to do :)