Guess who eats together at the Carnegie Deli? New York City and everyone who has long awaited the return of the iconic deli after 10 years of closed doors and not nearly big enough sandwiches.
Founded in 1937, Carnegie Deli closed at the end of 2016 after multiple strokes of misfortune, but on Sept. 15, it made a majestic return to the New York food scene. With a line out the door and one man who had waited outside hours before the deli would open, people are excited to get a taste, with passersby peering into the window in awe, making mental notes to come back for some corned beef and world-famous cheesecake.
“I can’t believe this is a reality. I think I’m dreaming. I feel like I’m going back to when we first opened up. Everything is exactly the same,” said Marian Harper, former owner of Carnegie Deli. “The enthusiasm is overwhelming; people are so happy. They’ve been begging us to come back for years already; now here we are, and I’m glad that we can make people happy.”
Though the deli had been around for decades, it became world famous after Milton Parker, Marian’s father, purchased it in 1976 with some friends of his. Carnegie Deli has since been revived by Parker’s granddaughter and Marian’s only daughter, CEO Sarri Harper, who is making her mother proud by bringing their food back to the community.
“Everyone has a Carnegie Deli story. Everyone has a Carnegie Deli memory,” Sarri said, reminiscing about her own time growing up in the deli. “My favorite memories as a kid were coming to visit my grandpa, coming and seeing him work at the restaurant, and having matzo ball soup and macaroni salad.”
Sarri’s childhood favorites aren’t the only menu items back; all the classics, including the pastrami, corned beef, knish and, of course, the cheesecake, have graced the menu, along with new additions, like the babka French toast and fried deli pickle chips.
As Carnegie Deli opened its doors once more, the Harpers commemorated the occasion with a cheesecake cutting ceremony. With that slice of cheesecake, customers poured in, the scent of pastrami and matzo ball soup slowly filling the air. Still-steaming, juicy, gargantuan sandwiches sail across the room for diners to unhinge their jaws in a Scooby-Doo-esque fashion.
In honor of the grand reopening, the deli hosted a contest for two fans to be VIPs for the day. One contest winner, New Yorker Mike Malizia, was cast as the front counter man for the Carnegie Deli collaboration with Amazon Prime for a 1958-style deli pop-up promoting the second season of “The Marvelous Ms. Maisel.” Malizia won the contest and is celebrating his birthday with some of the first plates served since that fateful pop-up.
“I am most excited to eat the Broadway Danny Rose, the way they get the best of both worlds in there, the pastrami and the corned beef piled high,” Malizia said.
The other winner was Pittsburgh native Marty Mallit, joined by his wife and daughters.
“I started coming here in 1986 with my boss, and he took me to the Mecca of delis, and I just fell in love with the place,” Mallit said. Soon after, the rest of the family would come along and they would always visit the deli, Mallit recalling how “There were many times where the only restaurant we ate at was the Carnegie Deli.”
Both Malizia and Mallit will earn their place on Carnegie Deli’s Wall of Fame. Their photos will sit alongside Sarah Jessica Parker, Danny DeVito, Britney Spears, Taylor Swift, Robin Williams, Adam Sandler and more. All of these photos have been in storage for 10 years, so they’re all the original frames from the restaurant. The Harpers hope New York Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson will be the next face on the wall.
The Wall of Fame and its many photos may be the same, but the location isn’t. The newly reopened Carnegie Deli is a block away from its original location, now at 834 7th Ave., but it has taken over the space that once belonged to Stage Deli, a former rival during the decades-long pastrami wars.
Stage Deli’s closure highlights a broader trend of historical delis disappearing across the city.
“There aren’t as many delis,” Sarri pointed out. “Now there are so few delis. Pastrami, cheesecake and black and white cookies are synonymous with New York.”
She added, “You need a good deli in the heart of Times Square, Theater District area. It’s needed, people want it, we’re just giving the people what they want.”
For more information, visit carnegiedeli.com.
Additional reporting by Dylan Christie.
