Phooey for Bad Eats: Manny Hattan's

Alright, I should have known. The repulsively precious name should have been the tip off. Nonetheless, I'd crawl down Hester Street on my knees for a latke or kugel like bubbeh used to make. I had to give it a try.

When you see "New York delicatessen" you usually think kosher. In this case you'd be thinking wrong. Maybe you wouldn't expect strict kashrut, but at least in that style. That's the fun of deli. Part of the Chinese restaurant experience is the challenge of eating with chopsticks. One of the best parts of the deli experience is finding delicious meals that, for instance, don't use pork or combine beef and cheese.

Not only does Manny Hattan's fail to do that, they actually serve traif! (That's unclean, forbidden food.) Corned beef and swiss? Grilled cheese and bacon? Even Annie Hall wouldn't imagine those in a deli.

(Alright, to be fair you'd probably find some traif at a modern deli unless it was strictly kosher. Even the Carnegie Deli will serve you a ham sandwich, although it's stuck off to the side. But at Manny Hattan's there is traif in over half of their featured sandwiches.)

I ordered my deli usual, a turkey sandwich with cole slaw and russian dressing. The waitress looked at me oddly, like she hadn't heard of such a thing. I asked if I could substitute a latke--a potato pancake--for the usual side. She said sure, although it wouldn't be an exact swap.

The other best part of the deli experience is the bucket of half sour pickles. Due to costs and health concerns you don't see the bucket as frequently, but you often get a few while waiting for your meal. Manny Hattan's, I guess in an attempt to be upscale, serves a little variety of things for noshing, which included one sad, little half sour pickle. Maybe if I liked artichoke and sauerkraut I would have been less displeased.

My meal arrived before too long. The sandwich was memorable only in its size. The potato pancake, however, will live on in my nightmares. It was deep fat fried, the size of a hockey puck. It more closely resembled an Arby's potato cake than my precious Hanukkah latkes.

The crowning event was that when the check arrived (still no refill on the coffee), the potato pancake was not a substitution charge like the waitress implied, but rather full charge for an added side. The cashier said they don't offer it any other way and too bad. So I paid nearly $15 for a sandwich, and that's insane.

If you want deli, choose Katz's. I think it's better food at a better value. If you want a good turkey with cole slaw and russian dressing on the north side of town, try Jason's Deli. My fantastic meal at HPB&G--a full dinner and a beer--cost less than a sandwich and coffee at Manny Hattan's.