Way back when I wrote my 30 before 30 list, I added #26, to eat at Harold’s Deli, because I have been hearing people talk about it for YEARS, but have never been there. My entire family has been there, and my dad telsl the best stories about going there with 5-6 of his softball buddies and still having too much food. I am not sure why I put off planning it for so long, because it’s not that far away.

I was able to persuade my brother, sister, and Dan to go with me on Saturday night, a task made easier when they heard that I hadn’t ever been there. We decided to go for a few drinks to the Harvest Moon brewery in New Brunswick first, just to maximize the hang-out time, but also so I could get another beer sampler, which is also on the list. This is definitely the largest sampler I’ve had since I’ve made it a habit, and while some of them were way too strong for my tastes (I’m looking at you, Barley Wine), it was, as always, so much fun to taste them all to pick my favorite (in this case, the Firehouse Red).

We met back up at Harold’s, a little late, just to try to avoid the dinner rush. This, I’m told, is a mistake, because being there when it’s super crowded is half of the fun of going to a place like Harold’s, where their claim to fame is that EVERYTHING on the menu is overly large and meant to feed 3-4 people. This goes from sandwiches to cheese steaks and caesar salads to the insanely large desserts.

Another claim to fame is their pickle bar, which boasted some of the tastiest pickles I’ve had in a long time. Except the sour one. I did not like that one.

We started off with onion rings and fries, which were pretty epic just by themselves, and between the four of us, we ordered two sandwiches. Lindsey and John got pastrami and turkey, and Dan and I got pastrami and hard salami.

Woah. (Even the cole slaw was amazing. And don’t get me started on the mustard.)

The trick is repeat trips to the pickle bar, where you can also get stacks and stacks of some of the best rye bread in the universe. This was just what I ate that night, to make individual sandwiches:

And then since we barely scratched the surface of the massive sandwich, we took 8 more slices of rye home to eat the rest of the sandwich with. This is exactly the kind of thing that makes me glad I write these birthday lists – it made me do something I’ve always wanted to do, something that I can’t wait to go back and do again.