Pastrami, Glorious Pastrami

“To die from…”
Hilarious - good one Midlife. Still have to have Tommy’s at least once in a while though. You can’t live forever, and visits to Tommy’s assures that!

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This week’s – it’s smoked brisket after all, the weekly variances are noticeable – Ugly Drum’s pastrami (pictured: $20 worth) is probably the best pastrami in America. It is, removing the ho-hum rye from the equation, far superior to Langer’s, and resembles La Barbacue more so than Katz. And I’m ok with that.

Now they just have to serve a giant half sour to cut the lusciousness.

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Is this from Ugly Drum at Smorgasburg?

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Ugh Langer’s isn’t even open on Sunday so you can’t have ugly drum pastrami on Langer’s rye.

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damn you can just see the sexy dripping off of it

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Question: I had Ugly Drum when they served it at Mendocino Farms a while back and was not blown away. How is this different? Hand carved to order?
Photo LA Magazine

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Is Langer’s rye = Bea’s in the SFV?

I agree. Ate one @ Smorgasburg yesterday and thought it was very good. Super succulent and tender with nice smoke. Perhaps a little light on the black pepper, but none the less, excellent pastrami. The sourdough bread was good. A little toasting/2nd bake would totally make it over the top good, but I liked how the softness absorbed all the rendered fat.

ETA: I was surprised by the lack of line for their stand.

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Langer’s rye is from Fred’s Bakery, but they finish baking them on site and then keep them in warming drawers. You can buy a loaf to take home and it’s nowhere near as good.

For the record, I think the #19 degrades a perfect sandwich by adding crappy cheese and average-at-best coleslaw.

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Thanks - I now recall that info. For some reason I associate Bea’s with Langer’s.

I know many here decry anything that strays away from pastrami on rye with brown mustard. My trips to Langer’s are maybe 3-4x/year, so whether it’s a #19 or not, I will enjoy it - pure or bastardised.

IIRC Langer’s has supposedly flipped flopped vendors a few times through the years. Your memory isn’t totally off.

Ex) Bea’s reference

http://www.lamag.com/digestblog/bowld-channels-jewish-deli-pastrami-pop-chinatown/

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An old thread on Chowhounds mentioned that Langer’s got their bread from Bea’s. That is probably the source of your association.

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I could swear das ubergeek - maybe others - mentioned this. Thanks.

It was ozhead, Chowhound
I have been getting rye at Bea’s ever since as my homemade rye hasn’t reached Bea’s quality yet.

You’re making me look bad. :wink: Bea’s corn rye is a favorite. The last time I was there, they had one left. The woman behind me was so disappointed that I grabbed it - she seemed truly distraught. I asked the helper to give it to her instead. The woman responded as if I had just found her long lost beloved dog.

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Anyone who bakes bread - especially approaching this kind of quality - is amazing in my book.

Most bread is easy. You just have to be patient. My French bread is better than anything I can buy, but rye is a complex operation involving both sourdough and yeast. I am still working on it.
Bread is a lot easier to make than pastrami.



That was noble of you to let her have the last loaf. The corn rye is my favorite as well.

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NICE BREAD!!! Looks simple enough to me - not!

just from looking at the LA Mag photo, you can see it’s completely a d’frent product. Mendo’s version of ugly drum is clearly some kinda “modern” take on the #19 – which I despise – with the cheese, the purple slaw, etc. Also, just from the pastrami alone, it seems a very d’frent product.

Perhaps it’s done in bigger batches, perhaps it’s brought in from the central commissary, perhaps they’ve (UD) just gotten better. Who knows.

For the Smorgasburg setup, I was told they smoke the brisket, then refrigerate, and then bring out brisket after brisket into the onsite steaming setup. It’s then hand sliced and immediately served; just like at Langer’s/Katz, etc. It all works, because there’s just: pastrami, mustard, and the vessel.

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It’s gotta be this. I made a point of trying the Mendo Farms sandwich without all the fixings and was still disappointed. The meat was rubbery and looked nothing like the deep-red deliciousness in your photo.

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