CORNED BEEF/PASTRAMI in New York: Eisenberg’s Sandwich Shop

SADLY, EISENBERG’S SANDWICH SHOP IS NOW CLOSED.

New York City is filled with celebrities. And one reason the famous people love this city is because they can blend in with everybody else and, most times, New Yorkers don’t care if Richard Gere is eating a sandwich in the next booth.

So one NY tradition I never understood is when restaurants or barber shops or whatever fill their walls with photographs of all the celebrities that have patronized the business.  I guess this appeals to Midwestern tourists who are awed by the photos and the possibility of eating the same meal as Julia Roberts.  And especially in midtown, the more impressive the roster of celebrities, the more impressive your establishment.  But when you move further downtown (where less tourists congregate), I expect less of this cheap pandering to our celebrity obsessed society.

Eisenberg’s Sandwich Shop not only has the requisite photos (posing with the owner) on the walls, but also features them prominently on their website.  The thing I find most upsetting and frustrating about all of this is that I don’t recognize half of the celebrities.  Who are these people?  I mean, who the hell is Brian Carney or Caprice Benedetti? Either I’m completely out of touch with the latest celebrities (which is very possible) or the owner of Eisenberg’s is trying really hard.

But I could overlook all of this silliness if the food were good.  And this place has a lot of underground buzz, even though everybody I mention it to seems to have never heard of it. I’ve seen it featured on Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations and this charming little soda shop/deli has been around (with many different owners) since 1929.

I’ve heard their egg cream (another NY classic) is a must and they make a great tuna melt.  But I was here for one thing and one thing only: the corned beef and pastrami sandwich.

At just under 10 bucks, this is the most affordable combo I’ve had so far.  And I do appreciate the conservative sized sandwich (compared to other deli’s triple deckers).  But when the dish arrived, I admit it looked flat and slightly unappetizing.

My friend Joseph also ordered the corned beef and pastrami.  But, even though I warned him this was not how to do it, he insisted on getting one half of just corned beef and the other half of pastrami (as opposed to both halves being stacked with a combo of both meats).  And when his sandwich arrived, it looked even flatter.  And I think they skimped him on some of the meat (which would never be an issue anywhere else).  And his sandwich didn’t even have the paper and toothpicks around it like mine did.  Were they punishing him for making the wrong request?

However you stack it though, this corned beef and pastrami are not in the same league as any other big NY deli.  Both were sliced very thin and were reminiscent of the cold cuts I used to get from grocery stores in Florida.  The corned beef tasted overly vinegary and the pastrami was stringy and fatty.  The rye bread was fine but didn’t really make up for the disappointing meat.  It was the first time on my journey that I could actually finish an entire sandwich (thanks to the manageable size), but I didn’t want to waste my calories on this.

I wonder what “real” celebrities (apologies to Nestor Serrano) would think of this sandwich.  If they’re anything like me, they’d order an egg cream,  admire the old-world charm, and then go for a corned beef/sandwich somewhere else.

My only concern with posting this less-than-positive review is that I might never be invited to pose for a picture on their wall.  And with my current fame level, it seems I’m a perfect candidate.

Is Eisenberg’s Sandwich Shop the best corned beef/pastrami in NY?  Not by a mile.  In fact, that’s as far as you’d have to travel to find a more authentic and delicious combo in this city.  Eisenberg’s may have other charms and successful sandwiches but this is not one of them so they get a 4out of 10 for this disappointing version.