Palm Springs: Deli Deliciousness

New York-style pastrami piled high at Sherman's Deli

This trip to Palm Springs I ate quite a bit of deli food, but not at all regretting it as I don't eat much of it in Vancouver. I really like sandwiches and the thinly sliced deli meats remind me of my high school days making and eating these sandwiches for lunch.

In Palm Springs we went to two delis, Sherman's Deli and Bakery, and Manhattan in the Desert. Both have extensive menus, while Sherman's serves unapologetically huge portions, while Manhattan is a touch more refined.

The half tongue sandwich at Manhattan

Case in point -- Sherman's New York-style pastrami sandwich was piled so high I couldn't even begin to fit it in my mouth! Nevertheless, the temperature hot pastrami was delicious, and I could only manage to eat half of it -- the other half was my lunch the next day.

Meanwhile Manhattan offers a decent-sized meal in the form of soup and sandwich. You get a cup of soup, half a sandwich and a choice of salad. I love their coleslaw, which is nicely balanced with vinegar and mayonnaise, with a slightly tart taste, and the cabbage and carrots chopped finely.

I had three versions of the soup and sandwich -- hot corned beef, beef tongue and pastrami. The beef tongue was recommended by a friend and the texture was soft, but a bit on the bland side and I kept adding mustard to it as I took bites of it.

I've also had matzo ball soup and what's called mish mash -- matzo ball and kerplach in chicken noodle soup. The latter, which was also recommended by my friend, is actually served in a large bowl because it needs to fit the matzo ball and kerplach, a boiled dumpling filled with ground beef, as well as chicken noodle soup.

Matzo ball and kerplach in chicken noodle soup

The cabbage rolls at Sherman's are huge, while at Manhattan they are served in a bowl with a tomato-based soup.

Sherman's has a corned beef plate that includes a giant wedge of boiled cabbage and a potato of your choice. It really can't be finished in one sitting.

And so it's a pity that I can't describe any of the desserts, because we were too full to order any! The ones at Sherman's are very tall with several layers and look very tempting, but try as we might to save room for a sweet finish, it never happens. I overheard a waiter tell a customer that the carrot cake is the most popular, but we have our eye on Black Forest, lemon dome and strawberry shortcake.

Maybe next year?