Us Living

When Harry Met Sally… turns 30! Celebrate with a pastrami on rye

It was the fake orgasm heard ’round the world! Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal made rom-com history when Ryan’s character, Sally, gave her best impression of the Big O while eating a turkey sandwich at Katz’s Delicatessen. Now Us is revisiting the NYC landmark and the famous sandto wiches that are still blowing minds three decades later. “We get people coming in reenact [the scene] every weekend,” owner

Jake Dells tells Us.

“More likely it happens at 3 in the morning than 3 in the afternoon, but it certainly can happen at any time.”

The pastrami sandwich (which Crystal’s character, Harry, orders) is the most popular item on the menu. “We sell up to 20,000 pounds

[of pastrami] a week,” Dell says.

ICONIC IMPROV

The scene — one of many quotable moments in screenwriter Nora Ephron’s magnum opus (pecan pie, anyone?) — was actually Ryan’s idea. “It was in the script that Harry and Sally talk about the fact that women fake orgasms,” she said. “Then, when we were rehearsing the movie, we had a lot of time to chat about the script, and I said that since Sally is such a behavioral character, she should fake an orgasm.”

Her contribution is arguably what keeps the film’s fans visiting Katz’s. “You definitely get some experts who know every line of the movie,” Dell says. “And you get people who don’t realize until they get in here and look around that,

‘Oh wow, this is from

When Harry Met Sally…’ It’s always fun to see that sort of realization.”

“HE’S A THROUGH PASTRAMI MAN LIKE A AND THROUGH... DELL TRUE SAYS NEW ABOUT YORKER,” CRYSTAL.

On July 12, the restaurant hosted a contest during which guests could reenact Sally’s famous blushworthy scene in honor of the anniversary. Nora 1989 Ephron’s comedy romantic for $16 was mad and million — $93 earned the million at box office. Katz’s Deli Turkey Sandwich

Crystal suggested the line “I’ll have what she’s having,” and director Rob Reiner’s mom played the Katz’s patron who says it! Jake Dell