I love a good Reuben. I first learned to eat Reubens when I was working at the German restaurant Alfred’s in Houston. It was more than just a restaurant. It had a delicatessen, small market with nothing but Kosher food, the restaurant, and a bar. I was 15 when I started working there as a bus boy.
For its day, the restaurant had quite the reputation. There was a theater near by and when the actors had a chance, they would come and dine at Alfred’s. I saw two celebrities while working there. As a busboy, Pernell Roberts ate there. Since I wasn’t a fan of Bonanza, I didn’t recognize him.
Some time later, when I moved over to work in the delicatessen, Jo Ann Worley of Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In fame came through. She was bouncing around, saying hello to everyone while I was slicing corned beef and she asked what I was doing. “Slicing corned beef.” She asked for some. I gave it to her. She liked it. I’m sure my words still resonate in her memory to this day.
It was during this time that I was introduced to the Reuben. We were allowed to have one meal for lunch when we worked all day, and I had grown tired of their hamburgers. Someone suggested the Reuben, which was put in a broiler before served, so I gave it a shot. I’ve been hooked ever since.
When I saw that it was an option at the Corner Kitchen in Asheville, NC, that was my immediate choice. I had already had a great hamburger on our trip to Tennessee, so needed something different. It was worthy of the name Reuben. Heidi had corned-beef hash, and it too was delicious.
Just so happens that the Corner Kitchen also has a door worth sharing. So this post is a part of Dan’s Thursday Doors.
The Actual Door
All photos are copyright © Timothy J. Hammons 2021.
Photography That Matters 
It looks delicious. Never heard of it, though 🙂 but now I know.
If it’s you in the last pic, I love your hat! 🙂
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No, that is my wife in MY hat. 🙂 We put it on her head when we are inside so we don’t forget it.
The Reuben or the restaurant? You gotta have a Reuben. 🙂
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Lovely doors, great photos, but I’m walking away hungry for a Reuben sandwich. The place I go on Saturdays makes a wonderful Reuben. It just might happen.
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On a diet right now, so it will be a while before I can have another one again. Enjoy.
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I’m also now wishing for a good Reuben. We lived in Cleveland for many years where you can get great corned beef in many forms in many places. As far as I can ascertain to day, Arizona is a corned beef desert. The one place I tried a Reuben some years ago during a visit, the meat was sliced thickly and was tough besides. Sad but true. Sigh.
janet
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Wow, that is sad. That is like those who can’t get a burger right, only worse. One shouldn’t attempt to make a Reuben unless they have been duly qualified. 🙂
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I agree! The primary consideration after the quality of the meat is slicing it thin, thin, thin.
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That was the one thing we didn’t do at Alfred’s. It was stacked so high, we almost needed a doctor’s prescription to eat it.
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Same thing in Cleveland. The sandwich would be enormous but made of layers and layers of thinly sliced corned beef. Drat! I’m making myself hungry again.
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Yup, me too!
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We have lived for one year in Austin last week – have not been to Houston yet. They told me it’s there much hotter, so I’m waiting for a cooler period. Have lived in California for 35+ years, and it still strikes me how much German influences I see in Texas (am Dutch and lived one year in Berlin). Love a Reuben sandwich:) Great views of the Corner Kitchen:) Emille (Jesh)
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