Previously home to Fine & Schapiro, opened in 1928 but which closed for good earlier this year leaving Barney Greengrass, Pastrami Queen and Zucker’s as the best reliable purveyors of smoked and cured meats.

The second thing Anthony Bourdain used to do after returning to his NYC home was breakfast at Barney Greengrass.

The first thing was, “When I’m back in New York [I get] a pastrami sandwich. Pastrami Queen is a really good pastrami sandwich — if not the best, among the very best. Just a good, nice mix of fat and lean. It’s the real deal, served warm on fresh, soft rye bread with the right kind of mustard. Good pickles. And they deliver—I get a cream soda. It’s a quintessential New York meal for me.” – Anthony Bourdain

Choose from among pastrami, corned beef, turkey, tongue (center or tip), beef brisket, chopped liver, and select your sandwich which can come to you ‘overstuffed’ ($20+), ‘royal’ ($26) and ‘triple decker’ ($30+).

This example of American dietary wretched excess that is unhealthy, inexplicably expensive and well, so delicious that you should eat it here because you will not be able to get another until you come back to this shop.

Additional ethnic treats are available like kasha varnishke, egg barley, noodle pudding, knishes, chopped liver, fried kreplach, tongue Polonaise, and PQ’s cure-all matzoh ball soup.

Kosher.

Mazel!

Afterthought: If Bourdain had written ‘Cel-Ray’ soda instead of ‘cream soda’, I might have agreed with him. Imagine: there exists in NYC celery flavoured soda.