Pastrami on Rye at the Last Jewish Deli in the Bronx | Sandwich City | NYT Cooking

[UPBEAT MUSIC] “They like the pastrami
because nobody makes fresh Like we make it over here. We have the last deli
left in the Bronx.” “There are many
Jewish delicatessens, But this is by far the best.” “I’m Yuval Dekel. This is Liebman’s Deli, home
of the pastrami sandwich.” “You ordered her?” “No I’d like to order. I’d like to have a
turkey, all white meat, Turkey sandwich on a roll.” “My name is Yuval Dekel. I’m the owner of
Liebman’s Deli. We’ve been here since 1953. Liebman’s is located in the
Northwest corner of the Bronx, In a neighborhood
called Riverdale. It’s not as well known
as the Lower East Side, But there’s always been quite
a large Jewish presence here.” “Nice to see you today.” “We’re basically serving
up all the Jewish deli Necessities and everything
that you would expect to have When you go to a
proper Jewish deli. It’s her first time here.” “A Jewish deli? Liebman’s? With a name like Liebman’s,
you can’t go wrong.” “We’ve got great sour pickles
and coleslaw, frankfurters, Pastrami sandwiches, and
corned beef sandwiches. Our steam table, where we have
our deli meats that we steam. This is pretty much the last
step before they’re taken out And sliced. Best selling item is by
far the pastrami sandwich. Pastrami sandwich is
basically two or three things,

At the most —
great rye bread, And then pile sliced
pastrami on real high. Slap that rye
bread right on top. Slice it in half. Boom. You’re good to go. Pastrami sandwiches
are simple. It’s meat and bread. The part that goes
into it is this. Here are our cuts of beef
that we make pastrami out of. These have been brining for
seven days, and at this point, We’re going to pull them
out and then rinse off some Of this brine. So this pastrami rub right
here, nobody makes this. I just guard it. I mean, it’s something that
I took time to develop. It’s mine, and I’m not
just giving it away. So we’re basically
roasting our pastrami — A little bit of wood chips in
there for some smoke flavor As well, about 250 degrees
for three, four hours. I mean, you could tell that
it’s made in small batches, Made by hand, and
that it’s fresh. There you go.” “The first thing that hits you
is just the richness of it. It’s tender, and
it’s luscious. It is quintessentially
New York deli.” “This is one of the
last, the real classics, Superb Jewish
delicatessens in New York. The pastrami is
like the bellwether Of whether something
is good or not. The pastrami here is superb.” “When I order out for
people, I always — They always ask me to
bring brisket sandwiches And pastrami.”

“If you love
pastrami sandwich, This is the place to come.” “Is your first
time coming here?” “Yeah.” “He loves a good Jewish deli. I said, this is the best.” “Oh, my gosh. It was scrumptious.” “People tell me all the
time, it’s a great pastrami Sandwich. It’s the best
pastrami sandwich. It’s the real deal. I think that they’re
appreciating the fact that We’re still here, and that
you can actually still get Something that is exactly the
same way we’ve been serving it For 70 years. We maintain this less
is more mentality, And it’s not always going
to get you the most hits On social media, but
deep down inside, We’re proud of what we do. We’re kind of
stubborn in that way, And it really wouldn’t be a
proper New York deli if we Didn’t do that.” “These articles right here,
what’s this one on the left?” “So this guy right here is our
very first ‘New York Times’ Appearance. And, I mean, it happened
quite some time ago. I believe this is 2005. There were a lot of delis
throughout the decades. And as the deli business went
through a bit of a demise, People started appreciating
the fact that we are still Here.” “My name is Hakan Baracu. I’m a waiter over here
in a little while.

First time I came
in here, we used To have a lot of old
people here coming in, And all those people
are gone already. It was a packed
full, lined up here.” “O.K. My name is Hakan.” “Nice to meet you.” “Nice to meet you.” “In the Bronx, in
the early 1900s, There were a lot of
Jewish people living here. And there were delis almost
on every other corner. Liebman’s is like
a time capsule. I know that term
is used a lot, But Jewish deli as
a whole is based On old school style of food. And so, I think the best
delis are known for how they Preserve that.” “I’ve been coming to
Liebman’s Deli forever.” “I’ve been coming to Liebman’s
since the day it opened. I remember the
original owners. Now, I believe, it’s his son
or daughter that is the owners Of the place now.” “I’ve been running
Liebman since 2002. My dad owned it for 20 years
about, prior to me owning it. In 2002, he passed away. It was always
part of our lives. We’d run around here as
kids, my brother and I. Yeah, This was like second home,
even my first home, right? Because we’d spend more
time here than at home. So when I started running
Liebmans, I was 24 years old. Before, I was in a band. I’m a drummer in a metal band. We’ve accumulated a bit
of merch over the years. So I’m a big metal head,
love of heavy music, Love all kinds of music.

But metal was my first love. Those worlds were
separate for a long time. So I said, hey, you know what? I’m putting them together. It wasn’t something I
was planning on doing, But we wanted to run the
deli simply because we were So motivated by continuing
what he had been doing for all These years. I thought about this a lot. Dad would be really proud. I think he’d be blown
away just because, well, First of all, I’ve been
doing it for about 22 years, Surviving a pandemic,
getting all this notoriety. But yeah, he’s always
going to be remembered. His picture is upstairs. And so, we’ll always
remember Dad here.” [CONVERSING] “I can clean the table, yes?” “Yeah.” “Lieberman’s is a gem. I’d hate to see it ever leave
Riverdale because you can Never find a delicatessen
as good as this one.” “For us to succeed is to
continue what we’re already Doing, continue the legacy
of the New York Jewish deli. I mean, it’s something that
we’re really proud of and we Feel is a great experience
for people to enjoy. So we’ve quietly
been doing our thing, And we’ve managed to maintain
something that is very unique To us because we just
love what we do.”