Cities have been defined by their iconic foods and the restaurants that serve them best. Delicatessen food is a perfect example. Writer Ron Stern tells us more about the popular #19, thought to be the best pastrami sandwich in L.A., found on Langer’s menu, a famous deli in Los Angeles. Lucky for us, we can stay home (wherever that may be) and order in some Langer’s Deli delivery. 

Keep this famous deli’s delivery option in mind by pinning it to Pinterest.

Hungry for more? Get the recipes for some iconic LA restaurants in the Los Angeles Cult Recipes Cookbook.

Langer’s Deli: One of the world’s best pastrami sandwiches delivered to your front door

Since 1947 Langer’s Delicatessen Restaurant in Los Angeles has been serving up what has been dubbed “The World’s Pastrami.” From humble beginnings, this iconic restaurant has spawned generations of diehard smoked meat fans who crave their overstuffed deli sandwiches. Even the COVID-19 virus hasn’t slowed things down as they offer takeout, curbside service, and what’s even better, nationwide delivery!

Owned by the Langer family, theirs is the quintessential immigrant success story. Harry Langer, a tailor by trade, and his wife Rose came to Ellis Island in 1905 and settled in New Jersey. They had three boys, including Al. At age 11, Al worked in a local delicatessen where he bused dishes and waited on tables. All the money he earned was given to his mother to help support their family.

Al ended up working all over the New York area in delis where he perfected his knife skills, an exacting way of cutting the meat to preserve the flavor and texture. After a stint in the army and marrying his wife Jean, they ended up buying a small 12 – seat Deli on the corner of 7^th and Alvarado in Los Angeles. In the late ‘60s, they expanded to 135 seats to their current location across from MacArthur Park. Since then, Al’s son Norm has taken over leadership, and Langer’s Deli has slowly become the beloved eatery that it is today.

While there are hundreds of items on the menu, it was their #19 that became the stuff of legends. This huge, famous deli sandwich is layered to perfection (knife skills) with pastrami, Swiss cheese; coleslaw, and Russian-style dressing on crusty rye bread. The meat is specially cured, smoked, and steamed and is so flavorful that any attempts to recreate it in your own kitchen are probably doomed to failure.

Half of a famous Langer’s pastrami sandwich.

This is probably the reason why, over the years, celebrities, dignitaries, and Angelinos have beat a hungry lunch path to Langer’s whenever they got the chance. Used as a backdrop for film and television productions, Langer’s has also earned recognition from the prestigious James Beard Foundation.

If your mouth is watering but you are cursing your bad luck for not living near enough to visit, fear not.  A company called Goldbelly has partnered with Langer’s and many other iconic restaurants to provide nationwide home delivery where you can enjoy the same experience as the locals.

One of the best pastrami sandwiches around comes from inside this building.

The #19 sandwich comes in regular size for $109, enough to make 2 sandwiches or the “Double #19” box which includes the following to serve 4:

2 pounds Langer’s world-famous pastrami

1-pint coleslaw

1/2 pint Russian dressing

8 slices Swiss cheese

8 slices rye bread

4 pickles

1 bottle mustard (8 oz.)

The makings of some really great pastrami sandwiches, delivered to your door, from Langer’s.

Hungry for more? Learn how to visit Los Angeles without a car.

The box comes with a description for assembling the sandwiches and offers a couple of options for heating the pastrami including in the oven, microwave, or 45 seconds in a steamer (which is what I preferred). The instructions say to plan for 1/2 pound hot pastrami on each sandwich which made each pretty hefty. I probably shouldn’t have eaten for three days afterword, but I only lasted until dinner!

I shared the Double #19 Box with my friends and family who were heretofore uninitiated into the Langer’s experience. They were, as I would have anticipated, instant believers, saying they have never tasted pastrami like that before! Of course not but I could have predicted as much. It would be the same for anyone who hasn’t really had a gastronomic pastrami indulgence of this magnitude. This is probably the reason Langer’s has served more than 8 million pounds of pastrami since its founding.

Perhaps the late journalist-writer Nora Ephron said it best. Writing in New Yorker Magazine in 2002 for an article simply called, A Sandwich, she said, “The hot pastrami sandwich served at Langer’s Delicatessen in downtown Los Angeles is the finest hot pastrami sandwich in the world.”

Learn more about Langer’s Delicatessen Restaurant on their website. Order at Goldbelly for home delivery.

–Story and images by Ron Stern, “The Global Gumshoe” and RFT’s Hospitality Editor

Please note: Real Food Traveler is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn a small amount of advertising fees by linking to Amazon.com while providing convenience for the reader. Also, as is frequently the practice with food and travel writers, Ron Stern had a sponsored visit to Langer’s; however, all opinions therein are his.