Send a Salami to Your Dad Who Was in the Army
Nov 11, 2008 | From the kitchen of Rose
Those of you who are New Yorkers will have driven or walked by this sign many times that graces Katz's delicatessen and will know that it actually reads: "Send a Salami to Your Boy in the Army"! This sign has been in place since the 1940's!
Katz's is the place where that famous scene "I'll have whatever she's having" was filmed in "When Harry Met Sally," and it's home to my favorite pastrami, juicy if you please, which is a more tactful way of saying fatty.
My 94 1/2 year old father, who lives upstate, has been complaining ever more bitterly about missing the food he remembers. I send him cake occasionally, and home-made orange marmalade which he adores, but finally Katz's message sank in. I realized that a hard salami would last for months and be just the treat he has been longing for.
The salami, appropriately enough, arrived on his porch today, VA day. (Yes, my dad was a paratropper in WWII.) I wonder if Katz's will now change their sign?!
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Rozanne
11/13/2008 10:15 AM
Thank you Rose. You are so sweet.
Bill, I hope your kitchen is back to normal by now.
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Rose
11/12/2008 03:39 PM
oy! good advice.
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Bill
11/12/2008 03:03 PM
I work in brooklyn...I don't know of any place here that is a wonderful as Katz's. It's worth the money and the convenience. I find its better not to tell my parents how much things cost...keeps them calmer. Calm parents are important to me right now...I have enough aggravation without my Mother saying "you spent how much?!!!!" or my Father saying "What a waste of money...down here in florida it only costs..." My parents are divorced and both re-coupled...so I get it 4 times over.
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Rose
11/12/2008 02:55 PM
i'm jealous!
it's as funky as ever. love it!
p.s. told my dad the salami and 6 pickles including shipping came to $70 (so he would cherish every slice and really appreciate it) and he was so horrified he told me next time to drive to some place he knows in brooklyn and ship it myself. (right!)
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Rose
11/12/2008 02:54 PM
i'm jealous!
it's as funky as ever. love it!
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Bill
11/12/2008 02:52 PM
Rose:
I just love how you can use the word Juicy. (We all know that it means, in this case, fatty and greasy, and really really really bad for you). I actually prefer corned beef to pastrami, but often will get a sandwich with both together, a little coleslaw and Russian dressing on the sandwich...and ofcourse...on Rye, with a cream soda. OK...now my mouth is watering. It is 3:49 PM here in NY. Should be done with work by 6, jump in the car, Drive through the battery tunnel, up the FDR, Houston street exit and should land at Katz's by 6:35, 6:40 the latest. I guess I can hang on. I can eat, rather stuff myself, and be home on East 59th by 9PM. Thanks again for the inspriation... I haven't been there in ages.
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Rose
11/12/2008 10:34 AM
i'm so sorry rozanne.it's going to be hard losing my father, especially bc when one lives so long it feels as though they were immortal.
bill--how perfectcly dreadul. katz's will comfort you. don't forget--extra juicy!
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Bill
11/12/2008 10:28 AM
Thanks for this posting. I know Katz's well. Unfortunately, these delis are getting rarer and rarer in NYC. We lost the Second Avenue Deli for a while...it has re-opened at east 33rd street between Lex and third. (So much for being called the second avenue deli). I haven't tried it yet..don't know if it is still the same...but you gotta love Katz's. I unfortunately had a heating pipe break in the wall behind the kitchen cabinets yesterday. Today, all my kitchen cabinets, my counter tops, my sink and my stove are in a huge pile in my living room. Was trying to decide where to eat tonight. I'M GOING TO KATZ'S. Thanks.
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Rozanne
11/11/2008 10:24 PM
Rose, you are so blessed to have your dad survive the war and still have him around. It must have been hard on your mum too.
Today is my dad's 25th death anniversary which makes Rememberance Day twice as tragic and sad for our family.
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Rose
11/11/2008 01:17 PM
i can't hear the word veteran without feeling sad and remembering my father coming home from the war in his strange stiff beige uniform--a stranger to me. and i couldn't have been more than a year old. war destroys so many people's lives. so tragic.
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Jeannette
11/11/2008 01:12 PM
It is Remembrance Day here today too Rose, we had our 2 minutes silence at 11am, to remember the fallen of both wars, my grandfather was one of them. He wasn't killed but died this week, 90 years ago, of influenza as did thousands of other soldiers. God bless them.
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Patrincia
11/11/2008 12:50 PM
What a cute story - mmmm, I love salami, I'm sure your dad will really enjoy it!
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