Brooklyn’s Deli, Potomac, Montgomery County, Maryland

My Washington area pastrami research continues. I was free from my Principal Deputy Nanny duties and decided try Brooklyn’s Deli, which is not to be confused with the Brooklyn Deli and Cafe on Old Georgetown Road in Bethesda. Brooklyn’s Deli is at 1089 Seven Locks Road in the Potomac Woods Plaza off the Montrose exit of I-270 — part of the larger development that has a Harris Teeter and that also includes Attman’s Deli in another section. A number of people had lauded the pastrami at Brooklyn’s Deli, so off I went and found it in a shopping crescent that embraced a large common outdoor seating area they share with a couple of other places.

First, the layout. Brooklyn’s has a good deli feel, considering its newness. There are two separate dining areas, a side with table seating with booths and tables, and counter seating tucked between the kitchen and a display case that I didn’t really notice as I entered. The walls are covered with photographs of customers as I’ve seen so often in delis, including many infants and young children,

as well as a shrine to the Brooklyn Dodgers of yore near my chosen table.

I think my pastrami focus may be a little inflexible. You can order half sandwiches at Brooklyn’s, and I toyed with getting half each of pastrami and tongue. I saw a lot of breakfast plates sail by, including a nice looking Nova, eggs, and onions, plus bagels galore, good ones from Bethesda Bagels. I also saw a couple of seductive corned beef sandwiches on their way to others’ tables. They looked just like the ones on Brooklyn’s website. Brooklyn’s corns the beef in house. All meats are cooked in house, but they brag most about their start-to-finish corned beef. Still, I barged ahead with my order of hot pastrami on rye, thinking of the website photo of thick slabs of hot, juicy pastrami. Here’s my sandwich.

As you can see the pastrami looked as if it had been left over from breakfast orders of pastrami and eggs. I looked forlornly at a man happily eating what looked like a succulent corned beef sandwich, and a woman merrily dining on creamy eggs, crisp hash browns, and a bagel with a schmear. I sighed and turned to my sandwich, and soldiered through it.

I suppose I could have sent it back, but I hate to do that. Perhaps it’s the Calvinist in me. When I get thrown off, I prefer to get back up on the horse and try again, at least when it comes to eating. Perhaps the horse/eating metaphor was a bad choice.

I initially planned to write a negative review of the pastrami. Then I thought how common problems getting, training, and keeping staff are these days, and that this could not be the pastrami that others had experienced. Instead, I sent an email telling the manager of my experience so that she or he could address the problem. I waited and went back for another visit a couple of months later, long enough to see not only whether they fixed the problem, but whether the fix had lasted. This time I ordered (or so I thought, a half sandwich of pastrami to give it another chance, and a half sandwich of corned beef just in case. The server asked if I wanted both meats on one half sandwich, and with breathtaking imprecision I said “two separate sandwiches.” My order arrived soon after.

My first reaction was “shrinkflation!” Those looked pretty thin for deli sandwiches. I found the reason when I got the bill and found I’d been charged for only a single half sandwich — $9.99. Thinking I’d been undercharged, I alerted the server and discovered that I’d miscommunicated. I’d received and been charged for a single half-sandwich with both pastrami and corned beef on that half sandwich — in effect, two quarter sandwiches, as it were. Put another away, a clearly communicated order of two half-sandwiches will get you twice as much meat.

This actually was a blessing in terms of my ever-burgeoning waistline and my non-burgeoning budget. I need to mis-communicate more often, or have someone follow me around and tell servers to limit me to half portions. Some have hinted that I might stop eating everything that’s put in front of me, but that’s crazy talk.

You’re probably ready for me to get to the point and tell how the food was. Here is a view of the meat on the two sandwiches.

Aren’t they pretty? The pastrami fully redeemed itself. It was hot and juicy and very well seasoned. The rye bread also was quite good — they make it in house, and it’s as fresh as can be. I’d put this above Parkway’s pastrami and on roughly the same level as Attman’s, right around the corner, as one of the top 5 pastramis in the area.

The corned beef was also flavorful and moist. I did find a bit of toughness so that a couple of my bites didn’t go all the way through and I dragged out a little extra corned beef. That’s very common and, really, what we call a First World problem. I might say a Potomac or Hunt country problem. The corned beef tasted very good.

I left Brooklyn’s well-pleased. They were accommodating with the bizarre request I’d communicated, and in a way that was in my best interests. And I applaud them for addressing a problem effectively. Everyone makes mistakes, but not everyone corrects them. (The author looks into a mirror.)

Brooklyn’s Deli very definitely has their act together on the pastrami, and the corned beef as well. I’ll be back, in part because the Harris Teeter there is so much better than the one in Bethesda. You should give Brooklyn’s a try, and let me know how the corned beef hash is.

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