Tips for Dining, Eating, and Food Shopping in the Greater Los Angeles Area (including Orange & Ventura Counties and SW San Bernardino County)
Start New ThreadOn tomorrow's LA Times:
"The kosherizations range from the charmingly bizarre and pungent beef and chicken chorizo to the brilliant nondairy version of ranch sauce (for the chicken wings), a delightfully creamy fresh aioli."
By RicRios
on Nov 10, 2010 12:17 PM
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It's easy to overlook the photo montage that goes along with the story: http://www.latimes.com/features/food/...
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I was delighted to see the writer give due credit to Jeff's superb, melt-in-your-mouth pastrami sandwich. It's been my second favorite in LA (after Langer's) since I first tried it a couple of years ago.
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For those that don't know, the writer is a long time LA Chowhound board contributor who got noticed via this site and his blog and hired by the LA Times. A good writer and a great Chowhound.
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Who introduced yours truly to Langer's pastrami:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/60237
And also:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/5149...
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I try not to admit to things (they seem to come back to bite you in the...well never mind where) but I was WLA in those days and in that thread. Thi is/was an original of rare and valued ability.
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Someone should move this to the Kosher Board.
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The linked review was geared to all LA Times readers, not just kosher ones. IMO there is likewise no reason to limit this thread's audience to followers of the Kosher Board. If someone wants to copy it there, fine. But Jeff's has developed a large non-kosher following and many of us would agree that it transcends the traditional limits of kosher cuisine, so this particular discussion most certainly deserves to remain here.
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As someone who keeps it is my experience that the best kosher restaurants are ones that market to and attract the non-market customers - like Jeff's
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A brief note on this issue: this may be heresy, but I'm starting to think I actually (barely) prefer the Jeff's old-fashioned special pastrami (the non-daily one) to Langer's. But they're very, very different. It's probably just a matter of mood. They're both holy, anyway, and since this isn't a monotheistic pastrami church, we don't actually have to choose.
Langer's is more carefully spiced, a little more evenly cut. Their bread is better, more profoundly crunchy, and as a gestalt, it's probably the better sandwich, by a narrow margin.
But the Jeff's version is... god... it's *so* good, it's actually hard to describe. The two paragraphs in the article took me about half a day to write and I still feel that I basically failed the glory of this sandwich. First of all, the hunks are huge - weirdly shaped, chunky, deep pink *slabs*. They're *ribboned* with beautiful, dripping fat hunks. And they're more deeply meaty... they have a touch of that wild gamey tang of animal, animal, animal. It soaks in animal perfume.
Langer's is more of a... finished cooked meat product, more about spicing wizardry. The Jeff's version is more about the intensification of the wild spirit of hoofy animal.
I know I'm hyperbolic, but I took my very hyperbole-skpetical girlfriend and my very stoic, unhyperbolic math buddy there, and, well, I believe I caught my math buddy softly wiping tears out of his eyes.
I love Jeff's when it's crowded.... it's such a Pico-Robertson *scene*. Reminds me that my favorite thing about Los Angeles is that it's basically 15 countries squeezed together, and you can go world-travelling in your car.
Please: do not go and get the regular menu pastrami. It is no substitute. They are entirely different beasts. Different meat, different prep, different everything. If you are on a regular day, and you want some spice intensity, get the boerewors sausage. But it is worth tracking down. I am completely sure that half the people who read this will wait, make the trip, then be disappointed and call it inauthentic, they will complain about the crowds (massive) the seating (not much) and the service (punk, and friendly in a weirdly hyper-aggressive way), they will accuse me of overhyping and overselling, and I know that, on some level, I shouldn't talk this way, because people are always disappointed when they go and they don't have some auto-religious experience and I know I should qualify my excitement, but I am telling you now: it made me shiver with meaty joy, and it made me mumble and moan into my sandwich.
Oh: don't get it to-go. They wrap it in aluminum foil and the rye bread loses it's crisp.
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Oh: one way to put it is: Jeff's version really reminds me of really, really good barbecue - the kind that's so meat-purified that you don't want sauce - in a way that Langer's doesn't. And, in talking to Jeff in the interview, he mentioned that he had an intense love for Southern barbecue.
You know, I typically have so much material from interviews that couldn't possibly fit in the article (I had 9 pages of eating notes and 7 pages of interview notes to squeeze into a 1 page article) that I wonder if I should, like, do a Commentary Track on the articles or something, somewhere on the internet. Would anybody read that, or is that just self-indulgent? I'd probably have to wrangle out legal details with my boss or something.
But anyway: Langer's: gorgeous, glorious spicing, perfect sandwich gestalt. Jeff's: essence of meat, amplified. Both: wondrous.
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wow, must try this out now. Call first to find out when they have it?
Also, find out what's going on with Pho Minh! Don't you have Eric's contact info!?
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Pho Minh
9646 Garvey Ave, South El Monte, CA 91733
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i think that was one of your great tip-offs. been going to jeff's for years but never knew they could serve up such amazing pastrami, i also think it's as good as langer's and i like that the rye bread is grilled here at jeff's. but most will probably think it heresy to say that any other place in town makes a pastrami sandwich as good as langer's, much less a kosher joint (which most connotate with not the most tasty food), but jeff's is good.
i also like jeff's very weird and uniquely spiced chili fries.
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No disappointment here! I had it on Sunday and it was excellent--it has replaced Brent's as my second favorite pastrami in L.A. and has the advantage of being much closer. Langer's, however, remains my favorite (for me it wins on more than just the rye). I am eager to try some of Jeff's sausages next but, if the special pastrami is on the menu again, I fear I will be detoured. I just wish Jeff's had Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray Tonic to go with that wonderful pastrami.
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I actually like everything there except the sausages. : /
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Point made. I just wanted the kosher crowd to see the article. Can we double post?
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You're welcome to start a new, heads-up post on the Kosher board with a link back to this discussion.
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No need. weinstein5 has already started a thread on the Kosher board about the article: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/7463...
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I figured I would share the news -
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I like Jeff's a lot. I read in the article that they had a special pastrami that they only serve at special times. We have tried the regular pastrami, but it still wasn't like a good non-kosher one. Has anyone tried it?
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They had it as a special maybe 3-4 weeks ago. I signed up for twitter just so I can be updated when they have it again. As I was eating it I called my brother and told him I was eating the second best kosher sandwich I'd ever had.
I don't particularly like the regular pastrami from them, I prefer the pastrami at Pico Kosher Deli down the block, but it's not close to the "sign-up-for-twitter-good" standard set by the Jeff's speciall.
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Pico Kosher Deli
8826 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90035
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What's the best?
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I agree with Thi I had the old fashioned yesterday and I told my friend at least ten times "best f'ing pastrami ever!"
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Schwarma / falafel from Max's just outside D.C. Check the D.C. board for more info. Best middle eastern I've had period, kosher or non-kosher. In any case, both Max's and the Jeff's force a level of awareness where I think to myself while in the act of eating that "this is a special experience". Wrapped between some bread is the same kind of zen moment generally reserved for things like watching an all-time great athlete in their prime or interacting with an Einstein-like mind. Your appreciation for the moment requires no hindsight nor effort, simply existence because it comes to you. There just are no words better to describe the moment than "a special experience".
Now if I only I could find a top of the line kosher burger...
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NEW FLASH! (From their Facebook Page): Old Fashioned Pastrami Sandwich is in!! - a ½ pound of hand-carved garlicky pastrami on crusty rye bread with deli mustard. Served with cole slaw and a pickle. LIMITED SUPPLY!
THANK THE PASTRAMI GODS ABOVE IT'S BACK!
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Sweet. I'll have to grab it on Sunday,
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Does this differ from their normal pastrami sandwich (in terms of the meat I mean - I know that their regular pastrami sandwich comes on a French roll rather than on rye bread) on their regular menu in some way I wonder?
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Jeff's Gourmet Kosher Sausage
8930 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90035
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Yeah, it's different than the normal one.
Think of the highly fatty, hand sliced, only on special version like almost, almost, almost like the pastrami hand sliced and doled out at Langer's. At least, this is the closet kosher version I have ever tried to Langer's heavenly pastrami.
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It's certainly different, but so far I prefer their regular pastrami. The one time it was available for me to order, I found it to be interestingly flavorful but dry as a bone and a bit too chewy. Their regular pastrami is much juicier. I would be happy to try the old-fashioned again, though, and YMMV.
Also, just to clarify, my praise higher up on this page is for the regular pastrami, which I think is quite underrated. The only issue I have with Jeff's regular pastrami sandwich is the mediocre French roll it comes on, but the meat is superb.
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It's also a different cut of meat from the regular pastrami. They utilize a cut closer to the belly so it's much fattier, whereas the regular pastrami is the traditional brisket cut.
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Great! I should add too that they are closed on Saturdays. Made that mistake once and I was left with a burning, unfulfilled desire for pastrami all day.
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