We walked over, stood in the crowded foyer full of tourists and people waiting for one of the few tables and ordered at the counter. Like Katz, we got a few bites as samples, which were buttery, warm and delicious. I think they give you these tiny unsatisfying bites just to peak your hunger before you eat. Then you go up to pay and are twice as excited: these sandwiches are damn expensive (and thus better be mind-blowing). A pastrami on rye and a tongue on rye ran just under $40! That’s nearly $20/’wich. That is insane. These had better be incredible.

After a short walk through the blistering cold, we opened our bag to reveal (cow tongue on left, pastrami on right):

Which were quickly unwrapped (tongue, pastrami)…

The entire spread (With pickles, mustard and Russian dressing) looks like a lunchtime dream:

Oh baby, that pastrami is overflowing!

The pastrami was buttery and delicious. I doctored both sandwiches with a thin layer of Dijon mustard and took myself to tasty-town. The pastrami was delicious. Not quite as good as Katz, but pretty damn tasty. This was my first time having tongue and it was good. I’m not sure that I’ll leap at the opportunity to get it again (especially when it’s staring at you in full tongue-shaped force from behind the glass case). It’s a little buttery, and “decent but not amazing,” remarked my colleague, the resident tongue expert.

The 2nd ave deli is serious sandwiches. No foo foo tapenades, sun-dried tomatoes or any vegetables of any kind. This kind of basic, one-ingredient at a time focus is impressive. Twice impressive when you consider that most sandwiches these days have tons and tons of ingredients. This return to quality over quantity is fantastic and I cannot praise the 2nd ave deli enough for their dedication to the art. I just wish they weren’t so damn expensive.