Working 24 Hours Straight at New York’s Most Iconic Deli | Bon Appétit

so what do you got to do to give up here just got to be famous yeah it's kind of a very fluid wall if you work 24 hours straight do you get in the bathroom in the bathroom right above this stall great we're at the corner of Ludlow and Houston Lower East Side of New York City one thing has remained Katz's delicatessen it's been around since 1888 it's one of a kind it's one of those places that if you had a Hall of Fame restaurants cats this is on that list how are you I'm Jake nice to meet you nice to meet you welcome we're not gonna give you a ticket at no ticket yeah yeah because you're now an employee's you can fire me after 24 hours just don't fire me after 6 out okay well looks like right now we got pink or yellow I'll give you yellow that's it this way it's easy to spot you when you go quickly can I just point it out real quickly notice here we got in the other shirt yeah so you come in the door right and you would get a ticket this whole part confuses the hell out of people that's the point that makes the food taste better yeah no but this is your check everything gets marked on here it's kind of cafeteria style so you going to get what you want no market for you add it to your bill at the end you pay and then this is the first station this is the grill right here this is like my true New Yorkers know this station of hotdogs knishes hookah never wash and then this is kind of like what most people come here for is this station here you see we have cutters 1 through 7 over here no mayo do you want mayo and astronomy like listen I'll have to give it to you because you have a regretfully yes that comes from a understand all right come on dude why is he doing that you know what are you gonna do you know New York's had tons of institutions why Katz's why is it still here you know has always been a commitment to making sure that it's the best sandwich you're ever gonna have in your like the best pastrami you ever met at this point also nostalgia plays a very big part and of course it the atmosphere I mean it's a fun place any hour of the day it's crazy is there enough for me to do it in 24 hours yeah yeah we'll be all right you know you don't get to just be a cutter and you gotta work up to that some guys are here 10 years before they get to be a cutter and there's a hierarchy and the way that you have to work up the ladder and that's what we're gonna kind of do today don't go check your Yelp reviews cuz they're gonna go down all plates will go on the top any cups and cans or drinks will go at the bottom so what you have is the waiter service against the wall and everything else game is self-service so once you see a table that's empty we'll pull up with a cart take everything off the table wipe it down make sure everything is set for the next customer to sit down the waiters will give you the dirty eye throughout the whole shift if their table is dirty so you're gonna see plates like this up on the deli counter that's because every time a customer gets a sandwich the cutters will give them a sample of the rent so we want to make sure we get these dirty plates yes [Music] whoa okay wow that's a lot of pickles over here the energy around this place it's infectious so I feel good I'm mostly just bussing tables at this point and sweeping the floor I did see somebody cutting and that looks intimidating they say here the lunch rush 11:13 it goes to like 3:30 for the lines gonna go around the corner so that means whatever I'm doing I got to do it really quickly I'll see you in carry more he won he won so it's lunchtime it's super busy out there there was like four six tops and I was trying to clean it in like this one guy comes up to me like oh it wants to sit down so I quickly just threw everything and then the waitress came and said where's the ticket did you get the ticket and I saw it so I knew it was in here so I had to like go through this thing piece by piece it was this table because I remember this tuna fish I got it I found it and I broke my first plate this is my first plate that I broke yeah it's going great he's shorter knows what you're doing so it doesn't know what to do a little bit hesitant I think at the end of 24 hours we'll certainly get it so this station he is surprising sodas 275 275 Prizes 695 we had the course of potato salad macaroni salad at 6:45 this is for 95 everything else is 795 that's 1290 this is half a pound that's 325 okay I don't forget all that that's the french fried bell if you need more french fries you just press that button I'm just gonna start pressing that button yeah you made it too fancy yes right here you go rising course will last 3040 pretty good thank you sir next so tell me where we got these are the regular frankfurters our glove cleanse flora goes to more some cilantro you shouldn't put ketchup on what do you guys want yeah can you get mustard instead of ketchup ketchup okay I gave you guys extra don't tell anybody all right I need to see your ticket to 275 plus 6 95 how did that work out that's my money too you got the hang of it he learned the price for everything so it wasn't bad would you hire them I'll think about it he's showing some promise in certain spots he's got some good work ethic I will say his little turn nice thank you hold on I'll give it right back to you miss Kay we gotta get him to be a little bit meaner get that New York edge to him that lunch was crazy I've never seen anything like that I mean it makes those other places I worked at seem like lazy summer days there's knives everywhere because there's eight cutters back there I'm gonna get nice before the end of the night and then there's like vats of boiling jus with all the meat in it Jake rightfully so doesn't trust me to cut the meat yet and I don't even know if I ever would he's kind of like Giro of pastrami here where you have to train your whole life just to pick up at night so I don't know hopefully I'll get there maybe 2:00 in the morning bizzy's Andros is gonna be my assistant it's his first and last day maybe yes it is my last day so be nice to him it's 8 o'clock it's a halfway point 12 hours down 12 hours to go only choice oh yeah I'm coming I need to get gloves I need a tray this is intense man I mean those people visiting from London and from California and from Spain and from Japan and like I don't want to screw stuff up and then I feel like I'm getting people behind man is for everybody if it was good you got me out a lot with a little more time forget it could be good I just know that if all the people that I see walking by right now go and have four or five drinks and then come back in like four hours I'm not sure I'm ready for that [Music] welcome to Casa de Sully please return your tickets at the end guys don't misplace um please what happens if I lose my ticket and I try to get out it's 50 Oz if you misplace your ticket it will stop you at the door before you exit and you actually do that to be yes sir I mean call me a nicely though yeah order your meal guys enjoy your meal pay when you exit welcome home up in the Columbia I really won low workers just came in he's on time he's good welcome to Katz's this is your ticket hold on to it sandwiches in the middle everyone gets a ticket don't lose it everyone needs one thank you well gonna cat says you know the drill so you got hamburgers and hot dogs down here I got pastrami and rice you got french fries soda desert at the end you don't lose those tickets I got it we have four more hours to go yeah it's so pretty busy but I'm I'm reaching the end like a sat for maybe 45 minutes this whole time all the bars are still open they're closing right about now but you can kind of feel the energy and people start coming in in groups so you try to give people tickets and like explain to them but they still don't get it everyone gets it take it everyone now it's been cool to see the energy and these guys are still cutting pastrami and cutting corned beef from cutting brisket and making french fries like it goes on I mean 24 hours at Katz's so Jose I've worked almost 24 hours I've done pretty much every job here except for one thing and that's cutting meat I got to practice on bread of course rookies with these started well you see there's gonna got you back before oh good see I think I'm doing a good job that's huge Peter lubbers we will hire you a smaller piece yeah just one tiny piece so you see how they perform just push in the back that's too big it's called a chopped beef sandwich and now you take two pieces of bread it's like making a building first for the foundation I'm gonna put on top yeah it's good for first time money flowers you graduated pretty good yeah that's the rumor going around that you actually really it sounds cheesy but I'll have this memory for the rest of my life like I will have worked at cats how many people can say that tonight thanks for help did I do okay yeah you know I just have to say like I've done this a few times this was definitely the hardest 24 hours at any place I've worked honestly but I think the thing that got me through it is all these cool people okay it goes a little crazy sometimes Katz's is like a microcosm of New York City it is crazy and it's bustling and there's people from all kinds of backgrounds and it's confusing but it all comes together like when you get your sandwich you know and you finally get New York City it makes sense and I think that's why you haven't lived in New York City until you've come to Katz's to truly understand it [Music] can I take your order miss I would like five hot dogs sir

Channel: Bon Appétit

Views: 4,739,510

Rating: 4.8927383 out of 5

Keywords: katz deli, andrew knowlton, katz's deli new york, katz deli nyc, katz deli brisket, katz deli corned beef, katz's delicatessen, katz delicatessen, delicatessen, nyc deli, best nyc deli, katz's deli, katz's deli pastrami, 24 hours, working 24 hours, pastrami, pastrami sandwich, working 24 hours in, best food in nyc, deli, new york, ny, new york city, nyc, deli sandwich, in new york, new york deli, 24 hours straight, 24 hrs, 24, food, bon appetit, bon appétit

Id: ydQ5UZpJRls

Length: 11min 33sec (693 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 24 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/P-52]

I don't want to...

[u/[deleted]]

Ever since I started working as a dishwasher whenever I go out to eat I always try and make my plate or whatever as clean as possible so it's easier for whoever is cleaning them

[u/rapsep911]

It has to be crazy, I eat at that place sometimes and it gets really busy..