Sanford Levine, owner of the Carnegie Deli in New York City, calls himself an M.B.D.—”Married the boss’s daughter.”
The Carnegie, the quintessential Jewish delicatessen, smokes its own meat at a 22,000-square-foot facility in Carlstadt, New Jersey. The work was once done in the restaurant’s basement.
Joe’s Stone Crab in Miami, Florida, is the third-highest-grossing restaurant in the United States. And it’s not even open in the summertime. The first? Tavern on the Green in Manhattan’s Central Park.
Perhaps the best deal in Manhattan, Gray’s Papaya on Sixth Avenue has a “Recession Special” of two hot dogs and a glass of papaya juice for $1.95. The cost of a single prix fixe meal at Alain Ducasse on Central Park South (the city’s most expensive restaurant) would buy 164 Recession Special hot dogs at Gray’s.