Ok, I’ll take your word. I usually stick to pastrami, corned beef or brisket.
Warrior: Gosh, this discussion can’t come to closure even after I said I really liked Langer’s pastrami and apologized for my tone? Let me note one more thing in response to the “punching down” comment. I think Langer’s is outrageously expensive. Our meal—just one pastrami sandwich and one whitefish appetizer with water to drink— came to over $60. This is hardly a restaurant serving the needs of working class people. As for whether food can be objectively good or bad, we are going to have to agree to disagree.
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Agree that this is contributing to the emotional aspect of the responses, but I also think that this “knowledge” is assumed… At least on this board. And that the lack of acknowledgment of this in the OP was also contributing to the type of responses.
I mean, in LA, who goes to a dim sum place specifically just to eat XLB??? And, if you get XLB at a dim sum place, would you expect them to be made in-house and to be anything better than passable? Should that one dish be used to pass judgment on the restaurant as a whole?
Specialization applies to so many diff types of cuisine, esp in LA, where there is enough “interest” in specific dishes/regions to support that (even if the majority of the menu needs to cater to non-food enthusiasts for survival).
None of the above “should” be surprising to anyone who has lived in LA for a significant length of time or is familiar with what makes LA’s food scene special.
Which is why the obstinate refusal to acknowledge otherwise (until recently) has been… perplexing.
It will. Just give it some time. 
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Wexler’s, which some people claim to prefer, charges $18 for a pastrami sandwich, Canter’s charges $17.50 for their inferior one, Langer’s charges $20 (up from $18 when I was there in March), a modest premium given the extra time and expense required to optimize the bread.
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*jewish style delis are outrageously expensive
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Warrior: The whitefish appetizer was $25. I thought it was appalling quality for $25. For $25, I would expect a decent restaurant to get legit bagels from a bagel shop and quality tomatoes from a farmers market or somewhere. Anyway, we’re going to have to agree to disagree on Langer’s. I feel like folks’ devotion to Langer’s is quasi-religious in nature, which makes for a poor conversation topic.
I don’t necessarily disagree with you but it doesn’t sound like you’ve been to many delis either. $25 for a whitefish platter is about the right price but I’ve never seen anything resembling farmer market quality produce at any deli of this ilk.
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There’s nothing religious about my strong recommendation to go somewhere else if you want bagels and smoked / cured fish.
Actually, if you’re getting delivery, order Blue Hill Bay whitefish salad from Costco (if they haven’t run out) plus whatever bagels they carry
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Warrior: we just try to review the food we eat. We’ve been upfront about our dietary preferences. We are going to order what we want and review what we ordered. We were in our own little world doing just that when someone, well intentioned, said we shouldn’t have ordered the chicken at Bludso’s or shouldn’t have reviewed it (even though, ironically, we gave it a good review). We are generally reviewing our meals, not the restaurants. Folks can disregard our reviews if they think we ordered the wrong things. We don’t have any agenda other than trying to order from diverse places and trying to be reasonably healthy. If you look at the places we’ve rated the highest it doesn’t comport with the characterizations some people are making.
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I don’t think most people are saying this. But saying the restaurant is mediocre/bad based on a few dishes, particularly if not their specialty, seems rather unfair.
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Jitlada is a terrible Thai restaurant. Paid $14 for pad thai. Worst meal ever.
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Warrior: like I said, we will continue to review the meals we order without regard to whether you or others think we ordered the right dishes. Like I said, we are reviewing the meals, not the restaurants.
But that’s not always the case:
I personally don’t care if you review dishes or restaurants or both, but when you externalize blame or post stuff that’s directly contradictory to other stuff that you post in the same thread, it comes off as… disingenuous.
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Warrior: As I said, we’re just going to order what we like and post our reviews. Honestly, we don’t know you and don’t care what you think. Generally, our reviews in this thread are about specific meals. When we have a better feel for restaurants, we may talk about the restaurants as a whole. I suggest that folks move on to something better in life than microanalyzing PeonyWarrior posts.
If you don’t care what anyone else thinks, then there’s no need for you to be so exquisitely defensive and rude. When people challenged your opinions, you went out of your way to give a middle finger to everyone to order an initial meal at Langer’s that didn’t include any of the recommended items.
Hello? Microanalyzing is all that happens on internet forums.
If you don’t want people to comment on your posts, then don’t post on a public forum or simply mute all posters. ::shrug::
My final post on this thread or any of your posts. ::double shrug::
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Please read about the history of Forums.
Here a is quick excerpt: “In addition to its standard function as a marketplace, a forum was a gathering place of great social significance, and often the scene of diverse activities, including political discussions and debates, rendezvous, meetings, et cetera.”
If you don’t care about what people think, or dont want them to debate what you are saying then don’t say it in a public forum.
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Please update your moniker to paranoidgarliclover::shrug::
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The Yelpers (or yelp-minded people) want the attention but no real discussion
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Don’t forget the comment that started this. Calling Langer’s “Americana Trash” is a review of the restaurant.
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I personally enjoy PeonyWarrior posts for what they are; so please do continue, as your insights are interesting and valuable to me. Its useful to know that bagel and lox at Langer’s is not so go even though I personally would not dream to order anything but pastrami or corned beef sandwich there.
That said, people do have the right to micro-analyze, perhaps they enjoy it or have nothing better to do.
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