This recent article lamented the decline of delis in New Jersey. But as David Sax reminds us, the fine art of delicatessening is thriving in Los Angeles. If one ignores former New Yorkers who are too stubbornly biased to admit that it's possible to get good deli (or good pizza) more than twenty miles from the Empire State Building, you can find perfectly fine deli chow in L.A. (You also have to avoid any establishment with "Jerry's" in its name.)
Canter's is great…and Sax's article makes note of the superb pea soup you can get there on Wednesdays. If you make a lunch date for me on a Wednesday and it isn't one of those rare weeks when Souplantation has its Creamy Tomato Soup, we're going to Canter's. Nate 'n Al's is good, especially during the hours that Larry King is on CNN because then he isn't in the booth next to you, talking so loud that everyone around is forced to watch Larry King Live live.
Mel Brooks, as noted in the article, favors Factor's and Junior's. They're not my first choices but they're good places for when you're in the area. I've been dining at Junior's since I was a junior. My family ate at Junior's when it first opened in another building, two blocks away, in 1959. I do like their mini-latkes which in the article, Mr. Brooks describes thusly: "I don't know what they are but they're deep-fried and you got twenty minutes to live after you eat one. You might as well give it a name. You might as well call it Murray, because it'll be with you for days after you eat it."
Greenblatt's is fine. Art's is fine. The article doesn't mention it but there's a deli called Brent's out in Northridge that's surprisingly good. For sandwiches only, Label's Table over on Pico is great…and better than Factor's, a couple blocks away. I like Langer's down near MacArthur Park but differ with those who swear their pastrami is the best on the planet. Then again, I prefer corned beef to pastrami so maybe my opinion doesn't count for much. (I think the best corned beef sandwich in town is not, oddly enough, served at a deli. It's at Magee's in the Farmers Market at Fairfax and 3rd.)
Don't write me and tell me that New York delis rule, all others suck and I don't know what the hell I'm talking about. I've eaten in New York delis, including the Stage, the Carnegie and Katz's. They're terrific places…but Canter's is just as good, plus it has the added advantage that you're not likely to run into Jackie Mason.
When I go to delis in Manhattan, I have the unfortunate tendency to run into Mr. Mason and once in the Carnegie, though he was several tables away, I had to suffer through an extended monologue about how it was a foregone conclusion that Bill and Hillary Clinton were heading for prison. There was so much evidence, in fact, that they were already secretly plea-bargaining for reduced sentences. Shortly after that, Hillary became the junior senator from New York, which I guess was part of the plea bargain. On that same trip, a "friend" took me to see Mason's then-current Broadway offering…and I put "friend" in quotes because real friends just don't do things like that to you. I once loved seeing Jackie Mason on stage but that night, his humor was about as sharp as his political reporting.
Mason is going to be in Los Angeles in January for a couple of live shows. I'm thinking of going to Nate 'n Al's during that week, just to see if he's there. It's not that I want to eat with him. What I want to do is to get a booth right between him and Larry King. I'll say, "Hey, guys! Tell me what kind of person Frank Sinatra was," and then I'll get the hell outta there, quick. Because an entire delicatessen will explode.