Friday, December 17, 2010

Mmmmm....Koch's Deli

One of the hidden jewels of west philadelphia, Koch's Deli might be the best thing for a hangover since gatorade was invented. Mountains of hot pastrami and melty swiss cheese on ridiculously good bread make for a nap and a lazy Saturday on the couch.

The quintessential Jewish deli, I started going to Koch's while at school at Drexel, and have been coming back ever since. It's a bit of an institution at UPenn, with the walls decorated in pictures and hand written letters to the Koch brothers to prove it. It's definitely not the fastest service, but thats part of the appeal. The almost overly friendly staff will chat you up and hand out free slices of turkey, muenster and homemade pickles while you wait for your little piece of heaven on a roll. And they warm up the meat & cheese for each sandwich individually, so that when they finally put it all together it just oozes with flavor and makes you realize that it was worth the wait.

I went for the reuben today and never looked back. A 5" high stack of pastrami, swiss cheese & kraut with homemade russian dressing on perfect jewish rye. I dare you to find a better one this side of New York. Not much has changed at Koch's in 40 years. They still have their original refrigerators & scales, which they are fiercely proud of, and they still know how to make a sandwich to write home about. Thousands of hungry college students can't be wrong.

-T. Kaso

Koch's Deli is at 4309 Locust Street, at the edge of UPenn's campus in West Philadelphia.

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