NYC's Carnegie Deli to serve pastrami and corned beef on rye at Tuesday's reopening

Carnegie Deli, a New York institution whose home on Seventh Avenue closed in 2016, will reopen on Tuesday at 834 Seventh Ave., the site of the old Stage Delicatessen.

"We always knew the timing and the opportunity had to be right," Sarri Harper, granddaughter of Carnegie co-founder Milton Parker, said in a statement announcing the comeback.

"When the former Stage Deli space became available, it felt incredibly fitting," she said. "There's so much deli history in this space, and the opportunity to continue that legacy on Seventh Avenue made this feel like the right next chapter for Carnegie Deli."

Under the management of Parker and partner Leo Steiner, Carnegie Deli soared to national renown and became a must-eat-at destination for tourists and celebrities in the Theater District.

Its famed pastrami and corned beef sandwiches were piled high, to "gargantuan" levels, served on old-fashioned rye bread with Düsseldorf mustard and half-sour and sour pickles.

Other iconic dishes included chopped liver, tongue, matzo ball soup, latkes and knishes.

New to the menu will be the Carnegie Deli Colossus — said to be "the tallest stack on the menu." It'll have layers of pastrami, corned beef, turkey, Swiss cheese, coleslaw and Russian dressing. All on rye, according to the statement from Carnegie Deli.

In its heyday iconic stars dined at the deli. Among them: Stevie Wonder, Robin Williams, Steven Spielberg, Conan O'Brien, Sarah Jessica Parker, Adam Sandler, Stanley Tucci and Jerry Seinfeld, as well as Mel Brooks, Jackie Mason, Henny Youngman and Woody Allen. Sandler even referenced Carnegie in the famed "Hanukkah Song," while the original deli served as a filming location for "Broadway Danny Rose."

Although Carnegie Deli closed its original location on Dec. 31, 2016, for the past decade it continued with pop-ups at such spots as the U.S. Open tennis tournament in Flushing Meadows, Saratoga Race Course, the Belmont Stakes and a branch at Madison Square Garden.

The new comeback restaurant will operate seven days a week, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

"Carnegie Deli has always been about more than the food," Harper said in a statement. "It's about the memories people have here. We want the people who grew up with Carnegie Deli to walk in and immediately recognize it, while giving a whole new generation the chance to make those same memories of their own."

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a Newsday reporter since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press, Society of the Silurians and National Headliner Awards for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing. He is the author of “Swee'pea,” about New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. His debut crime novel, “For Nothing Is Hidden,” rooted in 1950s Long Island, was released in October 2025.