Katz’s is the venue for a new ad for Hellmann’s featuring the stars of When Harry Met Sally. Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images

By PJ Grisar January 27, 2025

In a move everyone saw coming, the Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan-teased When Harry Met Sally reunion is not a sequel but a Super Bowl spot. But just in case you thought the mature versions of the two lovebirds were pitching something like a new karaoke machine or a dating app for reconnecting with frenemies, I must warn you it is far worse.

The ad takes place at Katz’s Deli, the scene of a famed fake orgasm, with a 20-second teaser showing us a beleaguered waitress reading off an order so persnickety, it could only be the work of one Sally Albright.

“One turkey on rye, but only if it’s fresh, if it’s not fresh then on white bread, but then it’s toasted,” the server reads back. “Two whole lettuce leaves, paper thin tomatoes, one sour pickle sliced lengthwise, so every bite has a bit of pickle, and some Hellmann’s mayonnaise.”

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

A familiar voice chimes in to say that the mayo has to come — and this is a big thing with her — “on the side.”

Now, when I first learned that this spot would be for mayo and set at Katz’s I began dashing off a letter to the usual antisemitism watchdogs. Sports’ biggest night should not be normalizing the wanton use of this condiment at Jewish eateries.

But hearing Sally’s order, I mellowed. Had it been pastrami or corned beef, I’d be out in the streets. Turkey is acceptable — though, if you do place an  order with mayonnaise on Katz’s website it adds the judgmental parenthetical “if you must.”

Reviewing Sally’s food particulars in the film — apple pie, Bloody Marys, chef salads — she does not appear to have ordered anything with mayo (she did appear to order a turkey sandwich at Katz’s, per a TastingTable article, on white, not rye) but that doesn’t mean she wouldn’t try.

Unlike Harry, who, by virtue of casting, is Jew-coded, Sally may not know the ins-and-outs of the Jewish preference for spicy mustard — or, for turkey, maybe a nice Russian dressing and some coleslaw, if not straight mayo. Or, perhaps more likely, a person who feigned sexual ecstasy at the crowded restaurant, doesn’t care much for these mores to begin with.

Though the waitress rolls her eyes, it doesn’t seem to be about the Hellmann’s so much as the baroque list of other demands.

As Sally would say, pressed by Harry over her “high maintenance” preferences: “I just want it the way I want it.”

That’s all well and good, but I won’t have what she’s having.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount