Hand-Carved Pastrami Rituals At A Houston Street Landmark
Hand-carved pastrami and a ticket-stub ordering ritual make this Houston Street counter a downtown rite of passage.
🥪 The counter play
A cutter carves pastrami to order behind a long counter at this Houston Street mainstay, where a paper ticket tracks everything you take from the moment you walk in. Regulars slide a few dollars across for a warm sample while they decide. The move is a hand-carved pastrami on rye, fatty and piled high, settled at the ticket booth on the way out. Hot dogs and knishes round out the tray, and the room stays loud and shoulder-to-shoulder well past the lunch rush.
