The most famous delicatessen in New York is probably the Carnegie on 7th Avenue. The second most famous is probably the Stage, which is located a whopping 30 yards away from it, also on 7th. Folks like me who like delis have been known to visit both on the same New York trip — sometimes, even on the same day — and to compare and contrast. If they do this with any semblance of intellectual and gastric honesty, they realize that the Carnegie has better corned beef, pastrami and chicken soup, whereas the Stage has better potato salad, brisket and pastry. (Don't try to argue these points with me, by the way. Facts are facts.)
In Los Angeles, the most famous delicatessen is probably Canter's, which is located on Fairfax Avenue. The other local delis — Junior's, Nate 'n Al's, Art's, Jerry's, Langer's, etc. — are all some distance apart from one another, making direct comparisons a bit difficult. As far as I can tell, Art's has the best corned beef, Canter's has the best potato salad, Jerry's has the best chicken soup, Nate 'n Al's has the best brisket, Langer's has the best pastrami, and Junior's has the best pastry.
But you can't tell for sure because they're not within walking distance of each other. A few years back, the L.A. Times did a taste test of regional pastrami sandwiches by sending a runner to each to fetch samples, then bring them back to the newspaper offices downtown, where a conference room full of pastrami-tasters awaited. The jury's decision for Canter's was approximately as accurate as the first O.J. verdict, and the other establishments rightly cried "foul." They insisted — and who can argue the point? — that their products would have fared better if sampled when they were fresh, instead of after more than a half-hour of transport time.
Years ago, we briefly thought the science of Delicatessen Comparison was about to go bi-coastal, providing a better chance to finally match the best New York delis against Southern California's. Both the Carnegie and the Stage opened outlets in Los Angeles, with the Carnegie's only a block and a half from Nate 'n Al's. Alas, the only deductions that were possible — and they were pretty obvious — was that the local incarnations of the Manhattan shrines were terrible.
All of us who'd loved the Carnegie and Stage emporiums on Seventh Avenue in New York rushed to the Carnegie in Beverly Hills and the Stage in Century City, foolishly thinking they might resemble the East Coast originals. Not even close. The new, nearby Carnegie was the worst deli I've ever visited in my life, and that's including places like the one in Muncie, Indiana where asking for a "corned beef sandwich" brings you meat that's been extracted from a plastic vacuum-pak and placed between slices of Wonder Bread and topped with lettuce, tomato and Miracle Whip. (It's another of those great chicken-and-egg conundrums: Are there no Jews in Muncie because they serve food like that? Or do they serve food like that because there are no Jews?)
The Beverly Hills Carnegie closed in a New York minute. The Century City Stage lingered a few years but now it's gone, as well. That would seem to have been the end of N.Y. and L.A. delicatessens going head-to-head…but now they've agreed to meet on neutral ground.
Not long ago, an outlet of Canter's opened in Las Vegas at the T.I. Hotel, aka Treasure Island. A Carnegie Deli has just opened next door at the Mirage…and the two are even closer than that sounds. The Mirage and the T.I. are sister hotels, owned by the same company and connected by direct walkways and a tram. It's almost like the most famous delicatessen in New York and the most famous deli in Los Angeles are now housed in the same building.
And if you want to take the comparison another step, there's a pretty decent re-creation of the Stage Deli over at Caesars Palace, which is on the other side of the Mirage. You could easily go to one of these three for your chicken soup, to another for your sandwich, and to the third for pastry. Or hit one for lunch, one for dinner and one for a late night nosh.
One of these days, I intend to try either option. I'm willing to bet I'll like the corned beef best at the Carnegie, the potato salad at Canter's and the chicken soup at the Stage. And since this is Vegas, you just know there'll be someone willing to cover that wager.