Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
Posts: 12,238
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Post by Brad Nelson on Aug 2, 2019 12:33:36 GMT -8
Here’s the Limbaughesque music to introduce this next segment. Go ahead and listen to it. It’s a good song by Susannah McCorkle from her album " How Do You Keep the Music Playing?" I've got three of her albums downloaded on my iPad via Apple Music. My brother asked me the other day if I wanted to take a trip to New York City with him. I may have hurt his feelings when I blurted out “I was just talking to someone the other day that the last place I would ever want to travel to is New York City.” By coincidence, I was talking with a customer yesterday who had picked up a job. She’s a real nice and perky blond. We somehow got on the topic of travel and I had mentioned my distinct lack of desire to visit New York City and she told me, “Oh, my husband and I escaped that place a few years ago.” She sort of confirmed my sixth sense. I truly do believe that these days you have to be careful where you go. You can almost read every other day about some white person getting beat up by a black mob outside of a mall or hotel. I told my brother that we should instead visit Vancouver, B.C., or maybe take a trip to the Seattle Center. But that didn’t resonate. But there’s no way in hell I would spend substantial time and money to visit an urban zoo for pleasure. Those guys are nuts. Fine, I can’t make it there, as the song says. But then I don’t want to. |
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Post by timothylane on Aug 2, 2019 12:38:38 GMT -8
I had an opportunity in 1976 to get promoted to running a programming section at Olivetti, but it required moving to their NYC HQ on Park Avenue. I chose not to.
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
Posts: 12,238
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Post by Brad Nelson on Aug 2, 2019 15:47:49 GMT -8
New York is definitely not for everyone. But on the wider subject, I think I'm actually rationally cautious now regarding going to crowded places.
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Post by artraveler on Aug 2, 2019 17:01:58 GMT -8
Way back in the 70s, it seems a lifetime ago, I lived in Virginia just outside of DC. On a weekend a friend and I decided to take our government issued vehicle for a drive and ended up on the lower east side of NY. Katz's Deli to be exact.
The drive up I-95 was ok we were only stopped by troopers once outside of Baltimore. Charlie told the trooper that it was a matter of national security and that other vehicles would be traveling the same route at high speeds out of DC and that he should be on the lookout for them and clear a path if traffic became congested.
He told this story with such finesse that I almost believed it. Of course, CIA IDs and a gun do make a persuasive argument. I wonder how many speeders were given a pass that night because of national security. At any rate, we had the best pastrami sandwiches in the country that weekend.
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Post by timothylane on Aug 2, 2019 17:53:07 GMT -8
The best pastrami sandwiches in the country? Could be -- one would expect there to be a lot of New Yorkers who know good delis. But I still want to stand up for Indianapolis's own Shapiro's Deli, which is regionally famous -- I recall the Louisville Courier-Journal had an article on them a few years back. (When the NRA met in the Indy city this year, some of the attendees sensibly went there for meals. This angered local members of the Society of the Professionally Outraged.) Back when we went to InConJunction each year, we always had a meal there even though it wasn't exactly close to the convention hotel.
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Post by artraveler on Aug 2, 2019 18:18:29 GMT -8
Well, the definitive answer is up to individual taste. Believe it or not you can get a really good pastrami sandwich from a Texas company, Jason's Deli. That should make KFZ happy. We have one here in Fayetteville and its always packed.
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Post by kungfuzu on Aug 2, 2019 19:22:07 GMT -8
There is one Jason's Deli about 2.5 miles to the West of me and one about 3-4 miles to the east of me. It has been some time since I ate at either, but they were good.
If I want a good pastrami or, even better, a chopped liver sandwich with onions and a bowl of cabbage borsch, I go to a place called Deli News which is about 8-10 miles away. It is owned and run by Russian Jews who moved here a long time ago. I think they originally owned a place called the Russian Tea Room in Dallas. They have very nice egg bagels as well and a great white fish salad. Their scrambled eggs with lox ain't nothing to sneeze at either.
On the other hand, I will be making my bi-weekly pilgrimage to Kuby's tomorrow and can get a good hot pastrami sandwich there as well. It is owned and run by a German whose family has been in the butcher business since the early 1700's. They have some great items in their deli as well. We love their "Bavarian Chicken Salad." They also make their own sausages like Knackwurst, Nurnberger, Polish, Bratwurst, Weisswurst, Leberwurst and Wienerwurst. They even make a Bratwurst with habanero chili.
I first started going to Kuby's in the mid-1970's after studying German. In those days, there were a number of older Germans who frequented the place. They were mainly German Jews who had got out of Germany in the mid to late 1930s. A number of them were friends or acquaintances of my father. So between that and my ability to speak German, I got to know some of them fairly well.
Dallas used to have a number of good delis like Wall's, Phil's, Gilbert's and a couple of others, but each of these has closed down. I find this very odd, because you would think with all the people moving here from out-of-state that there would be a demand for a good deli.
I used to go to NYC fairly often and ate at a number of different delis, but I remember the Star Deli the best.
As a kid, I loved corned beef on rye covered with that deli mustard.
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Post by artraveler on Aug 2, 2019 21:10:36 GMT -8
Sadly, I think that the younger generations have passed the deli by. It is too European ethnic and of course, that means white men. I used to frequent a Kosher style deli in Sacramento called Brother's Deli, now long gone. It is a shame as a good deli is a masterful combination of sights, sounds, tastes and smells. Next time I am in Dallas I will check out Kuby's.
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
Posts: 12,238
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Post by Brad Nelson on Aug 4, 2019 9:13:35 GMT -8
Okay. You’ve all sold me. There are some great places to eat in New York City. The last two shootings these past two days might make Walmart and yuppie districts places to avoid, in particular.
But, in general, the point I was making stands: It ain’t safe out there. Take advantage of Katz’s Deli delivery service if they have one.
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Post by kungfuzu on Aug 4, 2019 9:37:40 GMT -8
Happily, this does not seem to be a problem with Kuby's. Although the place has a very German/Middle European feel to it a lot of younger people frequent it. It probably helps that it is a stone's throw from the northwest corner of the SMU campus in Highland Park, which is the richest area of DFW. Furthermore, Kuby's has been open and in the same spot since 1961 so they have a well established reputation and history.
The owner and his family have their own farm and slaughter their own meat for their butcher shop. Besides their own sausages, they have the most beautiful meat I have ever seen. Thick New York Strips and Prime Ribs, etc.
It is hard to believe that they keep their restaurant prices so low. You can get two eggs, four strips of bacon, toast and fried potatoes for $5.95. I like to get their Kassler breakfast which includes the above items, but instead of bacon, you get 2 smoked pork chops for $8.95.
The place is busiest in November and December. They have various German Christmas specialties including Marzipan candies and gingerbread.
It is well worth a visit.
Just as an aside, the term Deli comes from Delikatessen which is German for delicate food (essen being German for to eat and meal)
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Post by timothylane on Aug 4, 2019 9:39:48 GMT -8
Well, if we're going to mention New York City eateries, I can add a couple that I ate at (one of them twice) during my week of study at Olivetti. Of course, this was back in December 1975, so I make no guarantees about now. One, some blocks from my hotel (the Mayfair House on Park Avenue), was the Kastalia Inn, a Greek place. If you like Greek food it's a good choice. I ate there, as I recall, on my first and fourth nights there.
The other, which was some 15 blocks away (a manageable walk for me back then), was Adam's Rib. I naturally thought in terms of barbecued ribs, but in fact it turned out to specialize in prime rib -- my first (but definitely not last) experience of that. (They also served Caesar salads, again my first but not last experience of that.) They were expensive, but it helped that I was also getting a daily food stipend. (A couple of years later, I would eat more cheaply and use that as a form of income. In 1975, newly employed, I didn't think that way.)
I also vaguely recall that on our visit to New York in 1961 to catch our transport to Greece (to be precise, the ship took us to Naples, and after a few days in Rome -- of which I remember virtually nothing, sadly -- we flew to Athens) we ate once at the Automat. I don't know if that's around either. We spent a few days there on our way back from Greece in 1964, but that was during the World's Fair, which is where we spent most of our time. (It was located across the street from new Shea Stadium, so we went there once, but the game was rained out.)
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Post by kungfuzu on Aug 4, 2019 9:48:00 GMT -8
I can't recall all the different places I ate at in NYC. I do recall the Italian restaurant that was in or next to the Doral Inn on Lexington, just behind the Waldorf, and Smith and Wollensky's where I told my parents I was going to marry a Singaporean Chinese woman.
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Post by artraveler on Aug 4, 2019 12:59:03 GMT -8
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Post by artraveler on Aug 4, 2019 13:04:39 GMT -8
One of the best steak places in the country is J. Gilbert's in McClean. It has the added advantage/disadvantage of being the hangout for 7th floor brass from CIA.
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Post by kungfuzu on Aug 4, 2019 13:15:03 GMT -8
Now that's a corn beef sandwich which I would like to sink my teeth into.
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Post by timothylane on Aug 4, 2019 13:47:25 GMT -8
So how much would it cost to get Katz to deliver to my nursing home room? I doubt I can afford it, but a good thick sandwich (preferably mixed meats and cheeses) might be worth it. What the heck, Medicaid lets me keep $100 a month from my existing income, and I have little to spend it on unless and until something goes wrong with my computer.
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Post by artraveler on Aug 4, 2019 14:01:31 GMT -8
100 dollars will get you about 3 1/2 pounds of sliced pastrami delivered for free in 48 hours or less. You have to supply your own bread and condiments
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