ACZoom  ·  Archive-2016

See Katz's Deli for a writeup on Katz's Deli.

The sandwich on the left is pastrami - meat that is light red in color, with a dark black crust on the top. The sandwich on the right is corned beef - meat that is darker red in color, and no noticeable dark crust.

I got a combo sandwich, half pastrami, half corned beef. People say that pastrami is closer to smoked meat. But in terms of taste and texture, the sandwich on the right felt closer to the smoked meat at Schwartz's in Montreal. The slices are cut thick, just like it should be. It is not as tender - the meat does not flake off as it would do at Schwartz's, but it is still good.
The sandwich on the left side is spicier, but it looked totally unlike smoked meat. It was also sliced more thinly.

Web search on this topic seems to indicate that Pastrami is closer to Smoked Meat. But that needs to be looked into a bit more - since the right hand sandwich is corned beef, then I would say that at least at Katz's, their corned beef is closer to smoked meat - in terms of appearance as well as taste.