Unbreaded

Harold’s New York Deli: The Greatest Delicatessen On Earth

Just off Exit 10 of the New Jersey Turnpike in Edison, NJ lies a sleeping giant called Harold’s New York Deli. The 300 seat restaurant is home to the world’s premiere corned beef and pastrami, served a mile high on bread so fresh it’s delivered four times a day. The “small” sandwiches weigh close to a pound and the larges are enough to feed an elephant.

Owner Harold Jaffe, having built and sold almost 40 restaurants throughout the Garden State, has learned a thing or two along the way (and made a tidy profit, to boot.) “More meat” is the name of the game, and Harold plays the game to win. He perfected his craft as General Manger of New York’s Carnegie Deli, where he learned the closely-guarded secrets of corned beef, pastrami and cheesecake.

Meats are brined, “pumped” (injected with additional brine to impart unparalleled moisture and flavor to the meat) and cured for 3 days before cooking. The meat is then boiled (corned beef) or smoked (pastrami) on site and steamed until serving. Customers can enjoy the never-ending pickle bar that offers half sour, sour, and kosher dill pickles, pickle chips, hot pickles, pickled tomatoes, pickled hot peppers, sauerkraut, and all the rye bread you need to turn a single sandwich into a meal for the family.

The corned beef is flaky and delicate, warm and melts in your mouth. Available in traditional cut or extra-lean. The pastrami is smoky, rich, fatty, peppery and robust. The roast beef is light and tender, moist ribbons of lean meat. The brisket pulls apart effortlessly, flaky and moist like the corned beef, but darker in color and flavor. The succulent, juicy, house roasted white meat turkey was some of the very best I’ve ever tasted.

Harold cannot say for sure, but he believes that Harold’s is the highest volume deli in the country, even surpassing the levels of famed New York establishments like Carnegie and the Stage Deli. An astounding 8 tons of corned beef and pastrami pass through the kitchen each week to the 14,000 hungry patrons who come from up and down the east coast.

Read our Q&A with Harold Jaffe:

Unbreaded: What are your personal favorite sandwiches?
Harold Jaffe: Pastrami and corned beef.

UB: What’s a hidden gem on the menu?
HJ: The potato knish. And the cheesecake is the best there is.

UB: What is the biggest day of the year for the restaurant?
HJ: St. Patrick’s Day, then Christmas, then Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. On St. Patrick’s Day, we serve 5000 lbs. of corned beef, 5000 lbs. of potatoes and 5000 lbs. of cabbage.

UB: What do you think are the most important qualities of a good sandwich?
HJ: The meat can’t be too hard or too soft, too fatty or too lean. Consistency is everything. People expect the same quality, same experience every time they come here and they’ll tell us if something isn’t quite right.

UB: What percentage of people order sandwiches here?
HJ: 95%.

UB: Who are some celebrities to whom you’ve served sandwiches?
HJ: Henny Youngman, Peter Faulk, June Carter, Mike Tyson, Mohammed Ali

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Harold’s New York Deli
3050 Woodbridge Avenue, Edison, NJ 08837 (Google Map)