Every first Sunday of the month, deep in the heart of Decatur, there’s a special gathering of kindred spirits. For some, it’s to relish a past-time that gives them an authentic taste of home; for others it’s to experience what they’ve been missing. These loyal souls are participating in the monthly “meating” of the New York Corned Beef Society of Atlanta, where real New York corned beef is served hot from the pot, hand sliced, smeared with deli mustard and piled high on rye bread.
Army veteran, Freudian psychoanalyst, multimedia artist Howard Wurtzel — now corned beef guru — is the mastermind behind this taste bud titillating phenomenon at Twain’s Billiards & Tap. For most of his adult life, Wurtzel has pursued the perfect corned beef sandwich, like the sandwiches he got from Katz Deli as kid growing up in Brooklyn. Every Sunday, Wurtzel and his father took the trolley to Manhattan’s Lower East Side to Katz’s Deli for the corned beef.
When life took him across the country, he was in search of that feeling of nostalgia he’d get when eating corned beef from Katz. Every sandwich he tasted paled in comparison to the ones found at Katz Deli. He had no other choice but to cook his own. With the help of his wife Ettie, they found the perfect recipe. After years of indulging in the delectable dish privately, Wurtzel and some fellow New York transplants decided to share their love of corned beef with the public… and that’s when the New York Corned Beef Society of Atlanta was formed.
The New York Corned Beef Society of Atlanta meets on the first Sunday of each month at 4:00 pm, at Twain’s Billiards & Tap. You don’t have to be a native New Yorker to join the club. Everyone’s welcome… Just bring a hearty appetite for corned beef and pastrami cooked and served New York deli-style.
