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    Katz's and Le Bernardin
    1 bite · 2 chews

    Katz's and Le Bernardin

    A 1" cube of hand-cut pastrami on rye topped with a sliver of raw tuna and a bead of caviar — two New Yorks in one bite

    Some clients want a dinner at Le Bernardin. Others want pastrami under fluorescent light at Katz's. Her argument is that both are equally New York — a few subway stops and one bridge of assumption apart — and that a good chunk of her job is telling a client which one actually fits who they are.

    Why this bite? Katz's and Le Bernardin are equally New York. Both halves, one inch, no apology.

    The Story

    The pitch every tourist books is the wrong one, and knowing which of two opposite rooms a client actually belongs in is judgment no software has. So the bite refuses to choose: deli pastrami on rye at the bottom, four-star crudo and caviar on top, stacked into a single inch. Nobody has to be talked out of either half.

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    Prep: 25 minYield: 12 pieces (1" cubes)

    Ingredients

    • Hand-cut pastrami
    • Dense rye bread
    • Sushi-grade tuna
    • Deli mustard
    • Caviar
    • Cornichon shard

    Preparation

    1. 1.Cut rye into 1" squares and toast lightly.
    2. 2.Stack warm pastrami, cut to the inch, over a thin swipe of mustard.
    3. 3.Lay a sliver of raw tuna across the top.
    4. 4.Finish with a single bead of caviar and a cornichon shard.