Cuisine Scene: Pastrami

While Modica’s Deli (455 E Ocean Blvd) is known as one of the best places in the city to get Italian fare, whether pasta, salad or sandwiches – its meatball sandwich is amazing – one of the most popular items on this downtown stalwart’s menu is its no-nonsense pastrami sandwich. Made on a fresh, toasty bread with the simple but perfect accompaniment of pickles and mustard to mounds of glistening and flavorful pastrami, there’s a reason they call it World Famous.

They call it their pastrami breakfast sandwich, but this lovely concoction of house cured, slow roasted smoked pastrami and cage free eggs, white cheddar cheese on a freshly baked telera roll works whether you’re tucking into it in the morning or afternoon. And the sandwich that Saltwater Deck (2630 E Ocean Blvd) presents you is also big enough to share with another and still feel like you got plenty of goodness.

Milana’s New York Pizzeria (165 E Fourth St) starts with its classic, New York-style thin crust, adds a tangy red sauce base, then tops that with cheese and long strips of pastrami. Sliced jalapeño is distributed over the pie and into the oven it goes where edges of the pastrami curl and crisp adding texture and intensity to the flavor. As you’d expect, the jalapeño pleasantly punches up the heat, and what you end up with is a wonderful melding of salty, spicy, tangy and cheesy.