Print90 Year-Old Carnegie Deli Founder Milton Parker Is Dead
David Sax of the blog Save the Deli just emailed me the sad news that legendary Carnegie Deli founder Milton Parker passed away last Friday. Parker was 90, and I'd like to think that he owed his longevity to eating a pound of Carnegie Deli pastrami a week.
Although many Serious Eaters have complained over the years about the rude waitstaff and high prices at the Carnegie Deli, I remain a fan to this day.
The pastrami still rocks, the corned beef hash might be the best I've ever tasted, and the leaden potato knishes are still the tastiest knishes I know. As we found out in our own Serious Eats lab experiments, one Carnegie Deli pastrami sandwich "cell" divides into five normal-sized sandwiches.
In Sax's superb story/obit on Parker he mentions Parker's ten principles of success that he articulated in his memoir, How to Feed Friends and Influence People. I would say that Parker's wisdom applies to businesses in general and not just delis. The inspiring principles, after the jump.
1. Keep it Simple
2. Do one thing better than anyone else
3. Create a family atmosphere among the staff
4. Promote from within
5. Have an open ear to staff and customer comments
6. Make it yourself
7. Own the premises
8. Management is always responsible
9. Do not be greedy
10. Have fun working
Number 11 would have been: All pastrami sandwiches must be at least a foot high.
Milton Parker will be missed by Serious Eaters all over the world.
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4 Comments:
RIP! Hopefully quality doesn't suffer, although I doubt he was involved in making the food in recent years.
DanielJ at 7:14PM on 02/03/09
Such sad news; but I do love Carnegie Deli. I don't mind the sometimes rude staff. To me, that's just NY. I love their food and I don't mind sharing a table with others. It gives me more people to talk to. LOL.
Panda444 at 10:56PM on 02/03/09
My first meal during my first time ever in New York was breakfast at Carnegie Deli. I had never seen such huge portions in my life. Since then I have taken my whole family and a lot of my friends there, making sure to tell them that sharing a sandwich between 3 people is perfectly acceptable. :) The Carnegie's corned beef and pastrami are still some of the best I've put in my mouth. Thank you, Mr. Parker, for making your little corner of the world a tasty place to visit. I hope the deli lives on for many generations to come.
doctorj at 1:05AM on 02/04/09
We were just talking about our experience at Carnegie Deli last night as we ate our little pastrami sandwiches with plain old dill pickles...Honest to God...We sat next to a couple of girls who seemed to be having a last meal before going to a "fat farm" where the first order of the day is a colonic....I'm not kidding...
Rest in Peace...
sammie at 11:03AM on 02/04/09