Corned Beef Hash At Katzinger’s

In one way — and admittedly probably only one way — I’m like the Most Interesting Man in the World:  I don’t normally eat breakfast, but when I do I prefer it to be a good breakfast.  An Egg McMuffin just isn’t going to do the job.

Fortunately, there are many great breakfast places near our house.  One of them is Katzinger’s, the deli at the corner of Livingston Avenue and Third Street that many people identify as the kind of gateway to German Village.  Katzinger’s is legendary for its excellent sandwiches (the chicken liver options are particularly compelling) and has a terrific cheese section too, but it’s no slouch when it comes to breakfast, either.

My rule of thumb at a breakfast place are pretty basic:  can it deliver of a mouthwatering plate of corned beef hash?  Even a borderline kitchen hack like me can prepare scrambled eggs and toast some bread, but corned beef hash requires much more skill.  Is the corned beef cooked so that it is tender and flavorful, or is it so tough and chewy that it needs to be soaked in egg yolk before you can choke it down?  Does the proportion of meat to onion and potatoes hit the sweet spot?  And, equally important, does the resulting platter that comes to your table look like the glorious definition of everything that a really good breakfast should aspire to be?

Yes, I’d say Katzinger’s does a pretty good job on the corned beef hash test.