Restaurant: Langer's Deli
Location: 704 S. Alvarado Street (Mid-Wilshire/MacArthur Park)
Type of restaurant: Deli
They stipulated: Cash only; Open until 4 pm but closed on Sundays
What we ordered: Pastrami on Rye ($9.95) for Maria and Pastrami on Rye with Coleslaw and Russian Dressing ($10.65) for Mike (above).
High point: Pastrami! Plus, the bread had a perfectly toasted crust.
Low point: Blogger Baby spilling soda on the table while trying to grab the napkin underneath the glass.
Overall impression: Langer's has an easy feel about it, the sort of coffee shop/deli you'd like to have in your neighborhood. There's never a wait (at least during the hours we go), the staff is friendly but not overly fussy, and the food is good.
OK, this review would not be complete without a pastrami comparison against Katz's in NYC so here goes (and remember, this is just my humble opinion):
East Coast: The star in Katz's sandwich is the pastrami-- tastier, saltier and has the right amount of fat which I like. They give you so much pastrami that you can make a second (or third) sandwich out of just one order. The bread they use doesn't hold up to the pastrami and halfway through eating the sandwich, it becomes a soft mess.
West Coast: Langer's sandwich has a good taste and is sliced slightly thicker than Katz's. Their sandwich as a whole has a good meat to bread ratio -- and have I mentioned the bread? Perfectly toasted with a good bite to the crust.
Langer's pastrami is lean, tender and tastes good with a perfectly toasted bread to accompany it while Katz's pastrami is fuller in flavor and piled very high on two pieces of bread which are just okay. So, if you ask me, I prefer the pastrami at Katz but Langer's has a pretty damn good sandwich overall.
Chance we will go back: I may just try to convince Mike and Blogger Baby to go back there again this Saturday.
For a complete archive of our Rate-A-Restaurant reviews, check out our newly revised companion ratearestaurant.blogspot.com website.
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