USA 1 - The LA Deli

(Humming Hotel California, looking out over Beverly Hills and the Hollywood Hills at night, as I type)

Well sportsfans, I made it (and so did my luggage - FINALLY)!! Here I am in the home of the hot dog, the birthplace of the hamburger, the land of Reece's Peanut Butter Cups. Hmmmmm.

Well.

Where do you start??? In the deli of course! Oh yeah baby!!! I got a great recommendation from Les the Local Lad last night on the plane from Miami (thanks Les) - he said I MUST MUST MUST go and check out the most famous deli in LA - Nate'n Al's Deli in Beverly Hills.

I baptised myself at Nate 'n Al's today - my first meal in the USA - and it was SUPER DOOPER - I sort of felt like I was in a Seinfeld episode! The deli is like 65 years old, it's dark, with brown vinyl booths, and when I arrived there was a queue waiting for a table. This very basic looking deli is in the street parallel to Rodeo Drive, and yet it was the only place I saw all day with a queue to eat. The place was packed full of over 60 Jewish folk, as well as some families, business men, and the odd tourist (well, I think I was the only tourist in the whole place, at least I was the only person taking photos!).

I had to give my name to the "hostess" and wait for a table. Luckily, a very nice lady started talking to me - it seems I have the same name as her personal trainer - so she asked if I wanted to share a table to save one of us waiting time. And you know me, sportsfans, I can't resist a good ol' chinwag! So, we finally get seated. And she fills me in on how the whole thing works. "You have to try the corned beef" - I was thinking of going with the Pastrami (after all, we eat corned beef in Oz) - YOU HAVE TO HAVE THE CORNED BEEF, IT'S THE TRADITIONAL SANDWICH. Ok, ok, Natalia (who I discover is a wonderfully chatty Russian real estate agent living in Orange County). So, she orders hers. She goes into this spiel of Half and Half - a small bowl of matzo ball chicken noodle soup and half a corned beef sandwich with coleslaw on the side. HMMMMM. Waitress looks at me... "I'll have what she's having"!!!!

And I did. And there you have it above. First you see my lovely gastronomic tableau - my Coke, pickles (which just arrived on the table and were very very salty), and my yummooooo Matzo Ball chicken noodle soup. For those who aren't too familiar with Jewish food, Matzo balls are made from matzo meal which is a kosher unleavened bread/cracker type thing (I think), so it's sort of like a giant breadcrumb dumbling in a heavenly chicken broth with noodles...and we all know that Jewish chicken soup cures all (especially worries about lost luggage). Now Natalia informs me it's best to shake some pepper on it, but of course this advice arrived too late - she had to go and put money in her parking meter and I had demolished mine by the time she came back!!!

And then of course the sambo arrived. Dear me - will you check out that half a sandwich. I counted 12 layers of silky, salty-but-not-too-salty, sexy corned beef sandwiched between rye bread which was studded with divine caraway seeds (I really really like caraway seeds). I follwed Natalia's lead and used my knife and fork. She'd also given me instructions (after she'd already yelled at me for starting on my coleslaw first, apparently that's not the done thing - it ruins your palate for the corned beef, so she made me rinse with Coke!) on how to add Deli Mustard. I was first to taste it without the mustard, then squeeze some Deli Mustard on a corner of the bread, then taste it to see if I liked it. So I did. And I really really liked it!! It was wonderful...sigh...I honestly can't believe how silky the corned beef was...no wonder so many people around me were eating it - it is incredibly seductive stuff!

After I had demolished my sambo, thankfully, Natalia allowed me to attack my coleslaw. God, it was fantastic. Crispy, fresh, crunchy and just a little peppery. Perfect. And a whole bowl to myself. Heavenly stuff, sportsfans. Just heavenly.

So, a big thank you to Natalia who made the experience about a thousand times better than it would have been on my own, and of course to Les the Local Lad who pointed me in the right direction. It seems these Yanks really like their food too.

I can't wait to see what's next!

Accommodation - The Tower Beverly Hills - great location (quick 10min walk to Rodeo Drive, good size room, not super swank, but cute, clean, comfy room, great value)