NYC Food Guy felt like a matador while walking around Times Square Saturday night, dodging hoards of stampeding tourists blinded by the flashing red lights of NYC. I was only in the area by pure necessity, scheduled to work at my real job; no self respecting New Yorker would venture to these parts in December. NYC Food Guy was feeling perturbed enough to not make the 3 block “trek” to Lenny’s for a sandwich to accompany my Katz’s chicken soup. Instead, on the recommendation of a co-worker, I went over to Backstage Deli on 49th St. b/t 6th and 7th Ave. (next door to Bella Napoli) where I had one of the worst sandwiches of my life.

That orange, yellow stuff in the middle, that’s actually lettuce & Russian.

I know Backstage is only one block before Lenny’s but I’ll admit, I got my hopes up at the thought of finding another reliable option in the barren wasteland that is Midtown food. I should have known the minute I walked in and saw nothing but tourists that this was trouble. I should have ran for the hills when I saw the handfuls or pre-cut Turkey and the uncovered hero rolls sitting on top of the counter. But I didn’t. I wanted to believe my friend.

What I ordered: Oven Roasted Turkey, bacon well done, melted cheddar, lettuce, tomato, and Russian. It was all ice cold by the time I got back to my office, the cheese had turned hard, the bread even staler. I tried to revive it with a couple of seconds in the microwave, that only made it taste worse. Awful.

What I got: Pre-cut pile of Turkey ripped up and spread around stale hero, Swiss cheese, fatty undercooked bacon, yellow iceberg lettuce, end of tomato slices, watery Russian.

Redeeming factor: A small bag of Lays Original was thrown into the container with my sandwich; these chips became my dinner.

Other disappointment: The pickle I ordered was dry and tasted funky. My friend ordered a burger and when I saw it, it looked like the most generic defrosted on the grill beef patty and worst of all it was served with Hunts Ketchup, blasphemy to ketchup eaters.

***In summation: Stale hero roll, pre-cut turkey, the wrong cheese, no regard given to well done bacon request, old gross lettuce, and as you can see from the picture, the construction of the sandwich is comparable to something made by a blind person, no offense to blind sandwich makers. Everything Backstage Deli could have done wrong, they did.

NYC Food Guy will NEVER go to Backstage Deli again.

Backstage Deli

148 W. 49th St. nr. 7th Ave.

(212) 398-0581