Katz’s Delicatessen traces its history to an 1888 deli on the Lower East Side. Its Houston Street home still joins hand-carved meats, an old-school counter rhythm and a dining room lined with New York history.
The story begins on the Lower East Side in 1888
Katz’s Delicatessen dates its history to 1888, when Iceland Brothers operated a small deli on Ludlow Street. The restaurant’s official account records a series of changes that created the familiar name: Willy Katz arrived in 1903, the business became Iceland & Katz, and Benny Katz joined in 1910. Harry Tarowsky entered the partnership in 1917. These are not vague claims of being “old”; they are a documented sequence tied to families and a changing neighborhood.
The deli moved across the street during subway construction, eventually occupying its present Houston Street location. Katz’s notes that barrels of meat and pickles once stood on the vacant Houston Street lot and that the current storefront facade was added between 1946 and 1949. The building therefore carries visible layers of the business’s development. A meal there takes place inside the same ongoing story rather than in a new room decorated to resemble an earlier age.
A wartime family gesture became a lasting slogan
During World War II, the three sons of the owners served in the armed forces. Katz’s says the families sent food to them, and that tradition became the slogan “Send a Salami to Your Boy in the Army.” The phrase connects the deli’s food with distance, family and care, all in the direct language of a neighborhood business. It also helps explain why shipping food is not a recent side project detached from the restaurant’s history.
Katz’s now offers nationwide shipping alongside local dining, delivery, catering and events. The channels are modern, but the idea of food traveling from Houston Street has deep roots in the business’s own account. Pastrami, salami, rye bread, mustard and other deli foods can leave the room while retaining the Katz’s name. For visitors, the original location remains the fullest expression: food, signs, counter, photographs and the surrounding Lower East Side all occupy the same frame.
The dining room has absorbed generations of New York life
Katz’s history places the deli near the world of Yiddish theater, when actors, singers and comedians from Second Avenue and the National Theater on Houston Street filled the restaurant. Photographs of well-known visitors now line the walls. The room’s visual density can feel almost overwhelming on a first visit, but it is not random decoration. It reflects the restaurant’s long relationship with performers, residents, tourists and films.
The famous room also remains a functioning delicatessen. Guests move, order, carry food and look for seats while cutters work behind the counter. That activity prevents the history from becoming static. The photographs may hold past visits, but every open day adds present ones. Katz’s own story credits New Yorkers with making the deli part of the city’s culture by returning, bringing friends, writing, filming and continuing to order pastrami on rye.
Hand-carved meat is the center of the counter
Pastrami is the signature most closely associated with Katz’s, but the menu extends through corned beef, brisket, turkey, tongue, salami, frankfurters and other deli staples. The official store menu also includes soups, knishes, latkes, chopped liver, sandwiches and desserts. Availability and prices change, so the current menu should be consulted directly rather than treated as fixed historical evidence.
The carving counter gives the meat a human scale. A cutter portions the order rather than sending every sandwich through an unseen assembly line. That service method makes the interaction part of the meal and keeps attention on the cut, texture and warmth of the meat. A pastrami sandwich may appear simple—meat, rye and mustard—but its size, hand carving and immediate passage from counter to guest create the moment people associate with Katz’s.
The ticket is small, numbered and important
Katz’s is widely associated with a numbered-ticket system at its Houston Street deli. For a first-time visitor, the most important approach is practical: follow the current instructions from staff, keep the ticket secure and do not assume the process works like a conventional table-service restaurant. The ticket helps organize ordering and payment in a room that can move at considerable speed.
The system also gives the visit its recognizable rhythm. Guests enter, orient themselves, move toward a counter and interact directly with cutters before settling into the dining room. That can feel unfamiliar, especially during a busy period, but the process becomes manageable when treated one step at a time. Current procedures may change, so signs and staff directions inside the restaurant should take priority over an old online guide.
The menu reaches beyond one famous sandwich
Pastrami on rye may be the shorthand, but Katz’s is still a delicatessen with a broad traditional vocabulary. Its official pages list matzo ball soup, knishes, pickles, latkes, chopped liver, noodle kugel, whitefish salad, bagels, babka, rugelach and more, alongside its meats. A group can build a meal that moves across several parts of that menu rather than ordering identical sandwiches.
The restaurant also provides reheating instructions and product information for food shipped or taken home. That detail acknowledges that deli food has another life beyond the counter. A whole pastrami or shipped package needs different handling from a sandwich eaten immediately on Houston Street. Katz’s separates those experiences through dedicated menu, shipping and reheating pages, which are the right places to confirm current products and preparation guidance.
Planning a first visit
Katz’s lists its main deli at 205 East Houston Street in Manhattan. Check the official hours-and-location page before traveling because operating hours and holiday schedules can change. If the goal is a local meal, use the in-store menu rather than the nationwide shipping catalog. Group reservations, private events, catering and local delivery have separate pages and should not be assumed to follow the walk-in counter process.
Inside, give yourself time to understand the room. Keep the numbered ticket, follow staff direction and choose the counter associated with what you want to order. A first visit does not require sampling the entire deli tradition at once. Pastrami on rye offers the clearest introduction, while soup, a knish, pickles or a shared dessert can widen the meal without losing focus.
- Confirm current hours at the official Houston Street location page.
- Keep the numbered ticket and follow current in-store instructions.
- Use separate official pages for dining, shipping, catering and group reservations.
- Expect an active counter-service room, not a quiet historical display.
Why Katz’s remains memorable
Katz’s remains memorable because its history is not confined to a plaque. It appears in the Houston Street address, the facade, the wall photographs, the family timeline, the wartime slogan and the continuing flow of food across the counter. The business has changed ownership across generations and added new ways to order, but the deli’s identity is still anchored to the Lower East Side.
The sandwich and the room reinforce one another. A hand-carved pile of pastrami could be eaten elsewhere, and an old New York dining room could survive without a compelling plate, but Katz’s joins both. Visitors come for food they recognize from stories and photographs, then add their own crowded, noisy, mustard-smeared memory to a business that has been collecting such moments since the nineteenth century.
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FAQ
When was Katz’s Delicatessen established?
Katz’s official history traces the business to Iceland Brothers, a small Lower East Side deli established in 1888. The Katz name entered the business in the early twentieth century.
What is Katz’s best known for?
Katz’s is best known for hand-carved pastrami and other classic deli foods served in its historic East Houston Street dining room.
Where should visitors confirm hours and ordering details?
Use Katz’s official hours-and-location and store-menu pages. Shipping, catering, events and group reservations are handled through separate official sections.