Okay, so it's a few hours premature but the Carnegie Deli in New York is set to close at Midnight tonight. The owner reportedly turned down an offer of $10 million for the place and your guess as to why is as good as mine.
If you never went there and you're wondering why folks are so verklemmt about it…well, know first that it isn't about the food. The food was no better than most delis. In 1989, they opened a branch of the Carnegie in Beverly Hills, a block or two from the long-established Nate 'n' Al's Delicatessen. Nate 'n' Al's is still right where it's always been but that Carnegie went away after five years. Why? The food was overpriced and not as good.
In fact, I suspect it disappointed people because they'd heard how the Carnegie was the greatest delicatessen in the world and how New York delis are the best delis in the world…and its corned beef did not reverse the aging process or make a blind man talk about seeing again. It was just corned beef…at best, no better than any other deli in L.A. and maybe a notch worse.
What the one in New York offered was history and familiarity…and I'm not sure either feels as special these days as it once did. I also think people today are less eager to pay for and devour a pastrami sandwich that weighs as much as a Subaru Outback and costs nearly the same. I'll miss the place but I won't miss it a lot.