Life's Persistent Questions

April 30, What New York doesn’t want you to know

New York does not have a monopoly on the best bagels and best pastrami sandwiches in North America. When my friend Louis told me to meet him after work yesterday and save room for a fresh bagel, I thought he was mistaken. Where I came from bagels are made fresh daily, in the MORNING. But I was wrong. There are shops here that make bagels CONSTANTLY. La Maison du Bagel is one of the best in the city. Anthony Bourdain, the idol of traveling foodies everywhere and the prototypic New York chef, once had to concede that the idea of having bagels at La Maison as one’s last meal was not as absurd as he first thought after trying them. I do not have a bagel tasting pedigree such as that of Bourdain, but the warm, light (almost fluffy) and slightly sweet sesame bagel I tried here was the best bagel I have ever had. Period.

Louis regretted that he could not take me to the best smoked meat sandwich deli in Montreal last night. So I made the solo pilgrimage to Schwartz’s this morning. And he was right again. The sandwich is simple—meat, mustard, and bread. The meat is good—tender, with just enough of fat trimmings, perfectly seasoned. The mustard is just enough to wake up your taste buds but not to saturate them. The bread, while almost an after thought, is just enough to keep your fingers from the grease while serving as the delicate boundary between unpretentiousness and uncivilized. That is until you give into the temptation of picking up every little piece of the smoke meat that escaped your initial onslaught. Best I have had. Period.

posted by hedgehog @ 9:31 PM