WHERE CULTURES MEAT (David’s Brisket House)

There’s a very interesting phenomenon in this country concerning deli meats. It’s a slowly dwindling cuisine across America. You’d be amazed at how many kids in middle America don’t even know what a pastrami is. When I filmed the last episode of my webseries, Adam interviewed a high schooler who had never had pastrami before and when Adam asked him what he expected, he responded, “Italian?” The clip never made it onto the episode, but it’s telling. I wonder how many other kids confuse pastrami with prosciutto.

But one group that seems to appreciate the stuff is the African American community. David Sax mentions this in his book Save the Deli as surviving delicatessens in places like Detroit, New Jersey, or Chicago notice that their clientele is changing from older Jewish eaters to African American diners.

So I guess it’s not surprising that an almost 40 year old Jewish deli is surviving on the streets of Bedford-Stuyvesant, a predominantly African American neighborhood. David’s Brisket House has been a religious venture from the beginning. It is now owned by a Muslim family (who bought it from a Jewish family) so instead of closing completely on Saturdays (for the Sabbath) they now only close for a few hours on Friday for prayer. And they tend to close early so we found the perfect time on a Saturday afternoon.

The huge sign out front made me think this would be a Katz’s size restaurant with bus boys and matzoh ball soups flying everywhere. Not the case. This place is tiny with maybe two small tables in the back and one long narrow deli counter. The employees were happy to hear we were dining in (I’m sure it is mainly take-out here) and they delivered our food to us.

We ordered the brisket sandwich (since it was on my Time Out list) and the corned beef/pastrami combo. At $13, this combo sandwich is the most affordable in the city. And it comes with a free drink! It might not be as comically massive as Carnegie’s, but it’s still enough for at least two meals.

The rye bread was fresh and soft. And the meat was really good. I don’t know why my expectations were low for a place so far away from the tourists, but I really loved their meat. The pastrami was smoky and just fatty enough to melt in your mouth but not overwhelm my arteries (who am I kidding?). The corned beef was a lot leaner but still had a lot of garlicky, salty brine flavor. The only major downfall was the limp and overly sour pickle that accompanied the sandwich.

I’m pretty sure visiting kids from middle America won’t make it out to David’s Brisket House. That’s probably best for us locals to keep this little gem to ourselves. But if deli meat this fresh and flavorful existed across the country (maybe replacing all those McDonald’s), I think we might be able to save a dying cuisine.

Is David’s Brisket House the best corned beef/pastrami in NY? It’s a great little gem in the heart of Brooklyn. And even though I give it an 8 out of 10, I’m hesitant to tell anybody because it’s one of those places you want to keep to yourself.