New York eating tour continues...

... with a visit to Artie's Deli for some delicious Jewish deli food. Big would know because she is, supposedly, Jewish. The only real proof I have is that she mutters/insults/curses under her breath in Yiddish when I do something completely idiotic in her presence. Like when I got locked in her bathroom (the bathroom door doesn't have a lock).

When we first sat down, the waiter brought us a bowl of pickled vegetables. Big informed me that there are half-sour pickles and sour pickles. They also had a pickled tomato and pickled red pepper. The really bright green pickle you see only had a slight bite to it. The other two were sour and made my tongue crawl down my throat and die and made my eyes water. The tomato had a vinegar aftertaste, but wasn't all that bad. My favorite, by far, was the red pepper. It was sweet with a little salty vinegar subtle tone to it.

We also got a bowl of homemade cole slaw. I enjoy cole slaw, I'm not going to lie. And this was spot on. It didn't have too thick of a sauce and the cabbage was fresh and crisp and just really really good.

I ordered their pastrami sandwich and matzo ball soup. Big got egg salad and noodle kugel. The matzo ball soup was amazing. It came on a plate by itself, accompanied by a bowl of chicken noodle soup. You pour the soup on over the matzo ball when you're ready. Big, being the total hippie organic veggie eating fool she is, took a bite of the matzo ball pre-chicken soup. She gave it a Jewish rating of delicious. I put a chunk in a separate baby bowl for her and dumped the chicken soup on.

The matzo ball was like... if you took all the clouds in the sky and shoved it into a compactor. Light and airy, but thick. It had a melt-in-your-mouth consistency. The chicken soup was alright, but the matzo ball really made it a winner. I want another one now. In my mouth. Instead, I finished the dish just as our entrees arrived! Unfortunately, by this point the egg salad and pastrami have arrived!

That's the egg salad. It was creamy and rich and amazing. Big put a little bit of Jewish deli mustard on it and it was fabulous. The eggs were fresh, there was a mayo base but it wasn't overpowering, the seasoning was spot on and the mustard gave it that little tangy spicy kick. The flavors were strong enough to linger and leave you wanting another bite (even though your stomach is dying), but mild enough to shovel spoonful and spoonful into your mouth without the starchy protection of bread.

That little corner missing is all I could eat before my stomach started to reject it. The rye bread was underneath to soak up all the delicious pastrami juice. There was a layer of sauerkraut and then piles and piles of thinly sliced pastrami, with melted swiss and Russian dressing. The pastrami was tender, juicy, full of flavor, and so thin that I honestly could swear it melted on my tongue. It was everything I had dreamed about and more.

I thought I was dying on the way home. As we were crossing the street, I saw an ice cream truck and pushed Big out of my way and into the path of oncoming traffic in an effort to get to the truck and my awaiting ice cream. It was delicious.