Katz's Delicatessen • 1888

The hand-carved pastrami on rye at Katz's Delicatessen on East Houston Street has drawn crowds since 1888, when immigrants Iceland and Katz opened what would become New York's most storied Jewish deli. Each brisket cures for up to 30 days before meeting the blade, a patience that's outlasted 136 years of competition. The ticket system, the sawdust, the countermen who pile meat to impossible heights—this is where deli became legend.