Canter's Deli

The Brooklyn Ave. with Corned Beef

After our excursion to the L.A. Eyeworks sale on Friday, we were exhausted and hungry. We zoomed over to Canter's Deli on Fairfax Avenue for dinner. Larry ordered a cup of barley bean soup. I ordered a bowl of chicken soup with kreplach and we split the Brooklyn Avenue Sandwich with corned beef.

Chicken Soup with Kreplach

The Brooklyn Avenue sandwich comes with coleslaw inside the sandwich...delicious. I call this a "sky-high," which is the name that another local deli gives this creation. I'm sure the name of the Brooklyn Avenue sandwich comes from the old Canter's location in Boyle Heights. Brooklyn Avenue is now called Cesar Chavez Avenue. When I was a kid, my Dad used to take me to Canter's in Boyle Heights....his childhood neighborhood. For awhile, both Canter's (Brooklyn Ave. and Fairfax Ave.) eo-existed. I think the Boyle Hts. place was closed in the late 1960's.

I've been eating at Canter's all of my life. It's open 24 hours, so the restaurant became a rock and roll meeting place at the end of the evening, when all the clubs had closed down for the night. You always see characters there.

The food is basically good. Sometimes, I'll get a fatty pastrami or a dried out brisket, but that's only once-in-awhile. I just wish they would take out that false ceiling of leaves in the big room and replace it with better fixtures that doesn't make everything look a greenish-yellow.

Canter's has a good take-out deli counter and an excellent bakery too. The rye bread is heavenly and their mandelbroit has a special crunch to it that's addicting. The Kibitz Room is the bar and lounge at Canter's. They often have live music.

I was surprised to see a delivery truck from Label's Table outside Canter's as we were leaving. Label's is from my childhood neighborhood and advertises as a cut-rate deli. Hmm? Maybe Label was stealing some secret Canter's recipes!