March 17, 2011
Carnegie Deli @11:39 pm
Midtown
I haven’t been to midtown much since I started this and there’s a reason for that: Midtown sucks! Lots of business and tourist traps and I rarely go there unless I have to. But I want to be hitting all over New York with MAD, so tonight I looked around on Google of possible spots in midtown to go to. I stumbled upon the Carnegie Deli. I’ve never been there and it’s always loaded with tourists, so it might be an interesting MAD stop. It is a slice of New York history, they’ve been on the block since 1937. They have beer and they are open from 6:30 am to 4:00 am, so they get marks for that. How bad can it be? I guess we’ll find out.
The Carnegie Deli is at the corner of 55th Seventh Ave. Twenty five blocks straight up. It's not that cold out so we'll just walk it.
The Andrews Coffee Shop, once a thriving local chain of 15 coffee shops, now reduced to two, thanks to chains like Starbucks. You can read about the Andrews remainders in this fine piece at Jeremiah's Vanishing New York.
Memories of a night out with Fat Al and jco from the Half Empty Glass. Sadly, this too is closed.
If you'd like to open a Starbucks or 7-11 here, just call Jerry Collins. I wonder if he's related to either Phil or Tom? And did you know that Phil Collins announced he's retiring from making music? I heard it and it was so weird, you could almost feel the world stifling a collective yawn. Chilling.
Beauty...
And the Riese. Bah!
And here we are, The Carnegie Deli.
Just in case you forget where you are, it's spelled out in the coleslaw and potato salad as you enter. Handy and a little frightening all at the same time!
Love the black and white cookie!
And of course there's t-shirts here, adorned with a vegetarian's nightmare emblazoned on it.
Some of the people streaming in. The place was doing a brisk business.
I thought there'd be a counter or something I could sit at and just have a couple of beers, but there wasn't and I was told to take a table. Oh well, when in Rome, start roamin' I guess.
I ordered two beers, McSorley's style and this fine gentlemen served them up.
Since I wasn't eating, I took a photo of a neighboring tables sandwiches. A mountain of meat and I think they need to invest in bigger bread slices.
The sandwich kind of grossed me out and I was glad I stuck to a liquid dining option in the deli.
The place has a lot of chatter going on about where people are going and tomorrow's plans on seeing the Empire State Building and The Hershey's Store in Times Square. No one mentioned a Show World trip. Lots of people texting and checking their phones in here. Kind of headache inducing.
There's lots of photos on the walls of known and unknown people.
Once you look at the photo of Raul De Molina and the giant pickle, your Carnegie Deli experience is complete and you are allowed to exit. The forecast for repeated entrance to Carnegie Deli? Karen Carpenter slim to none, son. Goodnight everybody and see you tomorrow, after dark.
Review
Q. How do you get to Carnegie Hall?
A. Practice, practice, practice.
Q. How do you get to Carnegie Deli?
A. Katz’s, Katz’s, Katz’s.
Carnegie Deli
854 Seventh Ave @55th St.
212-757-2245
Further reading and listening: New York Magazine, Wikipedia, Alka Seltzer, Tourist Town.
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The Papaya Dialogues!
Yesterday I introduced this feature showing you my Twitter conversation with none other than New York's very own Papaya King. Here, the Papaya Dialogues continue with The King. Enjoy the banter!
To be continued!
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Some Things I Did Before Work Today
Bought tickets to Charlie Sheen’s Radio City Music Hall show.
Immediately felt a little dirty.
Took shower.
Put on The Raveonettes' Chain Gang of Love.
Checked Charlie Sheen’s Twitter page.
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Nightcap
I'm a five foot mirror for adoring himself,
Here's seven years bad luck (I wanna tell him.)
21 Comments
Reader Comments (21)
World's scariest sandwich! Hot dog, love the King dialogues! LOL! And I can't wait for the post following the Sheen show!
I love deli food...it played a big part in keeping me alive during the ten years I ran a hack. Always wanted to try a genuine New York Deli...first thing on my to do list if I ever visit N.Y.C.
Jeez...that sandwich was just a pile of corned beef with some bread on the side.
Marty, those pastrami and corned beef sandwiches look awesome, never been to Carnegie, looks on par with Katz, size wise. How did you resist not eating one, big enough to take half home for lunch next day. I think a Deli wars in the the making here, right? Katz, Stage, etc. great stop on MAD, I think that guy from Papaya King must think his product is made of gold, too many dogs out there already. Speaking of dogs, did you see the video of the tsunami dog that was out there in the middle of all that mess, taking care of an injured dog? He would not leave his friend, a great story with a happy ending.
My impression of Midtown is that the business establishments are either highly visible tourist traps, or pretty well hidden illegal operations.
In regards to the upcoming Charlie Sheen show:
Lie, cheat, steal, extort, kidnap, threaten, beg, prostitute, murder, whatever skulduggery is necessary; but get a MAD interview with Mr. Sheen please.
Good luck with tonite's Green Mess. (A good time to acquire all sorts of human barter material for above mentioned interview.)
First of all, that's the perfect bread to meat ratio for a sandwich. Second, it's hard to tell the potato salad and coleslaw apart. Third, those things behind the aforementioned salads look frightening. Fourth, ditto to the things on the left. Fifth, I wonder what would happen if Raul De Molina met Travis Pickle in the bathroom? Sixth, I like that dude's blue-and-white striped shirt vs. tie. Seventh, did you ever notice back in the '80s that Phil Collins was so hairy that he had to shave all the way down to his chest hair? Eighth, why are all the hairiest dudes balding on top? Ninth, Joan Jett rocks. And Tenth, Happy St. Patrick's Day! Cheers!
I LOVE OTB's I am an expert horse better and I even have an ex race horse as a pet.
Marty I am leaving for Las Vegas this evening. It is funny that you post the Carnegie Deli visit today as I am leaving for Vegas and there is an official Carnegie Deli at the Mirage in Las Vegas...DIRECT FROM NYC.
Carnegie Delicatessen
Straight from Seventh Avenue in Midtown New York City, this East Coast original brings the real deli experience to The Mirage. Enjoy overstuffed sandwiches, sumptuous matzoh ball soup, and lots of New York attitude.
Here is a link to the website:
http://mirage.com/restaurants/carnegie-delicatessen.aspx
The food looks great!
By the way it looks like Raul De Molina beat Anorexia!!
Good for him!
@Barfly: I'm having fun with the PK dialogues and the Sheen post should be interesting. Stay tuned, that'll be posted April 9th.
@Jaws: If you ever get here, we'll go to Katz's!
@Al: I don't like the Carnegie nearly as well as Katz's. The atmosphere is kind of forced and phony. I haven't seen the Tsusami Dog footage, but I'll look for it. Send a link if you have one.
@cp: I'm still trying to figure out what to do tonight. Might just post from home sweet home, the anti-St. Paddy's day place.
@: Biff: "if Raul De Molina met Travis Pickle in the bathroom?" Ha ha ha! That's a movie I would pay to see.
@Tiki Bar Susie: If you get a chance, take a picture of the LV Carnegie! Have a great trip! Oh, and regarding this comment: "By the way it looks like Raul De Molina beat Anorexia!! " Ha ha ha! Great one!
I am so glad you liked it Marty!
I Certainly will try to take a photo of the Vegas Carnegie Deli.
I am also hoping to take some photos of one of my all time favorite bars PT's Pub in Vegas. Free food and Beer as long as you are playing the video poker machine...now that is my kind of place! Video Poker and free Ice Cold Beer!
I will see you when I return next week!
@Tiki Bar Susie: Can't wait to see the photos! Have a great trip!
interesting stop for MAD...stopped in there about thirty-five yrs ago...split the sandwich w/ another and still had a portion of my half wrapped in a bunch of napkins when i walked out the door...
guess this shows that MAD is not restricted to a "beat"...
grand central was a total circus when i got there today...granted there were some fine lookin' green shorts and stuffed green blouses other than that it was all the psycho wards in the tri state area went on a day trip...
MAD stay on PK ...maybe they will establsih a MAD DAY at PK...
i' babblin'...but i see "the voice" has a "don't follow charlie sheen on twitter day do it for america" tomorrow...
hope MAD goes for that interview which has been suggested...that should be a hoot...
"That's the great thing about New York. You walk down the street and you encounter like a thousand potential sexual partners every day. A walk to the deli can be very erotic."
Edward Burns, Sidewalks of New York
rr
Here is that link on the tsunami dog, a real dog hero http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/dog-in-japan-stays-by-the-side-of-its-ailing-friend-in-the-rubble
al...thanks for the link...probably would have missed it...
loyalty...trust...what more could one ask for...
rr
Yeah the name on the potato salad looks kinda like mold. Stick with the neon. Are black and white cookies only an east coast thing? The only time I have had one was in NJ, never seen them out here.
I'm trying to not read too much about Charlie Sheen, but why the fuck would someone go see him in "concert"? I don't get it.
@rr: You were in the city today? Another great quote!
@Al: Thanks for the linkage! I'll check it out when I get home.
@kari: The black and white cookies are an east coast thing. Never seen them anywhere else and I love them. I think people are just curious about the whole Sheen thing. One of the reasons I want to go is to see the other people who show up, should make for a good blog!
MAD...yeah...check tour email....sumtime will try to put it together...
rr
should be "your" email...the evil computer and all...
rr
@rr: Going there now...
Wait, there's a tour? How do I check the tour email? No one ever tells me anything.
When me and Smoopy stayed at the Wellington last year for our honeymoon ... we ate at Carnegie on our last day. I didn't like getting crammed in with strangers at a table - no room to move around -- way too much food - overpriced -- place smelled strange, etc., etc., etc.
We weren't impressed ....... and .... what the F do they do with all that extra food ? It's an incredible amount they are always taking back. Do they just throw it away ? give it to the soup kitchen ? put it back in the pot to re-serve to someone else ???
Definitely scary !
@csp: A three hour tour?
@GENE: I much prefer Katz's, even though that can get crowded too.