Langer's Delicatessen - Beyond the Legendary Pastrami... Corned Beef Hash, Matzo Ball Soup and Lamb Shanks?

I know everyone’s entitled to their taste, but I gotta disagree w/ you there. :wink: The regular pastrami feels so… austere to me. The #19 is just perfection, IMHO. All the different flavors and texture really hit the spot for me.

I haven’t had Brent or Langer’s a TON, but I’m decently familiar w/ the sandwiches at both. I agree w/ the others that Brent’s gives you more for your money. I think I could easily 1.5 full sandwiches at Langer’s. But one sandwich + fries is plenty.

I couldn’t eat 2 full sandwiches at Brent’s, but I don’t know if I would want to eat 2 full sandwiches. The fattiness and richness of the Langer’s cuts make up for the relatively small quantity. I also agree w/ the others that you have to try it at least once. It’s really just SO super delicious.

FWIW, I do like Wexler’s pastrami, too (but not as much as Langer’s).

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Half an hour at 350 is what Langer’s does.

They do, they always ask if you want it sliced or not.

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Explain please.

Several times, I’ve double baked rye bread with a sliced loaf before. What I’ve done is I put it into a shallow glass baking dish, put it right in the center and the loaf usually doesn’t fit tightly so I’ll take foil and bunch it up into balls on either end to tightly push the loaf slices together.

My friend who owned a bakery told me one of the tricks is to spray a thin layer of water on it and then throw in the oven for a short period time.

Honestly in my senility I cannot tell you what temperature or how long. I think 350° for 15 minutes. I usually just tap the top to see if it’s the crunchy consistency I want.

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Good point. I like Langer’s pastrami sandwiches as is.

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A home baker’s dream oven.

I do that to revive baguettes too. :wink:

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You never answered – please explain. I didn’t even know it was an option until once when I called in for a curbside pickup, and the order-taker asked me, “regular or lean?”. So are you saying that the demise of other pastrami places is due to customers such as myself requesting lean pastrami? Or is it their fault for offering it, or what? Or were you trying to be funny?

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Again, please explain. I didn’t even know it was an option until once when I called in for a curbside pickup, and the order-taker asked me, “regular or lean?”. So are you saying that the demise of other pastrami places is due to customers such as myself requesting lean pastrami? Or is it their fault for offering it, or what? Or were you trying to be funny?

I’ve been to old-school pastrami places where they no longer had fatty and told me that was because so many of their customers asked for lean.

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bing, bang, boom! I came here to post this. I love me a brent’s rueben but I believe its got too much pastrami in it and it ruins the ratio’s that are critical in sandwiches. Luckily there’s an easy fix for that, just remove a few layers of pastrami and drop them onto your fries.

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Ask for extra rye bread and make a second sandwich?

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Update 3:

Time for Langer’s To-Go! As @TheCookie @Ns1 @A5KOBE and a few other FTC’ers recommended before, Langer’s has always had “Curbside Pickup” for years now. This was the first time we tried it, and it was great:

You call your order ahead of time, pull right up to the curb in front of Langer’s and they bring out your food to the car when you arrive (they were wearing mask and gloves). We got our food and were out of there within 2 minutes. :slight_smile: (Tip: Make sure you time your order so you arrive a couple minutes early, so you can enjoy your food piping hot.)

(#54 Modified) Beef Tongue & Corned Beef Combo Sandwich:

First, it must be said, Langer’s To-Go is fantastic: They package each of the Sandwiches in thick, sturdy butcher paper, which keeps the steam in, which is great for all of the Sandwiches that have soft / steamed Rye.

The #54 Modified, with Beef Tongue (order it “hot” (not chilled)) and Corned Beef was even better than before! :open_mouth:

Taking a bite, soft, delicate Rye Bread, nice crusty edge, moist, succulent slices of Beef Tongue, piping hot, and then it gives way to just as tender Corned Beef. Savory, delicious, SO GOOD! :heart: (@Dommy @J_L @PorkyBelly @Gr8pimpin and others!)

Hot Pastrami on Rye (w/ Mustard):

The O.G., this is what you go to Langer’s Deli for: Their Hot Pastrami Sandwich on Double Baked Rye Bread with a bit of Mustard.

Perfection. :heart:

The Rye was soft, pillowy and held up in the To-Go butcher paper, the Pastrami, fatty and lean bits, mouth-watering, balanced, nice peppery seasoned crust, and luscious meat within. Still outstanding! :heart: :blush: :heart:

@Gr8pimpin with no almost no traffic nowadays you gotta make the visit soon. :wink:

Pickles:

Their Pickles are vacuum sealed, so it’s a nice way to package the Pickles To-Go.

Tuna Melt:

A big thanks to @Hungrydrunk @js76wisco for the recommendation: Langer’s makes a RIDICULOUS Tuna Melt! :heart:

First, make sure you take out and eat the toasty Tuna Melt ASAP in your personal “4 seat dining table” (your car) (as @PorkyBelly has christened it). :wink: While Langer’s sturdy butcher paper packaging is great to keep the soft / steamed Sandwiches intact, any of the Sandwiches that are Toasted, open them up so they don’t steam. :slight_smile:

Taking a bite:

Crispy, toasty Rye Bread, finely chopped, nicely briny, creamy Tuna Salad with melted Cheese. Lovely! :heart:

Matzo Ball Soup (S):

I don’t know if it’s because of the COVID-19 situation or they’re being more generous, but the Small Matzo Ball Soup To-Go comes with 2 Matzo Balls per order (usually they just give you 1 for a Cup in the restaurant). Either way, taking a sip:

Heartwarming, classic Matzo Ball Soup flavor. Balanced, not overly salty, and the Matzo Ball is sufficiently tender, light, very good. :blush: (@Omotesando much better than Birdie G’s mediocrity.)

#88. Hot Corned Beef, Sauerkraut, Swiss Cheese Grilled on Rye Sandwich:

And Langer’s incredible #88 was as great before. As with the Tuna Melt, since this is a Toasted Sandwich, make sure to remove (or open up) the butcher paper as soon as possible, so you don’t steam the Bread.

Then take a bite. :slight_smile:

Crunchy, flavorful, aromatic Toasted Rye Bread, then you get the luscious melted Swiss Cheese, tender, lush Corned Beef balanced by the tang of the Sauerkraut. Another fantastic Sandwich! :heart: (@TheCookie and others)

It’s good to know that even with restaurants needing to switch to Takeout and Delivery Only, Langer’s Deli continues to shine: Every single Sandwich To-Go is as good as when we had it in the restaurant. It’s worth a drive just for their classic Hot Pastrami Sandwich on their Double Baked Rye with some Mustard. :heart:

Their #54 with Hot Beef Tongue and Corned Beef (or you can keep it with Pastrami and Corned Beef) is a Lengua Lover’s delight, and even if you normally don’t like Beef Tongue, Langer’s prep for this is incredible. Outstanding!

Add to that a Matzo Ball Soup, their Tuna Melt (wow), and the #88 Hot Pastrami, Sauerkraut and Swiss Cheese on Toasted Rye, and you have a group of some of the best Deli Sandwiches in L.A. all neatly packaged To-Go.

Langer’s Deli
704 S. Alvarado St.
Los Angeles, CA 90057
Tel: (213) 483-8050

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@Chowseeker1999, OMG, you are torturing me, especially since Langer’s is about to close for the day. I’m still puzzling out those Birdie G’s matzo balls. The Birdie G ones are a completely different color than the light-colored Langer ones in your picture. The Birdie G ones are kind of a dark color and taste strange and I think have some ingredient, which I am trying to figure out, not traditionally found in matzo balls. My imagination is, in fact, running wild – could the Birdie G ones have bacon fat or something in them? Sigh.

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Langers is the ultimate GOAT

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On a side note @Omotesando , it seems the matzo ball soup at Birdie G’s is actually Chef Fox’s wife’s recipe. Although he is Jewish, and his grandmother Glady for whom the restaurant is named lived in Cleveland. I’m not even quite sure what ‘carrot miso’ is. My experience so far, with American house made miso, have been pretty gosh darned bad. When you mentioned bacon fat, I also thought of tempeh/seitan, and also that Impossible Burger griddled taste.

@Chowseeker1999 instead of the 19 like most people go for, I like ordering something completely different when I go. Even with a packed house, I looked around and think I was the only one eating a turkey sandwich. The coca cola machine is watched far more carefully than a lot of restaurants around town, so that it’s fizzy and nice. The fries are really good too. That lengua sandwich sounds wonderful. I’m a big fan of chopped liver myself.

If any of you are interested in this kind of thing, there is a wonderful old fashioned letterpress shop down the street, Aardvark. I believe they are one of the very few left in the world who does this, and some of the staff have actually worked at newspaper companies, when hand placed metal letters were still the norm. They are a very nice family run business, and I hope they never close. A great place to get special event invites and cards made for yourself.

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OMG. I would have eaten my screen if I could. Their hot pastrami on rye (with added mustard) is my everything. With the streets being so empty, a trip to Langer’s from West LA doesn’t seem so crazy. I can even get the tuna melt for my pescatarian husband.Thank you for posting!

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