Gotham Grinds

If you can digest a sandwich here, you can digest one anywhere

When our waiter at A Taste of New York Deli & Market asked me how our meal was going, I simply answered, "BIG." I realize that's not a very precise culinary term, but as I looked down at my Joe Dimaggio ($16.95), a triple-decker sandwich with enough shaved deli meat to choke a large predator, the adjective seemed wholly appropriate.

A Taste of New York opened in food-rich Kaimuki about five months ago. Although its interiors are painted the blue-and-orange team colors of both the Knicks and the Mets and each table has a large jar of dill pickles for noshing, according to James Baker, the restaurant's marketing manager, what truly distinguishes the restaurant as a "New York-style" deli is the large portions. "We don't serve no air sandwiches here," said Baker.

Besides the triple-decker sandwiches, which are named after celebrities just as they are at Manhattan's world-famous Stage Deli, A Taste also features classic deli sandwiches, standard sandwiches, reubens, salads, soup and a massive half-pound hot dog.

Photo: Jimmy Forrest

As I mentioned, I had the Joe Dimaggio, a triple threat of corned beef, pastrami and chopped liver evenly distributed between three slices of rye bread. The meats were sliced paper thin and piled high as a stockbroker's eye. If the Yankee Clipper had eaten his namesake on a regular basis, he would have spent half of his career on the injured reserve list.

The meats were savory but not overpowering, thanks to the fact that they were sliced so thin. I'm not a big fan of chopped liver, but the organ meat, which was part of a mayonnaise spread provide a contrasting flavor as well as much needed moisture to the sandwich.

My two companions ordered the Sarah Jessica Parker ($13.95), which featured chicken salad, bacon, lettuce and tomato, and the Derek Jeter ($15.95), roast beef, turkey and Muenster cheese. Both of the celebrity sandwiches were as big and unwieldy as mine. The chicken salad in the Parker was nice and fresh, but my coworker said she could have done without the third slice of bread in the middle, turning it into a Mr. Big. In summing up the taste and texture of the Jeter, my co-worker simply said, "It tasted just like it looks."

We all finished about half of our sandwiches, so we had a little room to share a "slice" of Empire State Cheesecake ($9.95). Like the rest of the items on the deli's menu, the cheesecake is humungous. The pie resembles a large wheel of hard cheese or a tire from a very delicious small car. Besides being very large, the cheesecake was otherwise unremarkable. By then, the novelty of bigness had worn out for us all.

"Does this taste like an $80 cheesecake?" asked my co-worker referring to the price of a whole pie.

"I don't know if it even tastes like a $10 slice," I said.

Sometimes size doesn't matter.

A Taste of New York Deli & Market
• 1137 11th Ave.
• Open daily from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.
• 737-3354

Do you like what you read? Subscribe to Hawaii Business Magazine »