Hoping Art's Deli Will Be Just What the Doctor Orders

Art's Delicatessen and Restaurant

12224 Ventura Blvd. 

Studio City, CA 91604

I have really been wanting to visit a real Jewish deli for a long while now. I have two reasons for this. One reason is that it has been way too long since I have had a really good Reuben sandwich. My other motive is a little more selfish on my part. Katie has had this lingering cough and cold for a few weeks now, and she refuses to take any kind of cold medicine for it. I was thinking if I could just get her to a good deli, she would get some matzo ball soup, which is also known as Jewish penicillin, and I'd finally get a good night's sleep. See, you just thought I just picked these restaurants at random.

When I searched on Eater LA's Guide to LA's Jewish Delis, Art's was relatively close to where we were staying and was kind of on our way back home. Art's Delicatessen has been in business since 1957 and was started by Art Ginsburg. He passed away in 2013, and the restaurant is now run by the next generation, Sandy and Harold Ginsburg.

Sometimes parking in this area of town can be tough, but there's convenient public parking available right across the street from Art's, right behind the Bank of America.  We had no problem finding a spot and our luck held as we entered Art's and got a table right away. The inside is rather large, with plenty of comfy booths and pictures of their food lining the walls. There's also a deli counter near the front door, which offers plenty in the way of deli fare for people that want their stuff to go.

The menu at Art's Deli is overwhelmingly large, just like at almost every great deli. They offer breakfast, plenty in the way of sandwiches, a plethora of soups, dinner salads, deli specialties, burgers, hot dogs, and more substantial meals like meatloaf, stuffed cabbage, and others plates for hearty eaters. Predictably, prices are rather high for most items, but that's to be expected in delis like this, and more specifically, in this neighborhood. Let's see how everything turned out for us on this late Sunday morning.

So much for my diabolical plan of gently getting Katie to get some matzo ball soup to knock that lingering cold out of her. Maybe corned beef hash has the same effect? Anyways, Katie felt like breakfast and made the unusual selection for her, of the Corned Beef Hash and Eggs ($19). I have never known her to order hash before, but she claimed that it jumped out at her when she was perusing the menu. She felt the corned beef hash was a little on the dry side, but stated that the eggs and hashbrowns were very good. She was also very fond of the Everything Bagel that she got instead of toast. Not sure if they make their bagels here, but she claimed it was one of the freshest she has had in some time.  A good breakfast, but it could have been better if the star of the plate, the corned beef hash was more to her liking.

Like I had said earlier, I have been craving a Reuben ($23), and I would not be denied this morning. At Art's, they offer either turkey, pastrami, or corned beef as the choices for their Reubens. I went with the pastrami, which I have a preference for. The pastrami is not cut very thin, which allows for a better sandwich in my opinion, as it allows for the pastrami to be the star of the show. I can hear my dad in my head telling me I'm wrong about this, but I'll stand by my guns. The sandwich was finished off with a good amount of sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and Russian dressing all on toasted rye bread. I really did like this sandwich, the pastrami was very flavorful and not too salty, the sauerkraut was not overly tangy, and the Russian dressing brought it all together. I also have to make mention of the rye bread here, as it was excellent. For my side item, I went with the potato salad which was pretty solid, but I was hoping for a bigger pop of flavor from it. It did have a good texture to it though, but I'd probably get something else the next time.

Art's Delicatessen did not cure Katie's cough and cold, due to her not taking my gentle suggestion of having the matzo ball soup, but it did help quench my desire for a very solid Reuben sandwich. Where does Art's rank out of all the LA delicatessen I have been to so far? I'd put it behind Brent's and Langer's, but it's definitely a solid spot. Service was good on this visit, except that our server brought out a tuna melt instead of my Reuben, but that miscue was rectified in a timely manner. I'm happy to report that Katie's cold finally cleared up later that week, which I'd like to think was due in a small part to this visit to Art's. Delis can be very medicinal.

Out of five Frisbees, (because the first Frisbee was sold in 1957, the same year that Art's opened), five being best to zero being worst, Art's Delicatessen and Restaurant gets 3.5 Frisbees.

For more information about Art's Delicatessen and Restaurant, head to their website here: https://www.artsdeli.com/