Langer's Pastrami, Los Angeles

LTH,

Langer's has it all, great deli atmosphere, a cute as hell 93-year-old patriarch, who still sits at the end of the counter and schmoozes with the customers, and flat-out the best pastrami I have ever had the pleasure of eating.

I grew up eating Jewish style deli, corned beef, pastrami, pickled tongue, I've even smoked my own pastrami, but Langer's was a cut above anything I remember having, including the big-boys in NY. Though, to be fair, it's been a while since I've been to Katz's, Carnegie or 2nd Ave Deli.

Pastrami, cole slaw, fries. A perfect combination.


The pastrami was terrific, fatty spicy juicy meat, crusty on the outside, yielding on the inside, bread, just a perfect pastrami sandwich.


No question about it, Langer's still hand slices.


Am I the only one who finds this picture mildly arousing?


I chatted for a while with Al Langer, 93. Al, unequivocally, said Langer's does not use Vienna pastrami, they buy locally. Al went on to say that they only use the premium part of the plate and that their pastrami is so utterly delicious due to the fact it's gently steamed to tender goodness for 2.5-hours, even though that results in a 20% weight loss.


I also had a nice chat with Norm Langer, Al's son, who runs the day to day operation. Norm was kind enough to allow me behind the counter for the 'slicing' pictures. Norm's Daughter, Al's granddaughter, Trish, was there as well. I was very impressed there were three generations of Langers present.

Langer's joins Tommy's (the original at Rampart/Beverly) on my must-go list for Los Angeles.


Enjoy,
Gary

Langer's
704 S Alvarado St
Los Angeles, Ca

Killer shots, my man.

The extreme close-up of the beef slice on bread. The shot of beef slab being cut, steam rising.

Gorgeous.

I just had dinner, and I'm hungry again.

Hammond

Frankly, I've got writer's block or I'm in pastrami shock and don't know what to write. Great pictures.

My response is Pavlovian. Looking at those pictures makes me salivate even though I ate well today.

I don't know if it is still the case, but when I attended Loyola Law School on Ninth Street in downtown Los Angeles in the mid 70s, our coffee shop was staffed and supplied by Langer's. We had the great food without the drive or the lines. And we were just down the street from the Original Pantry! It is no wonder that we all seemed to gain weight (if not gravitas)during our three years there.

Wow Wiv, That truly is some excellent lookin' Pastrami. If I ever went anywhere near LA LA Land I'd have to stop for some of that.

That close up shot is gorgeous. You have a name for that type of photography?

You have a name for that type of photography?

I believe it is referred to as food porn.

Quote:
You have a name for that type of photography?


I believe it is referred to as food porn.


Ahh, yes. Food porn in its finest form. That phrase does ring a bell with me.

Oh, hope I did the quote thing right. the workings of this forum are a bit different to me. guess I won't know until I hit the submit button.

Fosco, next time click Quote again to produce a tag that will close the quote.

Fosco, next time click Quote again to produce a tag that will close the quote.

Gotcha, I think. Thanks.

Fosco wrote:Ahh, yes. Food porn in its finest form. That phrase does ring a bell with me.

Gentlemen and Ladies,

I believe we have the inventor of the 'from the perspective of the food' also known as The Fosco Shot, among us.

Fosco is, deservedly, somewhat of a celebrity on the newsgroup alt.binaries food.

Nice to have you here Mr. Fosco.

Enjoy,
Gary

Fosco is, deservedly, somewhat of a celebrity on the newsgroup alt.binaries food.

Nice to have you here Mr. Fosco.

Thanks for the complement, Gary. Nice to finally come over here and meet your new mistress.

This is about the 4th time I've typed this note and I'm not much of a typist so I'm givin' up if I screw it up this time.

I've been working all afternoon to figger a way I can post pics on this forum and may have worked it out but who really knows?(no computer whiz here)
I'm posting a test shot of some black bean soup I recently made. If that works I have some pics from the Golden Rule Barbecue in Birmingham Alabama I'd like to share with y'all. Cool?

Fosco's Food

Rats! Guess it didn't work. Oh well.

Fosco,

As Moderator, I have a little flexibility. I looked at your link which was a url rather than an image file, so I created the url to your site.

I right clicked on your image to get the properties, which included the exact address of your image. I 'borrowed' it from your website to post here.

I hope this is the effect you were hoping for.

Regards,

I hope this is the effect you were hoping for.

Thanks Cathy. You make it sound so easy. I'll go look at the tutorial you suggested. As Grandma Whitfurrows used to say, "If all else fails read the directions, you knucklehead!"

Cathy2 wrote:

You have a name for that type of photography?

I believe it is referred to as food porn.

"Gastroporn" is the official term.

great pics,

was at Langers this past weekend. Wife and I still firmly vote for Katzs in NYC. Very good sandwich for sure.

Matzo ball soup was stellar, great broth.

what was up with the pickles at Langers?!!? very bad.

PS: ONLY open until 4pm

Wow, I was at Langer's on Saturday (and Monday) too. Eerie. The week before last, I was walking around Philly with Dickson, but I didn't know it.

I think that the pastrami varies a little, but when it's good (e.g., Monday at 11 am), I'll concede the crown to Langer's.

The pickles are extra-sour, not my favorite style. I noticed that they were nearly identical to the pickles at Sahag's Basturma. The geneology of cured meats and the geneology of pickled vegetables must go hand in hand.

Also, hard to beat the sliced-to-order rye at Langer's.

Sweet Willie wrote:what was up with the pickles at Langers?!!? very bad.

Will,

To paraphrase Will Rodgers, there's no such thing as a bad pickle.

If memory serves, Langer's pickle is a half-sour, leaning toward full-sour. The three basic types of Jewish deli pickle are new pickle, which spends the least time in brine and retains it's crunch.

Half-sour, which is starting to loose it's crunch and develop a distinctly sour tang, and full-sour, which is quite soft with a predominate pickle-sour tang.

You might simply be a new pickle kind of guy, doesn't mean Langer's pickles are bad, just not to your preference.

Frankly, my preference is for new pickles, but if my dad heard me say that I might be disowned. Back 30-years ago he was known far and wide for the full-sour pickles he crocked in our suburban Milwaukee basement.

Enjoy,
Gary

I have a few issues with Langer's slightly sweet (nutmeg?) flavored version of matzoh ball soup. It's not to my liking...as much as I stgrongly endorse the pastrami.

I finally made my first pilgrimage to Langer's during a trip to LA this week. My picky-eater sisters and mother were not all that happy about being dragged down to a rough-around-the-edges neighborhood to indulge my pastrami fetish, but I pressed on.

I had a heck of a good pastrami sandwich that looked identical to Gary's photo above. The bread was among the best tasting, freshest Jewish rye I've ever had.

My only complaint was that the meat was a lot less spicy than I expected. In fact, quite a few bites tasted just like corned beef (still, among the best corned beef around). I would classify the meat that I had on the mild end of the pastrami spectrum. Personally, I prefer pastrami of the spicier variety. Even so, I'd spend the night on a park bench in MacArthur Park for this sandwich.

I'll have to return one day on a Monday morning as JeffB recommends to see if there is a significant difference in taste over time.

I had a nice chat with the woman who seemed like the head waitress on my way out. She didn't know where they get their pastrami (and actually said that they have changed it quite a few times) and Norm was too busy to talk to. She did impress that what made the difference for them was the length of time that they steam the meat, longer than anyone else (as Gary mentioned).

On pickles:

I had both a half-sour and a full-sour pickle, specifically requesting both. These tasted just like my grandmother's homemade dills. It can be an accquired taste for those that are accustomed to new pickles, but these pickles were nothing short of perfect for me. Rare are the days that I'm served a perfect half-sour.

One more thing. I tried the chicken broth in the matzoh ball soup to test what steve mentioned. It did have a strong seasoned flavor, a dark color, and slightly sweet which I might actually attribute to sweet paparika instead of nutmeg. I forgot to ask. I also had the daily special soup of mushroom barley with giblets, which was a little bland, but I admire them for making use of neglected bird parts.

All said and done, Langer's was worth the pilgimage.

Best,
Michael / EC

Seth's other brother (Michael in LA) and I made a trip to Langers last October and were in agreement that the pastrami sandwich was "primo". Of course living in DC (a deli wasteland for the most part), I may not be the best judge. But it surpassed the very good pastrami we sampled in Milwaukee at Jakes last year.

Well, much as I must duty-bound respect the opinion of a Zurer on such matters, I've got to say that Jake's pastrami is not in the same league with thier reuben.

I think it is a law of nature, sort of like the Pauli Exclusion Principle, "If good reuben, then not so good pastrami" and the transposition (as we logic jocks say).

But here's the Most Essential Question: where in the universe of wonderful experiences does Langer's pastrami locate with respect to Schwartz's smoked meat? So far, the latter is my highest ranking.

Just to calibrate a bit, I enjoyed my first reuben at Jake's more than I did my first reuben at Junior's a coupla weeks earlier. Whilst there might very well be psychological attendents to this preference, I'd hold out for objective qualities in the preference. Or whatever.

Geo

Update:


PIGMON's pastrami sandwich (02.21.07)

I was in rough shape that morning, and couldn't eat a thing; I could only sit and watch.

E.M.

Given my user name, I can't resist paraphrasing the worn-out old adage: "One cannot soar with the pastrami-munching eagles in the morning if one hoots with the gin-soaked owls all night."

stewed coot wrote:Given my user name, I can't resist paraphrasing the worn-out old adage: "One cannot soar with the pastrami-munching eagles in the morning if one hoots with the gin-soaked owls all night."

That was only half of my problem.

I was also coming off of a three day Thai food bender.

Before PIGMON joined me in Los Angeles, I spent three days gorging on some of my LA Thai favourites.

Like the hotter-than-hell papaya salad at Ganda, for example:


sômtam puu dawng (papaya salad with raw blue crab) at Ganda

A full report on Ganda, and the rest of my recent LA Thai dining adventures, will appear shortly.

[My previous post on Ganda.]

E.M.

Just moved to Los Angeles from Chicago and I have been to Langer's and Tommy's. I must agree are both really good. I am curious to see what the Chicago people think Langers compares to Manny's. I found the pastrami quality to be higher at Langer's but the portions of meat are much smaller and Manny's potato pancakes are much better. I also enjoy the counter service at the Jewish Delis, gives off more of a throwback feel and is much faster.

2Utah2 wrote:Just moved to Los Angeles from Chicago and I have been to Langer's and Tommy's. I must agree are both really good. I am curious to see what the Chicago people think Langers compares to Manny's. I found the pastrami quality to be higher at Langer's but the portions of meat are much smaller and Manny's potato pancakes are much better. I also enjoy the counter service at the Jewish Delis, gives off more of a throwback feel and is much faster.

I've had the pastrami sandwich at Langer's a number of times.

Most recently, five days ago.

In my opinion, the pastrami sandwich at Manny's is a joke in comparison.

But, you should really get PIGMON's opinion.

E.M.

The meats at Manny's and Langer's are not really comparable, as they are doing very different things (with Langer's meat being a prime filet to manny's tasty burger). Langer's pastrami should be compared with Katz's, and that's about it.

That said, I was just at Manny's for the first time in a long while, and the pastrami/CB mix I had (with a schmear of chopped liver, ordered on the side) was a damn fine sandwich. Bread is much better at Langer's than any of the above, but things such as chopped liver and pancackes are, IMO, sub-par there.

Each place is way cool, and since they are thousands of miles apart (albeit in strikingly similar parts of their respective cities), I don't get much value out of ranking them.

I wouldn't think Manny's pastrami would hold a candle to Langer's-I know it doesn't touch Katz's. I think many people find it too stringy, and too intense in it's pastrami flavor(if that's possible)-at least too salty. I can deal with it when mixed half & half with the corned beef. To me Manny's is good for tissue-thin corned beef, the roast beef sandwiches, kishke(hold on to your heart and have them ladle on the gravy), some of the steam table stuff, and lemonade. Some of the best potato pancakes, I think, are at Reises, which perhaps is off-track since we're talking about delis.
Although it is more like corn beef with a kick-I like the pastrami at 11th Street Diner.