I am doing a beef sandwich study in Los Angeles, which was basically motivated by the Italian Beef I had at Mr. Beef in Chicago. Now I know I'm not going to get the same Italian beef with giardiniera here in LA, but there are still a few places that are well-known for other types of beefy sandwiches - French dip, corned beef, and pastrami.
In the WWF (World Wide Food) Smackdown between Mr. Beef and the French Dip at Philippe's in Los Angeles, the Italian Beef won. Now I am moving on to pastrami because truth be told, I used to eat hot pastrami sandwiches all the time when I was little and my Mom would ask me to sit quietly reading in the clubhouse deli while she played tennis with her friends.
Langer's Deli is in a sketchy part of LA, which probably explains why they don't stay open past 4:00 PM. The interior looks just like an old-school diner, but in 1980s Denny's colors - brown, yellow, and orange. I didn't see a hot pastrami Reuben on the menu, so I asked them to add Swiss cheese and sauerkraut to their standard hot pastrami, with a side of Russian dressing. The sandwich was a little more than $10.
The sandwich was pretty thick, but it wasn't necessarily stacked high from the pastrami. They put a lot of sauerkraut, and though I love me a sour pickled cabbage (uh, hello? kimchee?), the amount of kraut was a little overwhelming. The pastrami was good, but much fattier than I am used to, and I'm not afraid of fatty pastrami. Overall, the sandwich was fine, but I doubt I'd risk my sanity by going back (I didn't feel very safe walking fromthe parking lot to the restaurant).
Next on the roll call: Johnnie's Pastrami (Culver City), and The Hat (San Gabriel Valley).
Langer's Deli
704 S. Alvarado Street (@ 7th)
Los Angeles, CA 90057
(213)
483-8050
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