As I was heading to the airport, I was thinking about what food to get for the trip. American Airlines only has food for purchase at this point, and if I have to buy food, it won’t be airline food.
I had to leave for the airport before most of the trucks were open, but I was thinking about the wonderful Reuben sandwich I had a few nights ago from the Canter’s Deli truck. The truck might not be open yet, but Canter’s Deli is open 24 hours – and coming from Universal City, it was on my way to LAX.
So I stopped by Canter’s Deli on the way to the airport to pick up food for the plane. Looking at the menu, I didn’t think a Reuben was a good idea because of the smell of sauerkraut, so I went for the classic pastrami on rye with mustard ($11.75).
The sandwich was warm and deliciously smelly (in a good way) in the car, but by the time I got onto the plane, the sandwich was room temperature and much of the smell had dissipated. That’s good because I didn’t want to overwhelm the plane with the smell of a hot pastrami sandwich.
When we got in the air, I took out the sandwich and took a couple of pictures. The person sitting next to me probably thought I was crazy taking pictures of food, but then I told her about New York Street Food, and it all made sense to her (I think).
This sandwich was just as thick as the Reuben (meaning very thick), but without sauerkraut and cheese, it was all pastrami, pastrami and more pastrami. With the seeded rye bread, deli mustard, pickles and cole slaw, I was in deli heaven!
It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed food on an airplane. I was bumped up to First Class once on Virgin Atlantic to London about 6 weeks after 9/11, and the food and wine were excellent. Other than that, it’s been slim pickings – until I had the brainstorm about getting a pastrami sandwich from Canter’s Deli for the trip home. Thanks brain – my stomach appreciates it!
