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

So what do you gotta do to get up here? You just gotta 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 the stall. Uh-huh. 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, Katz's is on that list. How are you? I'm Jake. Nice to meet you. Welcome. We're not gonna give you a ticket, I think. No ticket yet. Yeah, because you're now an employee. You can fire me after 24 hours. Just don't fire me after six hours. 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 up, we can just point it out real quickly and notice you. It's the guy in the yellow 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's the point. It 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 go and you get what you want. They'll mark it 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 Yorker. There's no this station. The hot dogs, knishes, the quinoa borscht. And then this is kind of what most people come here for. This station here. You see we have cutters one through seven over here. No mayo. If you want mayo on a pastrami, like listen, I'll have to give it to you because- You do have mayo. Regretfully, yes. Like that guy's putting mayo on his sandwich. I'm like, 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, there's always been a commitment to making sure that it's the best sandwich you're ever gonna have in your life. The best pastrami you're ever gonna have. At this point, also, nostalgia plays a very big part in that. And of course, 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. You gotta work up to that. Some guys are here ten years before they get to be a cutter. And there's a hierarchy and a 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 here 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 meat. So we wanna make sure we get these dirty plates, yes. Okay, wow, that's a lot of pickles. Any? Good. That looks good. Over here? Okay. The energy around this place, it's infectious, so I feel good. I'm mostly just busting tables at this point, and sweeping the floor. I did see somebody cutting, and that looks intimidating. They say here the lunch rush, 11.30, and it goes to like 3.34. The line's gonna go around the corner, so that means whatever I'm doing, I gotta do it really quickly. I'll see if I can carry more. You won, you won. So it's lunchtime, it's super busy out there. There was like four, six tops, and I was trying to clean it, and then like this one guy comes up to me, and like, 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. Thank you. I was trying to go so fast, and then I forgot. No, every time you see this, this is what I wanted. I know, I know, I know. And I broke my first plate. Here's my first plate that I broke. Yeah, it's going great. He sort of knows what to do, and sort of doesn't know what to do. So he's a little bit tentative, a little bit hesitant. I think at the end of 24 hours, he'll certainly get it. So this station here is the fries and sodas, it's $2.75, $2.75. Fries is $6.95, we have the coleslaw, potato salad, macaroni salad, that's $6.45. This is $4.95, everything else is $7.95. That's $12.90, this is half a pound, that's $3.25. Okay, I'll forget all that. Another thing, when we need fries, here. That's the french fry bell. If you need more french fries, you just press that button. I'm just gonna start pressing that button. Yeah, they'll bring, trust me, this will be filled up here with the fries. I can get for you. You made it to Pepsi? Yes. All right, here you go. Fries and coleslaw, that's $13.40, pretty good. Thank you, sir. Next. So tell me what we got. These are the regular frankfurters. These are the regular french fritters. Goes with mustard and sauerkraut. You shouldn't put ketchup on a hot dog. No, you don't. No. You know that. Busy day at the office, huh? What do you guys want? We want hot dogs. Can you get mustard instead of ketchup? Ketchup. Ketchup? Okay. I gave you guys extra. Don't tell anybody. All right, I need to see your ticket. $2.75 plus $6.95? Yes, sir. Oh. How did that work out? That's my money, too. He got the hang of it. He learned the price for everything, so it wasn't bad. Would you hire him again? I'll think about it. He's showing some promise in certain spots. He's got some good work ethic. I will say he's a little too nice. Thank you. Hold on. I'll give it right back to you, miss, okay? 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 knifed 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 will. He's kind of like Jiro of pastrami here, where you have to train your whole life just to pick up a knife. So, I don't know, hopefully I'll get there, maybe two in the morning. This is Andrew, he's 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 eight o'clock, it's a halfway point. 12 hours down, 12 hours to go. And then also mayo on the side. Only tourists get mayo. But we're not gonna laugh at you today. Only today. Okay, I'm coming. I need to get gloves. Where's your tray, brother? Where's your tray at? I don't know, I need a tray. This is intense, man. I mean, there's 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. Mayonnaise, for everybody. He was good, he helped 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. Welcome to Katzen's Deli. Please return your tickets at the end, guys. Don't misplace them, please. What happens if I lose my ticket, and I try to get out? It's $50 if you misplace your ticket, and we'll stop you at the door before you exit. And you actually do that to people? Yes, sir. I mean, calmly and nicely, though. Yeah. Order your meal, guys. Enjoy your meal. Pay when you exit. Welcome. How are you, cousin? I'm good. Here, look. One of the workers just came in. He's on time. He's good. Welcome to Katzen's. This is your ticket. Hold on to it. Sandwich is in the middle. Everyone gets a ticket. Don't lose it. Everyone needs one. Thank you. Welcome to Katzen's. You know the drill. Yep. Enjoy your meal, sir. So you got hamburgers and hot dogs down here. I got pastrami and rice. I got french fries, soda, dessert at the end. There you go. Don't lose those tickets. I got it. Coming through hot. Hey. We have four more hours to go. Yeah, it's still pretty busy. But I'm, I'm reaching the end. Like, I 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 a ticket. Miss, miss, miss. I got it, I got it, I got it. No, it's been cool to see the energy. And these guys are still cutting pastrami and cutting corned beef and cutting brisket and making french fries. Like, it goes on. I mean, 24 hours, it passes. 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 gotta practice on bread. Of course, rookies. Rookies start here. So you see, this is gonna guide you back and forth. Oh, I see. All right. This guy's no good. See, I think I'm doing a good job. That's huge. Peter Lugers will hire you. You see this small little piece? Yeah. This is a small, tiny piece. So you see how the fork just pushes it back? That's too big. Oh, s**t. It's called a chopped beef sandwich, right? Now you take two pieces of bread. It's like making a building. First put the foundation, then put on top. Perfect. Yeah? That's good for the first time, man. That's it. Serve a guy a sandwich. 24 hours, you graduated. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I heard you were pretty good. Yeah? That's the rumor going around? Rumor that you actually were better than some of our. Really? It sounds cheesy, but I'll have this memory for the rest of my life. Like, I will have worked at Kat's. How many people can say that? Good night, gentlemen. Good night, thanks for your help. Did I do okay? Yeah, you're hired. No, 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. It goes a little crazy sometimes. Kat'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, when 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 Kat's is to truly understand it. Nolten from Bon Appetit, check it out, whoo! Can I take your order, miss? I would like five hot dogs, sir.