HUNGRY GERALD

Last time I was in NY had pastrami with son Jeremy at the legendary Katz’s Delicatessen. Was underwhelmed. (with the pastrami…not with Jeremy,the famed reggae entrepreneur and Brooklyn barbecue maestro). In fact,I haven’t liked any pastrami since Gitlitz on Broadway (between 78th and 79th) closed some years ago.May I digress? Gitlitz was next door to Daitch Dairy, home of the West Side’s best butter and cheeses. I was there one day to stock up on cream cheese and other goodies. It was jammed. As I gave a counterman my order a woman (who thought I had cut in front of her) pointed a finger and screamed: “You!! You!! You stole my next!!” Back to pastrami. In a recent New York Times interview,Nora Ephron.screenwriter,novelist,essayist and all around brilliant lady of letters, said that Langer’s in LA has the world’s best pastrami. If Ephron says it, I believe it. However,this does represent a shocking,seismic bicoastal shift in the cuisine of the Chosen People.