Forget the tourist traps surrounding the Empire State Building and Central Park. Expert-level sightseers know that to get a taste of the real New York, you'll have to head to the Lower East Side, home of Katz's Deli's iconic, 6-inch-tall pastrami sandwiches.
No one knows this better than Bon Appétit deputy editor Andrew Knowlton, who recently pulled a 24-hour shift at the legendary 129-year-old deli. Knowlton has done round-the-clock workdays at the likes of Waffle House and Caesars Palace, but calls this "the hardest 24 hours at any place I've worked." At hour four, he loses his first ticket. At hour 19, he faces off with two drunk women intent on his downfall. And at hour 22 he finally joins Katz's A-team—the pastrami slicers—a feat that takes some employees ten years. At the end of 24 hours, he's so damn good at working the counter that it seems like they miiight just hire him (owner Jake Dell's only complaint is that Andrew is "too nice" to fit in with the deli's famously crabby staff).
Watch the video above for what will surely go down in history as the second most entertaining film ever to be shot in Katz's Deli. And if you make it down to Houston and Ludlow for your own pastrami sandwich, remember Katz's cardinal rule: Mayonnaise is for tourists.