#20 New Yorker

There's a few items on the Tat's menu that are so similar it makes you wonder why they differentiate. The Tat'strami is the classic, a sort of North Carolina barbecue take on a Reuben. And still there's a classic Reuben, with corned beef, kraut, swiss, and russian dressing on rye. Then there's the hybrid of the two, the New Yorker. "A hearty combination of our in-House Corned Beef and Pastrami w/ Swiss & spicy mustard on Rye bread.... Add Slaw - No Charge."

So here's the thing. There's no reason to order this sandwich. I'm not saying it's not good, because holy shit look at this thing:

That picture doesn't really do it justice. It's a pile of beef worthy of an east-coast sandwich shop. The corned beef really has a stronger brine flavor than the house pastrami, and the meat to slaw ratio here is really tilted in favor of the meat. Unlike the Tat'strami which is more like 70% meat to 30% slaw this is more like 90% meat to 10% slaw. The slaw provides just a hint of acidity and sweetness that helps the sandwich from being too overwhelmingly greasy and salty. And toasting the bread is a nice touch as it holds together under the weight of all that hot beef much better. No soggy bread today.

There's no reason to order this because really, it's not as good as the Tat'strami. The rye bread is fine but it's more caraway bread than rye, really, and while rye is awesome, caraway tastes like my Grandma Rubin's sock drawer. This sandwich is awesome, but on a menu like Tat's has, it's overshadowed and definitely something I wouldn't go back to.