385 replies to this topic

[Sneakeater]

I have this vague recollection of their having told me, sometime in the early part of the last decade, that they planned to close. Do you think they sold instead?

[splinky]

I have this vague recollection of their having told me, sometime in the early part of the last decade, that they planned to close. Do you think they sold instead?

don't know, but that type of baking is almost a lost art. sadly, it couldn't last forever

[Sneakeater]

Oh, and Brennan & Carr way the fuck at the other end of Nostrand Ave., near Sheepshead Bay.

I realize this one is controversial. Many people whose opinions I respect consider their gray roast beef sandwiches a little disgusting. I just sop up the jus and enjoy myself.

[splinky]

i wonder if jean danet bakery is still in business. french pastry, next block from leske's

[Wilfrid]

A pair of experts finally made it to David's recently, and found it good.

Pink Pig



There had been an intention to visit Mile End too, but I'll mention the outcome on the Mile End thread.

[Lex]

Why did I wait so long to try this place?

My excuse is that as restaurants go, this one flies beneath the radar. Compared to uber-hyped hipster joints like Mile End, David's is the stealth fighter of restaurants. Sneakeater has mentioned it and there's a write up in the Village Voice and the odd sprinkling of CH posts. Only on Yelp do they get decent coverage.

We arrived about 30 minutes before closing on a Saturday. The place is small, narrow, and friendly. We were greeted with smiles and told that while they had just run out of brisket they still had plenty of pastrami. That was good because that's why we were there.



Five minutes later we had our sandwiches. I'll be direct - they were spectacular. Smoky, fatty, thin sliced pastrami piled high on rye bread. Excellent stuff.



Are they as good as Katz's? Damned if I know. And really, it's kind of a silly question. It's not like Katz's and David's are side by side and you have to pick one or the other.

If I'm on Houston St. I'll go to Katz's; if I'm on Atlantic Ave. I'll go to David's. I can tell you one thing for sure - the $9 pastrami sandwich at David's is *bigger* than Katz's $15 specimen. And David's doesn't stop there - they've got a $12 sandwich which is even bigger. I call it the Mother of All Gut Bombs.

I want one right now.

[Lex]

I have had a pastrami monkey on my back for the last month. Longings for pastrami would suddenly come over me at random times. In the morning. Riding on the subway. In the middle of meetings. Late at night, the monkey would whisper in my ear. It was too much to fight and so I began to try to tempt Deb into joining me on an expedition to David’s. Luckily, it didn’t take much.

We got back there last Saturday at lunchtime. They do a nice business. When we got there 4 people were waiting to place their orders and a few more were waiting to pick up completed sandwiches. The space in the front of the store is tight but the crowd was well behaved. It helped that the guys behind the counter were efficient. Nobody waited for very long. We were there for about 40 minutes and there were always 4 people waiting on line.

We ordered 2 medium sandwiches on rye and sat at the counter. I had my camera and snapped a couple of shots.



One of the counter men was amused by this.

“You want a picture? I’ll give you a good one.”

And so he did.



These guys are proud of their product, as well they should be.

They go through a lot of briskets - they’re stashed all over the place. We watched our new friend making trips to the back of the store to refill the steamer in back of the counter. Business was brisk - he made a couple of trips while we were there.



About 5 minutes after we ordered, our sandwiches were ready. On my last visit I only ate a half, I was saving space for our trip to Mile End. This time around I was under no constraints.



You would think that a sandwich this big would be difficult to eat. Do not be fooled. It goes down effortlessly. The pastrami is tender and fully flavored. Looking at the meat, it doesn’t appear to be particularly fatty. Appearances can be deceiving – the mouthfeel was velvety smooth and the spicing was pronounced without being overdone.

I took a short break between halves and then tucked in again.



Sometimes anticipated experiences can be a bit of a letdown. Not this time – it was every bit as good as I expected.

Deb remarked that the bread at David’s is a bit better than at Katz’s which she referred to as “gummy.” I think she’s right. The David’s bread is nowhere near as good as the Orwasher’s rye used at Mile End but I can live with that. ME makes a great sandwich but I like the one at David’s a bit more.

Those of you with healthy appetites should note that while both David’s and Mile End sell sandwiches for $9, the one at ME has about 7 oz. of smoked meat. David’s edition is more like 12 or 14 oz. That seems like it would be too much but it’s not. It’s surprisingly easy to finish. David’s also sells a large pastrami sandwich for $12. My guess is that they probably deliver it to the counter with a forklift.

I am going to find excuses to visit David’s about every 6 weeks. I would go more often but as a Lipitor user that probably wouldn’t be a good idea.

[Abbylovi]

I must go.

[Sneakeater]

You guys are going to have to break down and have the fabulous brisket some day.

[splinky]

Why did I wait so long to try this place?

My excuse is that as restaurants go, this one flies beneath the radar. Compared to uber-hyped hipster joints like Mile End, David's is the stealth fighter of restaurants. Sneakeater has mentioned it and there's a write up in the Village Voice and the odd sprinkling of CH posts. Only on Yelp do they get decent coverage.

We arrived about 30 minutes before closing on a Saturday. The place is small, narrow, and friendly. We were greeted with smiles and told that while they had just run out of brisket they still had plenty of pastrami. That was good because that's why we were there.



Five minutes later we had our sandwiches. I'll be direct - they were spectacular. Smoky, fatty, thin sliced pastrami piled high on rye bread. Excellent stuff.



Are they as good as Katz's? Damned if I know. And really, it's kind of a silly question. It's not like Katz's and David's are side by side and you have to pick one or the other.

If I'm on Houston St. I'll go to Katz's; if I'm on Atlantic Ave. I'll go to David's. I can tell you one thing for sure - the $9 pastrami sandwich at David's is *bigger* than Katz's $15 specimen. And David's doesn't stop there - they've got a $12 sandwich which is even bigger. I call it the Mother of All Gut Bombs.

I want one right now.

are those professional grade bottles of catsup? i almost went to david's last week but my train was coming

[Deb Van D]

I must go.

You really must. The sandwich was the thing (the BIG thing), but they are sweet people. The guy who had his picture taken must have taken dozens of orders while we were there. Looked up, made eye contact every time and made sure he understood exactly what was being asked for. He wants to get it right.

There was a woman who asked for mustard on her pastrami sandwich, then asked for mayonnaise, too. I got the feeling she just wanted it because it was there. Lex and I saw someone like that recently at a hot dog place in Long Branch. She asked for two hot dogs ("not too well done") and piled everything on them, relish, mustard, sauerkraut, chili sauce and ketchup. She washed them down with onion rings ("cheese sauce on the side").

This sandwich is hard to eat in a glamorous way. No pinkies up, you need all 10 fingers. It was dripping with such silky goodness that I didn't care much. I only ate the pickle because they took the trouble to twist it up in a piece of paper and I didn't want to seem ungracious.

I could eat another one now.

[Lex]

are those professional grade bottles of catsup? i almost went to david's last week but my train was coming

You really need to go. It's rare that $9 buys so much pleasure.

I didn't look closely at the ketchup. My assumption is that some people use it on the french fries they sell. Which begs the question - why waste space on fries when you can be eating brisket? I think we each have to answer that for ourselves.

[Wilfrid]

I can confirm that the sandwich is surprisingly easy to finish.

[Sneakeater]

You guys are going to have to break down and have the fabulous brisket some day.

Or the stupendous pastrami/brisket combo.

[Lex]

I want to see you eat a large one.