Former Dishwasher Offers $10M for Carnegie Deli, Owner Says No Way
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Carnegie Deli will serve its last mile-high pastrami sandwich today at midnight, despite a late offer from a former dishwasher to buy the restaurant for $10 million.
Upper West Side restaurateur Sammy Musovic washed dishes for a year at the deli in the 1970s. He said he offered the money to save a landmark “that is as much a part of New York City as the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building.”
But the proposal fell on deaf ears.
“Carnegie Deli is not for sale and the family is certainly not considering any publicity-inspired offers,” deli spokeswoman Cristyne Nicholas told The New York Daily News.
She said president Marian Harper-Levine wants to keep the deli’s name and associated meat processing plant and bakery running.
Carnegie Deli opened its doors 79 years ago and was once one of several Jewish-owned delis in the theater district. In recent years, most of the other delis has closed, and Carnegie became a tourist favorite for its $20 iconic sandwiches, bursting with stacks of pastrami and corned beef.
After the New York flagship closes, there will still be outposts in Las Vegas and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
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