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Hal's Delicatessen
115 N. Aurora St. (the east side off the Commons)
Prices: Sandwiches $4-6
Posted on: 10/3/99
For better or worse, few people seem to care much about traditional delicatessens any more. There are probably several reasons ... for one, supermarkets and Subway-style shops have taken over much of the core of delis -- that is, cold cuts slapped onto bread. For another, traditional deli food has a bad health rap, and rightfully so, although how moving from corned beef to cigars is progress we don't pretend to understand.
A recent New York Times article explored in great (and we do mean great) detail the decline of the corned beef sandwich in Manhattan, widely considered the flag bearer of the traditional deli. Still, there is some great deli food to be had in New York City. There is none anywhere else. But there is some good deli food to be had elsewhere, and even some decent deli food. Hal's is decent, which is, for those keeping score, a notch above no deli food and two notches above bad and/or spoiled deli food.
You can't go into Hal's expecting the Second Avenue Deli ... there's no point, and it's not fair. It's not fair to Second Ave. or to Hal. So we won't wax on about the pastrami, or the corned beef, except to say that, in the stead of no pastrami or corned beef, it is literally O.K. Of course, it's also less than half the price of a Manhattan sandwich, so let us be fair. Hal's reuben is a decent sandwich, the kind you don't regret paying $4 for. It's not a reuben for religions reubenites (shall we say that it is rubenesque?). One noteworthy complaint we have is the default side of half sour pickles. Now, let's face it, half sours are basically the short weakly children nobody selects for the sports team -- not quite girl, not quite boy. A pickle is a sour pickle, garlicky if possible. When asked for full sours with our sandwich on a later visit, we were given, well ... half sours.
Redeeming the pickle
pathos is the potato knish. Knishes mostly sell themselves, fortunately,
and don't require fifth generation skill to pull off reasonably well.
Stuff some dough with oniony mashed potatoes, fry it all up ... how can
you go wrong? To be honest, baked knishes are almost just as good with
half the guilt, but Hal's knishes do the job, and are possibly what we
look forward to the most at this modest outfit.
