The only good Nazi is a food Nazi!

Still one of the best sandwiches in town, the Reuben at Kenny & Zuke's is head and shoulders above the competition. The house smoked hand cut pastrami is the only one of its kind around, the kraut on the sandwich and the pickle on the side are house made as well, nice! In fact, I didn't even like a Reuben or pastrami at all until I had this particular dance, so give it a try even if you hate pastrami! The pastrami burger and several of their other pastrami enriched dishes are worth a go as well.


In Reuben remembrance,
Kens place use to be on Hawthorne just below 20th street. They maintained a regular menu for the week which was quite nice all around, and in addition, Tuesdays night featured the L.O.W.(laid off worker) BBQ, which was delicious, and Sunday featured the brunch menu of 'Kenny & Zuke's', which was the foundation for the current restaurant and menu. While at the previous location, Ken himself was present, especially on Sundays for the purpose of personally overseeing every sandwich that went out to a table. With seating for only 35 people or so, and because it was only once a week, Ken would almost assuredly make your sandwich, this was a glorious age. He would take the time and concern himself personally with making each Reuben properly; you could feel the love. He would personally come to your table and ask how the food was. You could also sense his frustration when there was a line, the feeling of being rushed but unwilling to rush the food. We would watch him get flustered at times like this and many others. With kens touch and his unwillingness to compromise, I cant help but think that the sandwich was a little better before, not to mention a few dollars cheaper and slightly larger me thinks. Despite all, it is still the best Reuben around, and one of the best sandwiches in town.

The menu also had written on it, "No cell phones or crying babies" which people would frequently ignore, and Ken himself would enforce personally. He would get all riled and stare people down before going over to their table an firing off a few comments. As the people were unaware of the rules in the first place, I don't believe that they always understood what had just happened; the waiter would usually fill them in. We would always get a kick out of watching the events play by play. We began to jokingly compare him to the "soup Nazi" in Seinfeld, though he never took it quite so far. He had his moments though, enough to make me turn off my phone for the duration of a Reuben. Alterations were another red zone; on one occation my friend asked for a "veggie Reuben" on the way out and the waitress said she would see what kind of a mood he was in. All of this tension just added to the sandwich, and I enjoyed the atmosphere of a smaller space.

PS I apologize for using the word "Nazi" in reference to a person of Jewish heritage, but the word "fascist" doesn't make nearly as good of a head line.

(photo to come, still without camera)