Excerpts below, but the Full interview can heard on the podcast, LISTEN HERE, and available anywhere podcasts are found “Let Me Tell You Why…with Jeremy Jacobowitz”! In the full interview we talk about how “someone” can get their photo on the wall, and why he thinks the corned beef reuben is better than the pastrami reuben.

Tell us about your restaurant?

Katz's Deli is the oldest deli in New York and probably the US. We've been here 137 years now. We do everything the old fashioned way, all the pastramis, corned beefs, brisket, matzo ball soups, latkes, things like that.

It's all a very old food tradition that dates back to the late 1800s. Food that was very common, that was everywhere on the Lower East Side, and then you just don't really see that much anymore and we uphold that tradition and maintain the classics.

Restaurants in NYC struggle to stay open for 1 year, whats the secret to success for over 100 years?

I think it starts first and foremost with the food. I think in this city, you cannot make it if you don't have a fantastic food product.

And so everything that we do, at the end of the day it starts and ends with food. Obviously nostalgia is important and we maintain that classic feel in everything that we do. And the atmosphere is incredibly important as well. But it all means nothing if the food isn't the best pastrami sandwich that you've ever had or if the latkes aren't the best. Or in our case, you know, I'm okay with second best that you've ever had. First being your grandmother, for example. So I'm okay taking second best there. But otherwise, listen, I want to make sure this is the best that you've ever had or that you will ever have.

The reaction to Katz’s is always 50/50, either people love, or like to complain its a “tourist trap” whats your reaction to people who say that?

Well, I mean, first off, there's a very famous saying from Yogi Berro. It's like, “hey, no one goes there anymore. It's too crowded.” And I think that a lot of New Yorkers, you know, we have a ton of regulars. I think both can be true. I think we can be a tourist place and have a lot of New Yorkers come to us. And I think that's the case here is you get the sanitation workers sitting next to the tourists from Holland. You know what I mean? Like it's it's this beautiful melting pot. And that is at its core what makes New York city so special that you get everyone next to each other and a real blend of cultures. I do think it's fun sometimes reading the comments. You know, a lot of people have a very strong opinions when it comes to pastrami, and when it comes to their delis, and I love it all.

I also think there is sometimes a difference between lifelong New Yorkers and recent New Yorkers who feel the need to say or act a certain way sometimes is like, “this is how New Yorkers act”. “This is what a real New Yorker does”. But I think it's, you know, listen, I think it's great. I'm going to keep running my own race and making the best pastrami sandwich that I possibly can make. You know, we do about 40,000 pounds of pastrami every week. We cure it all ourselves. We smoke it all ourselves. I'm very proud of what we do here. And I'm very proud of the smiles that I see on people's faces. So I'll keep doing that.

What’s your favorite thing on the menu?

For me, its the pastrami, corned beef used to be our most popular two to one. And I love pastrami. To me, it's so perfect. It's, you know, it kind of hits all of your flavor notes. And I think mustard is the perfect pairing for it. And even if you don't like mustard, which is, I should say you're wrong, but if that's you. Its the perfect compliment because it highlights the coriander and the garlic and the heaviness of the the fattiness of the meat, kind of cut through by the mustard. And so it is the perfect condiment for that sandwich. But for non sandwich things, I think our latkes are phenomenal.

What is the most iconic NYC restaurant in your eyes?

I think places like Peter Lugar's are well-deserved of the recognition. You know, another place that I consider very similar to us where it's like, is it a tourist trap? Is it New York? Or is it both? Is it just, you know, the feeling that you get when you walk in there warms your heart and it makes you happy. And maybe that's just because I grew up going there a lot. Same with some of the old classic Italian red sauce joints. I love them. I was just at Bar Pitti with my family a couple nights ago. I love that place. It's so hard to say. You really have so many classic restaurants in New York. Quite frankly, part of what I love in New York is that the food scene's always changing.

I love that. I love that there's always a new restaurant, a new concept, a new take on it, a new something. I just went to a Bungalow recently. Unbelievable, unbelievable place. So, I mean, I think you really can't go wrong in this city when it comes to food.

YOUTUBE

While I was very sad to see all my hard work helping build the WWE Network officially go away this week. The service was shut down internationally as they move some of their conent to Netlfix. To make up for it, they have launched the WWE Vault channel on Youtube, and it is amazing! The hiden gem videos they have been unearthing and sharing is for the nerds, and I’m here for it! Last week they put up this behind the scenes of them filming the old Monday Night Raw intro for 1995, and it was a trip! It’s common now to see wrestlers out of charecter, but not then! Watching Goldust and Triple H playing the old WWF arcade game was so much fun! Watch Here

TIKTOK

This is kind of stuff we are going to miss if tiktok goes away. The way it has niched down its algorithm to know exactly what I want, before I know it, is insane! Take this video for example, its literally just a dude reenacting the batting stances for every Yankees player on the 1996 roster! The memories flooding back to me watching this was just the best! Watch Here