David's Brisket House

Despite the restaurant’s name, many people will tell you that you’re best served ordering the pastrami at David’s Brisket House, specifically on rye with spicy brown mustard and a can of Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray soda. It’s also not run by any “David.” After changing hands several times, this one-time kosher Jewish deli is today owned and operated by Yemeni Muslims.

“I’m a Yemeni running a Jewish deli,” co-owner Riyadh Gazali told Edible Brooklyn. “Food is international, it doesn’t belong to one specific group no more; it belongs to everybody.” For decades, the denizens of Bedford-Stuyvesant have put aside their differences in devouring David’s hearty sandwiches, stacked high with tender, slow-cooked meats, on its busy Brooklyn block.

While the pastrami garners most of the shop’s praise, be sure not to sleep on David’s corned beef, perfect with diced potatoes in a breakfast hash, or its namesake brisket, made to be hugged in a roll and dipped in gravy. If you finish the triple decker, which includes a serving of each meat all in one sandwich, you’ll get your picture on the wall.

While the owners have changed and the neighborhood is ever-evolving, the menu remains unaltered, with the small exception of kosher becoming halal. Same sandwich, different blessing.