📍Pastrami Queen @ Moynihan Food Hall, New York City

I’m glad this food hall exists. Previous options, especially near the Amtrak side were bleak. Now there’s a good selection of fast casual New York places, albeit still a decent amount of chains. I had about 50 minutes before the train which was enough time to get something but not enough time to wait.

Quickly assessing my options, I skipped places I had tried before, places that had long lines, or places that really didn’t fit the time of day. I picked Pastrami Queen. I never tried it but saw some influencers talking about it at one time. I like Pastrami and I’ve tried all the major ones in NYC.

I got a pastrami sandwich on seedless rye, the default order. The bread was soft and fresh feeling. I got it untoasted. The meat was piled inside with a noticeable bump in the center. The bread molded around it as you would expect. The sandwich came with Russian dressing and mustard on the side.

The meat is really thin sliced. I’m used to the thicker pastrami pieces like I might get at Katz or Frankel’s. The pastrami had the type of give you like. You pull on it and it stretches just a bit before snapping. The thicker ones shred but this is too thin for that. Partially because of how it was piled into the sandwich and partially because of how thin it was sliced, you get a good amount of pastrami spice in each bite.

At first, I tried it with the Russian dressing. It came in a cup so I dipped it. For my tastes, I thought a little dressing went a long way. Next, I tried it with mustard. I ripped the packet and put it straight on the pastrami. It’s the stone-ground sharp mustard. This contrasts the earthiness of the pastrami spices well. It comes together in that classic pastrami-on-rye taste.

Pro tip: Grab a seat at the Irish Exit, it’s by the Dead Rabbit team. Have a beer with your food. Live a little.

📍Pastrami Queen @ Moynihan Food Hall
350 W 33rd St, New York, NY 10001

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