One is Katz’s, the iconic Lower East Side delicatessen that’s as widely known for its pastrami as it is for that When Harry Met Sally scene. Most commentators note that Katz’s was founded in 1888, and, though no one seems to know when the store actually started selling pastrami, the general consensus seems to be that if they are so good at it now, they must have been doing it very early on.
But both of these origin stories have a few chronological problems. Katz’s Deli has long dated its founding to 1888, the year when two immigrant brothers, Morris and Hyman Iceland, supposedly opened a Lower East Side delicatessen called Iceland Brothers. It is said to have become “Iceland & Katz” when Willy Katz bought into the firm in 1903, and then just “Katz’s Delicatessen” in 1910. But city directories and immigration records show that the Icelands didn’t actually arrive in the United States until 1902, and Hyman Iceland didn’t open his original delicatessen on East Houston Street until 1911. (You can read a more detailed chronology of Katz’s Delicatessen on my website.)
