Pastrami pop-up: Katz’s Delicatessen of New York coming to Boca for charity event

If you go crazy for New York’s famed Katz’s Delicatessen the way Meg Ryan did in “When Harry Met Sally,” have we got a one-night stand for you. Katz’s will bring a pop-up version of its Lower East Side restaurant — complete with hand-sliced pastrami and corned beef on rye — to Boca Raton on April 18 for a special charity event.

The dinner, dubbed Katz’s Delicatessen Comes to Boca, will take place 7-10 p.m. at Excell Auto Group, 1001 Clint Moore Road. Tickets are available online at Eventbrite and cost $89-$325. The event will benefit Selfless Love Foundation, a Florida-based nonprofit that helps current and former foster youth, and is being staged by Red Meat Lover’s Club, a Boca Raton men’s group.

The event is open to all.

“This is too good to keep to ourselves,” says group founder Evan Darnell, a former New York restaurateur who calls himself the club’s “Secretary of Steak.” Darnell says the group has raised more than $210,000 for charity since it began hosting public events in 2018.

Darnell says the Katz’s pop-up is a rarity, the first time the 131-year-old restaurant re-creates the sights, smells and tumult of its Houston Street base outside New York. Katz’s, founded in 1888, ships products nationwide through an online store and has previously featured its legendary pastrami in South Florida on pizza, in collaboration with James Beard Award-winning chef Michael Schwartz.

Katz’s will fly in three veteran carving specialists from the restaurant to slice pastrami, brisket and corned beef. Hot dogs, knishes, black-and-white cookies and other New York deli favorites will also be featured. Jake Dell, who now runs the family business, is scheduled to attend.

Darnell, who moved to South Florida in 2017 and previously has worked with chefs David Burke and Carla Hall, says he was able to get Dell to agree to the pop-up through a mutual friend. Darnell hopes the event draws a crowd of 200. Among the prizes being offered in a silent auction: A Katz’s “golden ticket” that will allow the winner to cut the line at the crowded New York restaurant for a year.

Ticket packages are available with alcohol ($149 per person including ticket fees) or without ($96). VIP packages cost $346 per person and include early entry, a “meat-and-greet” with Dell and a pound of pastrami to go. Pastrami packs ($49.37 for a pound to go ordered by April 14, with a portion of proceeds going to Selfless Love) are also available for those who cannot attend.