The Best Cure.

Famous 4th Street Delicatessen
38 S. 19th St. (Between Market and Chestnut)
Forks: 7.2
Price: $$$ (HUGE portions)


This morning I woke up with a pounding headache and a very empty stomach. SO college. I had already watched 7 episodes of Blue Mountain State and had no intention of moving when Cole called me to remind me that we were having lunch. He wanted to take me to this "special place." Ugh. When I say I wasn't in the mood, I mean I was NOT in the mood, but I reluctantly dragged myself out of bed and acted like I was. Ripka and Kelsey joined the crew and we hopped in a cab heading towards 19th street to check out the Famous 4th Street Delicatessen. Now, there are some things you should know about the specific people I was with today. First of all, Cole loves food also and is going to go to cooking school with me. Cole is also like 6 ft. 4 and 215 and can eat a LOT, so he's always fun to lunch with. Ripka, a staple in basically every food adventure I take, loves the healthy options, and is always dfoj, down for orange juice, evidenced today by her $11 worth. Then theres Kels. If they had a TV show rivaling Man V. Food, it would be about her. Never in my LIFE have I met someone who likes food as much as I do and who can eat more of it then anyone I know. This is the girl who calls Jimmy Johns and they pick up saying, "Hey Kelsey" before she states her name and order and then bring her chocolate chip cookies for free. Nuf said. We pulled up to the deli and I immediately snapped out of my groggy state as I knew classic Jewish deli oversized food was just the cure I needed. White tiled floors, classic black and white pictures lining the wall, massive loaves of fresh rye bread displayed on shelves, and an enormous glass display case told me that we were in for a good time. As soon as we sat down we were greeted with a bowl of sweet and half sour pickles and a vinegar based cole slaw. You may not know this, but I love pickles. They're crunchy and salty and perfect. What's not to love?

The slaw was great. It wasn't a typical mayonnais-ey slaw but was had a light vinegar sugar dressing instead. The thinly sliced cabbage pieces, carrot rounds, and red onions, were all drenched with the tangy flavor absorbed from the dressing yet still maintained a solid crunch.

We went through 3 bowls pretty fast. I couldn't go to this Jewish deli and not order a sandwich. Cole and I split a corned beef and pastrami sandwich on rye with brown mustard and an order of matzah ball soup. The sandwiches have two size options, regular, which is MASSIVE, and something called the zaftig, which is basically a joke, 22. oz. of meat. like OKAY? When someone who reads this can handle that, call me, I want to shake your hand. The soup came out in an oversized bowl with a giant ladle. It was your typical matzah ball soup, soul-warming and hearty, with a clean broth, tender vegetables that still had a bite, and a mammoth of a matzah ball. The matzah ball was really good, great consistency and lots of flavor, it added to the soup, unlike sometimes when you just have a giant doughy baseball sitting in the center of your soup, ew.

The sandwich, the sandwich. Oh how we ordered so perfectly. Piled high on fluffy rye bread and slathered with their brown grain mustard, warm pieces of tender pastrami and corned beef lay as if they had been hand carved with love, then tucked in for a nap between two blankets of rye bread. Needless to say, it was insane. It looked as good as it tasted with a salty peppery crust on the pastrami and a lean cut of the corned beed. Highly, highly recommended. It was served with 2 baby latkes which were crispy and hot, got me in the mood for Hannukah.

Ripka ordered a greek salad with grilled chicken. We started laughing when the salad came to the table because she's tiny and it was literally the size of her torso. It was an average salad with flavorful and well grilled pieces of chicken but wasn't anything to write home about.

Kelsey went with a turkey, lettuce, and tomato, sandwich on rye. It was also massive and tasty, but a little disappointing because the turkey was kind of dry.

 When we got the check our very friendly waitress brought out a complimentary bag of warm chocolate chip cookies. Its always great to leave the restaurant on a sweet note.

I thought that was me leaving on a sweet note until we ran into some friends who had a massive pile of french toast on their plate. How is a girl supposed to refuse french toast? It's impossible, she can't. So they cut me a bite and I got a bad case of order envy as I relished my one heavenly bite of super fluffy and decadent challah french toast that had the crispiest crust yet still maintained the lightest inside. Not fair!! Actually now that I'm writing this, who does that? Who eats a whole meal and then starts getting fed from other people's plates on the way out? I need a leash I swear.

SO, I definitely recommend 4th Street Deli because my dish was amazing and it has a great atmosphere. I would go for the pastrami or corned beef and stay away from the turkey, and would definitely check out some more breakfast options like french toast and such because they definitely have promise. Thanks Coke-a-Cola for dragging me out of bed and taking me!

happy being hungree made me cured.

xoxo

hungreegirl.