On a trip to NYC over the summer, we got the opportunity to take in a lot of fabulous deli foods that just don’t show up down in Nashville.
Every meal starts with a both dill and sweet pickles, that are both tangy and sweet, but at the same time garlicky and smooth. Kind of a juxtaposition, but there are not your typical Vlasics.
That monstrosity you see above is the Carnegie’s version of a turkey-bacon club. It is seriously at good 10-12 inches tall and absolutely impossible to put in one’s month. Yes, I know it’s far too much to eat in even two (maybe three) sittings, but you can’t blame NYC for going big. As far as taste goes, it wasn’t anything you wouldn’t expect from a turkey club, that therein lies it’s beauty. Like most of everything else in NYC, they just do what they do well, and subscribe to the go-big or go-home theory.
The corned beef sandwiches at the Carnegie are likewise huge, but definitely not bland. The corned beef just about falls apart and has a taste unlike roast beef that emphasizes the beefiness of the cut but doesn’t have any textural issues like brisket sometimes does.
The half pastrami, half corned beef sandwich is a peppery, beefy slice of heaven that puts what you find in Nashville grocery stores to shame. The pieces fall apart and each bit of pepper and other seasoning.
The beef and potato Knish was, despite looking heavy and a bit unappetizing, actually light and with a crispy thin crust.
Of course, cheesecake is one of the great things at the Carnegie, and can even do without the cherry topping you see above. The cake is heavy and dense, slightly sweet, and doesn’t have the slightest hint of cream cheese when you bite into it, like you often do when having cream cheese outside of NYC.
