Langer’s Deli

Posted by Edmund in Deli, Los Angeles, Restaurants | 1 comment

Langer’s Deli.
Cuisine: Deli. Famous Pastrami Sandwich.
Price: About $10 to $15 for a sandwich. A few entrées go up to $20+.
Address: 704 South Alvarado Street, Los Angeles, C.A. 90057.

There are only a few places in LA that have been able to survive the rapid change that is so characteristic of the City of Angels. If a restaurant or diner can even survive 10 years, it’s pretty impressive by LA standards. So whenever you hear about a place that’s been serving for over 50 years, you know it has to be good. That’s the type of reputation you can expect from Langer’s Deli, perhaps the most famous delicatessen, known for serving the “best” pastrami sandwich in all of LA.

On first impression, Langer’s Deli doesn’t seem much. I headed there recently for the first time just to grab a quick pastrami lunch. When I arrived, I was shocked. It was in one of the shadiest neighborhoods in LA, right near MacArthur Park. The only place I’ve heard of MacArthur Park is on the news in stories about murders in Los Angeles. The deli itself isn’t the most impressive place either. It’s just a simple diner, with somewhat cramped seats, even though there’s a ton of seating. The service is also rather slow, given how crowded the place tends to be. And yet, people are dying to eat here on a daily basis, to the point that, at lunchtime, you’ll be lucky to get a table without a 10 to 15 minute wait.

There is a reason to all this madness, however. The menu has an almost endless number of options—even if you don’t like pastrami, you can find about 100 different options for sandwiches. I, however, only got the #19, the house’s most popular pastrami sandwich, as I had planned to do from the start. This sandwich not only lived up to the hype, but was just about the closest thing to a perfect pastrami sandwich that I can imagine. If you love good, fresh delis, and especially if you want pastrami, this is the place to go!

What I got:

The #19—Pastrami with swiss cheese, cole slaw, Russian dressing on rye: This sandwich is phenomenal! The cole slaw can be a little overpowering, but it is very good cole slaw, with a really nice creamy richness to it, but also a nice fresh vegetable taste. I had a side of it in addition to my sandwich, and I just gobbled it up. The sandwich itself is a little small for a pastrami sandwich—it’s not overflowing with pastrami, like I’m used to. But the pastrami is so well cooked, moist, and flavorful that it’s easy to overlook this. The Russian dressing (ketchup, mayo, and onions) also blends very well with the pastrami and gives the sandwich a unique flavor in comparison to the traditional pastrami with mustard. Can’t really say much else other than that this sandwich is about as ideal as it gets for a pastrami sandwich. Only flaws: could use twice as much meat, and rye bread has a crispy crust that is at times annoying.

Most other things on the menu are supposedly not quite as good according to most reviews, but the sandwiches everyone at my table ordered received great reviews. My brother got a turkey triple decker sandwich there that he found incredible, and my friend ordered a patty melt that he enjoyed, except for the excess of caramelized onions on the sandwich. The fries, though, tasted tasted like they were microwaved, with some extra salt added to them. Basically, you really should not be coming here for the fries or other sides.

All in all, then, this is the place for pastrami. I really can’t say much about everything else, but the pastrami alone is worth the drive, the bad neighborhood, and the hassle of the wait. Best in the city!

Ambience: 0.5/5.0. Horrible neighborhood and kind of a tacky restaurant.
Service: 1.0/5.0 (but really not important)
Taste (for the pastrami): 4.6/5.0
Value: 4.0/5.0
Overall Score, for the deli: 4.0+/5.0. Best pastrami in town.