by Gary Weinberg on November 4, 2009
Wait, there’s nothing wrong with your browser! Loosely translated, the title means “My first sandwich at Philippe’s.” Hey, I don’t pretend to speak French; I have no idea how to pronounce it. However, from what I’ve been told, no trip to L.A. is complete without stopping by Philippe’s in Chinatown for a French Dip.
Philippe’s was established in 1908 by restaurateur Philippe Mathieu. And as the story goes, in 1918 while he was preparing a sandwich for a patron, Philippe accidentally dropped a sliced French roll in a pan of juice still hot in the oven. The patron insisted that he still assemble the sandwich with the dipped roll and returned the next day with friends and asked for the sandwich to be prepared “dipped” again. Voilà! The French dip was born!
Here’s how it works: you enter Philippe’s (another time warped restaurant… I’m starting to see a pattern with the places I eat), you pick a line to get into (they get pretty backed up in this place), the line leads you to a carving station where a really nice older lady will take your order, ring you up (cash only), and serve your food. As far as the French Dip sandwiches go, you can get Beef, Pork, Turkey, Ham, or Lamb. Then the question remains, how wet do you want your sandwich? As far as I could tell, the default was single dipped; but the more adventurous can order double dipped, or the infamous “wet.” The lines get long, but they move pretty quickly. However, if you’re in one of those “Billy Mays I can’t stand still” moods, you best not come here. It takes a little patience.
Getting down and dirty, when I reached the carving station/counter I ordered the standard Beef Dip, single dipped ($5.55) with a pickled egg ($0.80) and an iced tea ($0.65). The iced tea sounds like a good deal, but just keep in mind that refills are not included with your 65 cents.
I took my tray to a corner table and sat down. I noticed they keep a plastic bottle of mustard at most of the tables. A word to the wise: go easy on that stuff! It will give you a good, old fashioned sinus cleansing if you eat too much. I found out the hard way.
I’m going to give it to you straight up – The French Dip is very tasty, the meat was sliced thin, the bread is nice and soft (I noticed a lot of good bread in L.A.) they juice it up for you… it’s a fine sandwich and a good deal. Honestly though, it didn’t truly blow my skirt up though.
Philippe’s is an L.A. institution and great experience, but I think it lacked something. Neither the texture nor the flavor of the roast beef blew me away. It’s a good, solid sandwich and some good history. I’m glad I experienced Philippe’s because it’s amazing to eat at place that’s been around for 100 years. However, it’s been so over-hyped on the Travel Channel and the Food Network that I think I had built it up so much in my mind that in the end I was a little bit let down. My final verdict? I say if you’re in the L.A. area, for god sakes don’t go to Subway, stop at Philippe’s, get a sandwich, a lemonade, and enjoy the history. Overall, it’s a good meal at a fair price.
Philippe’s
1001 N Alameda Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 628-3781
www.philippes.com
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by Gary Weinberg on October 26, 2009
Ahh, Langer’s… a legendary deli frozen in time. The days of the New York style delicatessen have been gradually dwindling away. They are harder to find as they are replaced by the corporate giants; the Schlotzskys, the Jason’s Delis, and dare I say…. the Subways. But there is still hope. For me, dining at Langer’s was a spiritual pilgrimage – it was praying at my own Wailing Wall. Okay, I’m being a bit melodramatic.
Langer’s is a whole experience; dining there is just half the fun. You have to negotiate driving in L.A., and then, the questionable neighborhood where Langer’s resides. Langer’s is located at 7th and Alvarado, right across the street from McArthur Park. As I mentioned before, the neighborhood is well…. shady. I read somewhere that this area of L.A. is where one would go to get a fake I.D. Why didn’t someone tell me that when I was 17? Langer’s offers parking one block east of where the restaurant sits. You get one free hour of parking as long as your ticket is validated. I felt like that one block walk from the parking lot to the restaurant was negotiating a gauntlet of unsavory characters and ne’er-do-wells. I’ll be honest, I was little scared to take some exterior shots of Langer’s as I feared that my camera would get stolen. Thankfully, I made it into Langer’s without being robbed, mugged, or sexually assaulted. Phewww.
The Langer’s interior sort of reminded me of an old game room basement from when I was a kid. They had the brown pleather booths and counter stools… 70′s brown, and the light fixtures had those old beige lamp shades, all classic diner decor. We were quickly seated and began examining the menu. Langer’s has been reviewed/blogged hundreds of times. Everybody always says, “get the #19.” The #19 is Langer’s #1 seller. It’s Pastrami on rye with a slice of swiss, coleslaw, and Russian dressing. I didn’t want to be like everybody else: I ordered the #10 ($12.70), which is Pastrami on rye with a slice of swiss, and Russian dressing. Yeah, I just ordered the #19 without the coleslaw. My dining companion ordered Matzo Ball soup and a half of a pastrami sandwich on an onion roll.
While we were waiting for our Jewish goodness to come up, I kept looking around for some celebrity eating incognito at Langer’s Deli. I’ve been to L.A. a few times and have gone to some of the famous spots like Pink’s Hotdogs, but I have never had a celebrity sighting. As my ass squeaked across the pleather booth while I turned around, I wondered if the guy sitting a few booths away eating a #19 was Ted Danson. It wasn’t.
Our waitress, Alice, brought our food out a few minutes later. Just looking at this brilliant sandwich made me want to attack it like a fat kid going after an ice cream cake. I sunk my teeth in to the Pastrami, and then was whisked away into a different dimension of deliciously smoked, tender lunch meats. Oy Vey, it went down like BUTTER (that’s for you Grandma)!
I’m really not an expert in Pastrami, but I think I figured out why this stuff just melts in your mouth. I’ve had Pastrami at a few different places in different parts of the country. The Langer’s difference is that it’s hand-carved pretty thick, it’s sugar cured and peppered, BUT….here’s the kicker: it’s slightly fatty. Not too fatty that it’s unpleasant, but just enough to give it some good flavor during the smoking and steaming process. Of course, that’s just my opinion, I could be wrong.
A few other notes; Matzo ball soup was pretty good. Not too salty, and the matzo balls were solid. The entire menu is robust with traditional Jewish deli menu items such as liver and onions, potato pancakes, malts, shakes, and oodles of desserts. I’m a little disappointed in myself that I didn’t try some of the other menu items, or get a dessert, but the whole L.A. trip was a bit rushed. It gives me something to try when I come back.
Except for the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder I now have from my one block walk from the car to Langer’s Deli through the gauntlet of derelicts and homeless people, the whole Langer’s experience was definately a mecca of the pastrami world. Can Katz in New York City hold up to Langer’s? Stay tuned to find out.
Langer’s
704 S Alvarado St
Los Angeles, CA 90057
(213) 483-8050
www.langersdeli.com
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by Gary Weinberg on September 2, 2009
Craving sandwiches? Well before you walk into Subway for that $5 footlong take a look at Lee’s Sandwiches for almost half the price. In fact, repeat after me: I vow to never eat Subway again!
Lee’s is a small San Jose, CA based chain that only has one location in Arizona. They are a one stop shop for Vietnamese and Euro Style sandwiches, but specialize in the Banh mi style of sandwich, which stems from the French influence over Vietnam. The Chandler, AZ location is nestled in a strip mall in a section of Chandler that is predominantly Asian restaurants and markets. The outside of the building has some cool diner like neon lights. I also noticed that the size of the building is misleading; this place is a behemoth when you walk inside. They bake all their bread on site daily, so it’s always
fresh. And just one more one more bit of goodness; Lee’s is extremely clean.
I ordered the #5, the Grilled Pork Sandwich. For $2.85 you get a delicious , robust 10 inch crusty Baguette (a real Baguette, not a crusty hoagie roll) with grilled pork, fresh carrots, cilantro, onions, and mayo. Throw down another 75 cents and you can have double meat. I was really fond of the bread – soft, crispy outside, soft, gently chewy insides, good stuff. The grilled pork was delicious, a nice flavor that was just ever so slightly sweet. Besides their selection of 20+ sandwiches, Lee’s Sandwiches also has a more than respectable selection of Euro style sandwiches on croissants, smoothies, iced coffees, and gelato.
Bottom Line – Service is efficient and fast, the sandwiches are delicious, and you can easily get full with $5 or less with a drink.
Lee’s Sandwiches
1901 W Warner Rd
Chandler, AZ 85224
(480) 855-1778
http://leesandwiches.com
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by Gary Weinberg on August 17, 2009
In Pittsburgh, enormous sandwiches loaded with different toppings such as cole slaw and fried egg rule the land. One can find a condiment stacked sandwich as easily as finding Steelers football gear in this city… they’re everywhere.
Fat Heads Saloon is nestled in a row of bars on the eclectic East Carson Street in Pittsburgh’s historic South Side neighborhood (a must see for any traveler passing through Pittsburgh). This place boasts 42 beers on tap (including one real “hand Pumped” ale) and an enormous menu that includes 17 “munchie” appetizers, 14 different salads, 25 different varieties of burgers, 20 sandwiches, 19 “Headwiches”, 15 styles of Buffalo wings, and 14 different subs. Do yourself a favor; if you are on a diet, it would be advisable not to come to Fat Heads.
Looking over the menu (which took a good 20 minutes), I could already tell that this place epitomizes good greasy food. Just to provide an example, they have a Headwich on the menu (they call them Headwiches because they’re about as big as your head) called the “Artery Clogger.” It’s two fried eggs topped with slices of tasty ham, crispy bacon, melted American cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion and mayo. I think I felt my heart stop for a moment after I read this
menu item.
I started off with the cheese sticks “munchie” appetizer; they were 
pretty typical but the honey mustard they served with them was tasty.. a nice change from conventional marinara sauce. Selecting an entree was especially difficult today – I finally decided on the “South Side Slopes” Headwich. It includes Kielbasa, fried pierogies, onions, melted cheese, and a creamy Horsey sauce.
The food came out about 20 minutes later, and WOW.. this sandwich
looked like it was created by some Polish mad scientist! Biting into it, the taste of the kielbasa dominated the palate, but the melted cheese and creamy potato piergoies definitely complemented it nicely. Included with the sandwich were little homemade crispy potato chips that I would categorize as small bites of crispy potato goodness. Just 
phenomenal.
Service and prices were very good. My server Stephanie took good care of me and the sandwich was $9.95, cheese sticks were $5.95, plus $1.50 for an iced tea. Finishing the sandwich made me uncomfortably overstuffed, but it was worth it for such an enlightening experience. Fatheads could be described as greasy, meaty, fried, grilled, and filling. If you want a good taste of Steel City, stop in at Fat Head’s.
Fat Head’s Saloon
1805 E Carson St
Pittsburgh, PA 15203-1770
(412) 431-7433
http://www.fatheads.com
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Getting down and dirty, when I reached the carving station/counter I ordered the standard Beef Dip, single dipped ($5.55) with a pickled egg ($0.80) and an iced tea ($0.65). The iced tea sounds like a good deal, but just keep in mind that refills are not included with your 65 cents.
