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Good Rye


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I just finished an awesome sandwich of Red Apron's (Nathan Anda) pastrami.This salty, fatty, spicy beef is the best pastrami I have tasted outside of New York City. It is sold in chunks that approximate 6 ounces for $6 at the Dupont Farmers Market (and probably elsewhere). Sliced and heated, with the fat freely flowing - its great stuff. Also a shout out to the Pain de Campagne bread from Crest Hill (Upper Crust) bakery in Silver Spring on which the marbly meat was placed (with some Batampte Jewish deli mustard). This bread, which is par baked and sold at the local Whole Foods markets, is my favorite local bread and is especially superb for grilled cheese sandwiches.

You got the the mustard right, but the bread? IMO, a really good pastrami sandwich has got to be on fresh rye with caraway seeds. With French bread, you are teetering on the brink of mayonnaise and sweet pickles. B)

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You got the the mustard right, but the bread? IMO, a really good pastrami sandwich has got to be on fresh rye with caraway seeds. With French bread, you are teetering on the brink of mayonnaise and sweet pickles. B)

I'm with you - good Jewish rye with seeds is preferred, but I've tasted no such animal in these parts. Rather than suffer through mediocre rye, I will opt for the best sandwich bread available and that would be Upper Crust's spectacular Pain de Campagne (which I suspect you have never tasted). The mayo, sweet pickles comment is just a mean thing to say to this Manhattan grown yeshiva boy.

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I'm with you - good Jewish rye with seeds is preferred, but I've tasted no such animal in these parts. Rather than suffer through mediocre rye, I will opt for the best sandwich bread available and that would be Upper Crust's spectacular Pain de Campagne (which I suspect you have never tasted). The mayo, sweet pickles comment is just a mean thing to say to this Manhattan grown yeshiva boy.

Einshuldich mir, Mark. You're right, that was a mean thing to say, but I do have passionate opinions about the Americanization of traditional deli foods. (Don't ask me about Oki Dog's pastrami burritos.) I grew up in the Beverly/Fairfax neighborhood in Los Angeles, which was L.A.'s Flatbush back in the day. Not too many of the Mom and Pop delis and bakeries that were jam-packed together on Fairfax Avenue back in the fifties and sixties still survive. But I think I know what good rye bread tastes like. Around here, Breads Unlimited's corn rye, baked fresh daily, is damn good IMO. For some reason, their other rye breads are not as good. If you ask them for seeded rye, the clerks will tell you they don't have any. You have to ask for corn rye. B) I've had Nate's pastrami, and I like it, but even better is pastrami from Neal's Deli, which I've brought back when I've gone to visit my daughter in Chapel Hill, and which she brings on visits home. And I always make a trip to Breads Unlimited before I make a sandwich. (It's in the same strip mall as Strosnider's, on Arlington Road in Bethesda.)

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I've got kielbasa and sauerkraut in the crock. I'm serving it with store-bought pump/rye swirl, B) but wish I had a loaf of rye from my favorite Jewish Deli in Philly-- this is the last of my kielbasa and pierogies from Philly. It's time to return...

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Best rye around these parts as far as I am concerned/know is the onion rye from Ovens at Quail Creek: Penn Quarter FFM on Thursdays, Arlington on Saturdays.

While I am fine w TJ's Dijon for most things, if you're flush, Nathan Anda's little squirt bottles of mustard are pretty amazing, the contents, that is. Wish I know what goes on with the prep, though I can tell you it calls for sitting around to age once made.

(There might be an established thread on this business already. They participate in a lot of markets and sell their charcuterie--including dogs--to places like The Passenger.)

And if you need sauerkraut and don't have a colleague who ferments her own as gifts, I highly recommend the stinky, jarred veg from North Mt Pastures.

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I'm with you - good Jewish rye with seeds is preferred, but I've tasted no such animal in these parts. Rather than suffer through mediocre rye, I will opt for the best sandwich bread available and that would be Upper Crust's spectacular Pain de Campagne (which I suspect you have never tasted). The mayo, sweet pickles comment is just a mean thing to say to this Manhattan grown yeshiva boy.

Einshuldich mir, Mark. You're right, that was a mean thing to say, but I do have passionate opinions about the Americanization of traditional deli foods. (Don't ask me about Oki Dog's pastrami burritos.) I grew up in the Beverly/Fairfax neighborhood in Los Angeles, which was L.A.'s Flatbush back in the day. Not too many of the Mom and Pop delis and bakeries that were jam-packed together on Fairfax Avenue back in the fifties and sixties still survive. But I think I know what good rye bread tastes like. Around here, Breads Unlimited's corn rye, baked fresh daily, is damn good IMO. For some reason, their other rye breads are not as good. If you ask them for seeded rye, the clerks will tell you they don't have any. You have to ask for corn rye. B) I've had Nate's pastrami, and I like it, but even better is pastrami from Neal's Deli, which I've brought back when I've gone to visit my daughter in Chapel Hill, and which she brings on visits home. And I always make a trip to Breads Unlimited before I make a sandwich. (It's in the same strip mall as Strosnider's, on Arlington Road in Bethesda.)

Normally I wouldn't get between two Jews talking rye bread, but if Mark can open a tapas joint and Zora can make fine Mexican cuisine, then this Irish kid can suggest the excellent rye bread available at Atwater Bakery, just a few feet away from Red Apron. Authentic? I haven't a fucking clue. But it snuggles quite well against the pastrami.

Red Apron also makes a fine mustard, btw, though even I know it's nothing like the stuff they served at the delis "back when."

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the excellent rye bread available at Atwater Bakery, just a few feet away from Red Apron. Authentic? I haven't a fucking clue. But it snuggles quite well against the pastrami.

It's also quite nice just toasted and buttered with a bit of crunchy salt sprinkled on top.

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got a rye from Panera. Quite good. acceptable bread very crisp crust. seeded. I used to eat rye sandwiches. three pieces of rye as a sandwich. nothing on it.

this would have worked. excellent crust. nicely seeded. bread not the greatest. I'd say a little thin but very acceptable.

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Somehow I thought I'd posted about this, but it might be buried in one of the deli topics.

IMO, the best rye in the area, hands down, is from Brooklyn's Deli in Potomac. I've brought lifelong NYers there, and they agree it's as good as anything they can get in the city today.

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The rye from German Gourmet in Falls Church is the best I've had in this area. No seeds, but they have it in a wood-oven and brick-oven baked version. Dense, with a lovely crust. Toasted, with butter and fleur de sel, and I'm happy.

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The rye from German Gourmet in Falls Church is the best I've had in this area. No seeds, but they have it in a wood-oven and brick-oven baked version. Dense, with a lovely crust. Toasted, with butter and fleur de sel, and I'm happy.

yeah...while I like the panera rye, where it falls off IMHO is that it isn't dense enough. Other than that quite good.

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I should have my DR license and decoder ring summarily swiped, and be shunned and banished to Yelp for life, but I've been enjoying the heck out of the swirl rye/pump that Giant carried in the deli section :ph34r: .

I'm obsessed with making grilled cheeses with it at the moment.

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I should have my DR license and decoder ring summarily swiped, and be shunned and banished to Yelp for life, but I've been enjoying the heck out of the swirl rye/pump that Giant carried in the deli section :ph34r: .

I'm obsessed with making grilled cheeses with it at the moment.

Do you mean the bread from Paramount Bakery in Newark NJ that the Giant in Van Ness has on the low shelf in front of the deli counter? For "factory" bakery bread, this is some of the best available in the area. The marble rye, the Russian-style rye, the Jewish rye with seeds, the pumpernickel, are all remarkably good for non-local bakery bread. I buy it all the time and it makes me moderately happy. The bulkie rolls from Calise bakery in RI that Giant has in the same section are also very good as hamburger rolls. Oh, and the "panella" bread from Paramount in the same section is especially good for grilled cheese. I think your decoder ring is safe.

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