stevez wrote:I stopped in today for a pastrami sandwich on an onion biali. It's really nice to have a source of Manny's pastrami so close to home, but I feel there is a real difference between what is being served at NYB&B and that which is served at Manny's. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it's the same product, the difference to me is in the way the product is handled and sliced. Manny's slices their pastrami slightly thinner than NYB&B (Neither is all that thick) and I think that gives it a slightly different flavor profile. Add to that the fact that the pastrami is either heated differently, or held longer (or both) at NYB&B. This means that the pastrami you get at Manny's seems brighter and spicier/more garlicky than the stuff served at NYB&B.
This is by way of comparison only, and probably not something that very many people would even notice. Both sandwiches are quite good, with Manny's containing nearly twice the amount of meat (for more money). Hat's off to the merging of the talents of two GNR's, Manny's pastrami and NYB&B's baked goods.
NYB&B Pastrami Sandwich
Stevez - it kinda looks like they gave you a corned beef sammy instead of a pastrami. . . its happend to me twice in the past month at NYBB that they give me the CB instead of the pastrami, and i don't realize it till I get home. I dunno if that's the "default" substituion a certain employee over there makes if they're out of pastrami or what, but it upset me something fierce.
Firslty, the coloring of the pastrami at NYBB is markedly darker with a maroon/grey color and obvious peppering. Your sammy looks like corned beef - clean, consistently pink meat.
Secondly, if i'm correct in my assertion that it was really CB, it'd explain the relative lack of taste/flavor. On those glorious visits where i've actually gotten the Manny's pastrami it was extremely flavorful and easily the most delicious i've ever tasted (right up there with the original article downtown).
Go back on another visit. .this time on Monday, apparently. . and see if the experience is different.
btw - i know you're a foody and don't mean to insult your tastebuds, but the coincidence of my experiences and the pic led me to post this. When my brother and i got the CB the first time, we had torn halfway through the sammy before we look at eachother and wondered where the pastrami's peppery taste was.