Critic's Review
Someone mentioned that they went to Myron's recently, so it jogged my memory that I hadn't been here in a while. I had breakfast last time, which is important but not necessarily the proper litmus test for a good deli.
Myron's is located inside the Isle Casino in Pompano. The first thing I noticed upon entering the Isle Casino complex was that the buffet was dead empty. No line. A byproduct of misguided marketing advice. When are businesses going to stop being led down the path to less money by people with associate PR degrees?
Something that's new is that there are tables outside. They all have "Reserved for Myron's" on them; it wasn't clear if they had some special party coming or that they just didn't want random gamblers sitting down to count their cash. I didn't feel like I'd get the proper experience outside, so I went instead and stood and waited for the hostess.
The hostess was an older lady, which is better than a teenager, although she did try to seat me at a small table right in front of the counter. I told her I'd rather wait for a small booth. I was seated in less than 10 minutes at a mini-booth in the rear. The first thing I look at is the mustard; Not Gulden's or Gold's. A sign of the presence of bean-counters.
The place was pretty crowded for 2:30; probably because the buffet is too expensive and not very good lately.
Although I was right in front of the register, my server kept looking at me and mouthing "1 minute". Finally, she dropped off a plate of pickles and scampered away.
2 pickles, no cole slaw, does ANYONE eat the tomato? Ok, something to nosh on while I decide what to order. I notice that they have egg creams; not much chance to order those in South Florida. I caved in on ordering anything special and just decided on a pastrami on rye. They have the 1/2 sandwich with soup for $8.95, but I didn't really want a matzo ball. Regular sandwiches are $10.95.
One indication that this place is not run by true old timers was when I ordered the Egg Cream. "Vanilla or Chocolate", she asked. This is a question that's never asked. If you ask for vanilla, ok. But if you just say "Egg Cream", chocolate is understood. Nobody orders a vanilla egg cream.
The egg cream is a special deal; she sent someone over to the "push cart" to make it.
All About the Egg Cream
If you're a lifetime South Floridian, or from some other fly-over Middle America place, you may not know what an "Egg Cream" is. The name may sound like a fatty glass of cholesterol, but the first thing you need to know is that an Egg Cream has neither eggs nor cream. It has 3 ingredients; Chocolate Syrup (unless you're a cretin and order a vanilla one), whole milk and pressure spayed seltzer. There's a specific brand of syrup (U-Bet) and a method to make it that differentiates a perfect egg cream from the impostor. Egg Creams were served in Candy and Soda Shops, but we don't really have any of those anymore.
The egg cream was delivered within 2 minutes.
Ah, the pretzel stick. I never got the pretzel in the egg cream thing. No extra charge though; back in my parent's day the pretzel stick was an extra 2 cents. The first indication of an Impostor was the chocolate garnish on top and no syrup clinging to the glass on the bottom. It's impossible to dissolve 100% of the syrup by stirring. I think they probably used chocolate soda for this, which is totally wrong.
But the thing that was the most wrong with this Egg Cream was that it was warm. Very warm. This needs to be made with ice cold milk, and cold soda. Maybe served in a chilled glass. Warm is bad. There's nothing refreshing about a warm egg cream.
One thing that is authentic about Myron's is the crowd; a lot of walkers and people with oxygen. They've probably forgotten how an egg cream used to be made.
Although there's frosted glass between the deli and casino, if you peek underneath you can watch people gamble. Fun stuff.
The dill pickles were good, but the half sours were the worst I've ever had. Almost sweet. Someone dropped something into the brine.
A runner brought the sandwich out 12 Minutes after the egg cream.
A pretty good stack, but could they spare the cole slaw? Cabbage is the cheapest thing that you can buy. The bean counters rear their ugly head. I lather on the National Deli mustard and dig in. My first bite told me 2 things; the pastrami definitely wasn't too lean, and the bread wasn't very hearty, as it fell apart.
I hadn't seen my server since she took my order; I wanted to get a glass of water since the egg cream wasn't going to refresh my thirst. But alas, I never saw her again.
The pastrami was sliced very thin and was quite fatty. I had to extract a couple of pieces from my mouth that were too fatty to want to swallow.
18 minutes after getting the sandwich, no one had checked on me. In fact no-one asked if everything was ok or if I had everything I needed in my entire time here. I had to flag down another server to give me some additional napkins to deal with the mustard explosion.
And of course, as has become traditional here in South Florida, nobody noticed that I was done. I was looking carefully and didn't see the woman who served me originally; is it possible that she left without introducing a new server?
When another server was at the register nearby, I got her attention and said that I needed by check.
At least I'm saving a lot on tips.
Conclusion
Myron's physically replicates an old time Jewish deli; unfortunately they haven't duplicated the food or the caring service. The bean counters keep this from being all that it could be, and the servers are just dressed up to fill a role. At Ben's an owner will come over and make sure you have everything you need, every time, even if they've never seen you before. Because that's the way it works at a real Jewish Deli.
Review 8/9/12
Myron's is a NY Style Deli inside the Isle Casino complex, next to the Isle Buffet, which I reviewed a few weeks back. Myron's is one of the few Delis in South Florida that actually has an authentic New York Deli menu. There's a lot of pretenders down here, but from the menu, at least, Myron's seems like a closer copy.
It looks a lot like a NY deli, with booths along the wall, tables in the middle and a deli counter the runs the full length on the other side.
There's Sinatra music playing, which is more contrived, because I don't recall hearing Sinatra in many Delis in New York. I went to Myron's with no intention of having breakfast, but when I looked at their "all day" breakfast menu and saw the corned-beef / Pastrami hash, I just had to try it. I'd have to try a sandwich another time.
The servers here are not authentic; they're much more South Florida than New York. Servers in NY don't say "No Problem" whenever you ask for something. I ordered some coffee and the hash with over-easy eggs. It took longer than expected.
The menu says that all specialties include potatoes and toast, but I guess the hash is considered potatoes. No matter, this was a very large portion. One good thing about having breakfast in a good deli is that they have really good rye bread, and Myron's is no exception.
I enjoyed this dish and I struggled to finish it. I came for a sandwich and ended up having a big late breakfast. Sometimes that happens in a good, Jewish Deli.