Katz's Delicatessen
205 East Houston Street | Lower East Side | built 1900
Open on the map14 entries
The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1888
The Iceland brothers open the deli that becomes Katz's
Brothers Morris and Hyman Iceland opened a delicatessen on Ludlow Street in 1888. Willy Katz joined in 1903, making it Iceland & Katz, and in 1910 his cousin Benny Katz bought out the Icelands, creating Katz's Delicatessen. In the 1930s, construction of the Houston Street subway line forced the deli to move across the street to its present side, and a storefront on Houston Street was added between 1946 and 1949.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1910
Benny Katz buys out the Iceland brothers and the deli becomes Katz's
Willy Katz's cousin Benny Katz joins the delicatessen and buys out founders Morris and Hyman Iceland, giving the shop the Katz name it keeps today. Landlord Harry Tarowsky becomes a partner in April 1917, and the Tarowsky and Katz families run the business together for decades afterward.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1930
Katz's moves to the other side of Ludlow Street during 1930s subway construction
Food writer Robert F. Moss reports that when the nearby subway line was built in the 1930s, the business was shifted across Ludlow Street to where it stands today. Wikipedia's account of the deli adds that the move was required by the Houston Street line and that the entrance stayed on Ludlow Street.
Source: robertfmoss.com
- 1946
A storefront replaces the vacant lot where Katz's kept barrels of meat and pickles
Beside the deli on Houston Street, the present storefront stands where an empty lot once held Katz's barrels of meat and pickles; Robert F. Moss dates it to the years between 1946 and 1949. The deli's own history page gives the same 1946 to 1949 dates for the facade.
Source: robertfmoss.com
- 1966
A Vietnam-era pilot writes to Katz's asking for one of its salamis
A letter dated October 31, 1966, signed Donald J. Murphy, hung at the front of the store when The New York Times reported on the deli in 1991. Written during the Vietnam War, it says he had tasted a Katz's salami that a fellow pilot's family sent him and asks for one of his own. He describes it as roughly two feet long and 2 1/2 inches across, marked Katz's Finest Salami.
Source: Internet Archive
- 1988
Martin Dell and his family buy into the partnership on the deli's 100th anniversary
The store had passed to Benny Katz's son-in-law Artie Maxstein and Harry Tarowsky's son Izzy, who had no offspring of their own to take it over. In 1988, a hundred years after the founding, long-time restaurateur Martin Dell, his son Alan (a chef who managed a neighboring deli) and son-in-law Fred Austin bought into the partnership. Alan's son Jake joined in late 2009 and later took charge of major operations.
Source: katzsdelicatessen.com
- 1989
When Harry Met Sally... films its most famous scene at Katz's
In 1989 Katz's was the setting for the best-known scene in the film When Harry Met Sally..., in which Meg Ryan's character fakes an orgasm at a table and a nearby customer, played by Estelle Reiner, says "I'll have what she's having." A sign still hangs over the table inviting diners to have what she had.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1991
Katz's ships 20 to 30 salamis a week to soldiers in the Persian Gulf
The New York Times reports that the deli keeps a presence in the Persian Gulf, sending 20 to 30 salamis a week from parents, spouses and friends to troops. Dave Tarowsky, who began at Katz's in 1944, says the tradition of sending salami to soldiers goes back to World War II, and signs in the store still ask customers to send a salami to a boy in the Army. A deli legend tells of a soldier who buried a salami whose casing had turned white with bacteria, only to be marched outside by fellow soldiers to dig it up.
Source: Internet Archive
- 2007
Enchanted stages a lunch scene at Katz's
In Enchanted (2007), the character Nathaniel, played by Timothy Spall, reaches Queen Narissa, played by Susan Sarandon, from the kitchen at Katz's. He then has lunch with Prince Edward, played by James Marsden, while trying to keep the chipmunk Pip from revealing his betrayal. Wikipedia lists the scene among many film appearances by the deli.
“Nathaniel (Timothy Spall) contacts Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon) from Katz's kitchen and then joins Prince Edward (James Marsden) for lunch…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2013
Twenty women stage a surprise re-creation of the famous fake-orgasm scene
Improv Everywhere restaged the fake-orgasm scene from When Harry Met Sally inside Katz's, without the restaurant's knowledge, as part of its Movies in Real Life series. Zach Linder and Ashley Ward played Harry and Sally, and 20 women joined in on a late Sunday evening. Getting the seats the group wanted took over an hour. Staff noticed, and other customers laughed and took photos as 20 screaming women surrounded them.
Source: improveverywhere.com
- 2013
Katz's opens a pop-up gallery next door for its 125th anniversary
To mark its 125th anniversary in 2013, the deli opened a pop-up art gallery next door. It showed original work by local New York artists, starting with Baron Von Fancy and Ricky Powell, and the exhibitions rotated monthly.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2017
Forbes profiles Jake Dell, 29, who adds nationwide shipping and plans a Brooklyn outpost
Forbes profiles Jake Dell, the 29-year-old third-generation owner, who has added nationwide shipping, with free two-day delivery on orders over $100, and is preparing a first location outside the Lower East Side at DeKalb Market in Brooklyn. A crew of 140 serves 400 to 4,000 people a day and slices up to 30,000 pounds of meat weekly. The article notes the deli pays no rent, having bought its building years earlier.
Source: Internet Archive
- 2024
Katz's settles a federal lawsuit and agrees to make the deli wheelchair accessible
Katz's agreed to pay a $20,000 penalty and sign a consent decree approved by a federal judge, settling an Americans with Disabilities Act lawsuit that Manhattan federal prosecutors filed on December 17. Prosecutors alleged barriers at the deli, including a 1-inch drop at the entrance to the sidewalk, no accessible dining areas and restrooms that did not comply despite 2018 renovations. The decree calls for staff help at the main entrance, accessible dining spaces and restroom renovations, under a federal monitor.
Source: newsday.com
- 2025
Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal reprise their Katz's scene for a Super Bowl ad
Ryan and Crystal return to Katz's to film a Hellmann's mayonnaise commercial parodying their famous 1989 scene from "When Harry Met Sally...," with Crystal quipping, "I can't believe they let us back in here!" The ad, in which Sydney Sweeney delivers the "I'll have what she's having" line, airs during Super Bowl LIX.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Katz's DelicatessenWikipedia
Nearby
- Russ & Daughters181 East Houston Street | 3 entries
- Russ & Daughters179 East Houston Street | 7 entries
- Podhajcer Shul108 East 1st Street | 3 entries
- Rockwood Music Hall175 East Houston Street | 8 entries
- Max Meltzer Tower94 East 1st Street | 4 entries
- The Meatball Shop82 Stanton Street | 5 entries