When my wife and I first moved down here from Connecticut many years ago, we went through an urgent kind of cuisine withdrawal. Many of the foods we took for granted were either missing entirely or were badly underrepresented. You know things like pizza. Or a reliable New York Deli where you could actually get a bagel. Things did get better, but it was only with the opening of Manny Hattan's Deli at 9503 Research in 2002 that things came full circle.

Manny Hattan's is as close as you're going to get to an authentic NYC Deli anywhere in Central Texas. The first requisite of deli food is that the sandwiches must be HUGE! Forget overstuffed, we're talking colossal. And the meats must be fresh. Take for example, their signature Midtown Reuben. It's served on fresh-baked rye bread with grilled, lean corn beef and Swiss Cheese, Russian dressing and sauerkraut. Now this is more than a sandwich. It's a cultural taste explosion. If you are craving home made pastrami, than get the Downtown Rueben. The fresh-steamed and eminently tender pastrami will light up your taste buds and satisfy even the most demanding deli patron. I often have to flip a coin to decide which one to get, they're that good. And if pastrami or corned beef don't make your heart race, make sure to try the Brooklyn Bridge, a delicious combination of juicy and rare roast beef and oven roasted turkey. We're talking serious taste here. And no trip to a respectable deli would be complete without a Coney Island Hot Dog. They call it Let's Be Frank at Manny Hattan's and I love it. Two beef dogs on fresh buns smothered in sauerkraut and covered with spicy deli mustard. It just doesn't get any better.

A great deli has to have great soup: plain and simple. And the Chicken and Motzah Ball soup, made from an ancient family recipe, is spot on. They take great pains with the stock and it's obvious in the flavor. This is the penultimate Jewish penicillin. And every deli has to serve a Potato Knish. This smooth blend of potatoes, caramelized onions and delicate seasonings in a flakey, puff pastry dough is perfect sandwich complement or works well on its own. Manny's has also invented variations on the theme including Knishes stuffed with pastrami and Swiss, Roast Beef, cheddar and grilled onions and many more.

To me, a great deli is also synonymous with breakfast. To start, Manny Hattan's brings bagels in from the famous H&H Bagels in Manhattan. The texture is what makes these work so well. And omelet lover that I am, the Omelet with bacon, mushrooms, onions and American cheese is very hard to turn down. It is soft and wonderfully layered: the way an omelet should be made. And if you want to get really New Yorkish, try the David Letterman Omelet with diced corn beef, salami, pastrami, tomatoes and bell pepper.

And then finish everything off with a slice of one of the most calorically dense but rewarding desserts ever concocted: Cheesecake direct from the Carnegie Deli in New York City. (Blueberries on the side please.)

Aaron Mayers and his family have created a deli where nothing is dumbed down for us Texans: all the tastes are authentic. From the Stuffed Derma to the blintzes, it all works. And you can thank me now, because I've just saved you the cost of a $900 plane ticket to New York.

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