No. 153: The Pickled Meats of New York City
There are so many authentic Jewish delis in New York that descriptors like "institution" and "perfection" are applied almost too generously, albeit always with fierce loyalty. Shortly after we arrived in New York, local news outlets began running a story on the relocation of Manhattan's 2nd Avenue Deli, from its old location in the East Village to a cheaper, name-defying outlet at 33rd and 3rd. If you're asking directions, that's pronounced toity toid and toid.Stories of the 2nd Avenue Deli's grand reopening heaped on words like "institution," "famous," and "cholesterol," leaving little doubt that we would visit this place. Applying small town logic, we tried to avoid the afternoon rush by going for lunch at 2:30 and were rewarded with a chilly forty five minute wait for a table. The 2nd Avenue Deli is a "famous ""institution" of "cholesterol" that is open twenty four hours a day in a city that is awake and hungry for twenty four hours a day. There's always a line.
