Eating (in) Cleveland #3:The Corned Beef Place across from Tower City

I, in my lack of research that cost me an honors grade on my I.S., didn't realize that "Eating Cleveland" is trademarked by a real website.  While I don't foresee that ever actually mattering, I'm officially sliding a parenthetical "in" into the title of these posts because I don't want google to confuse anyone.

Last Friday night, en route to the RTA station beneath Tower City, we were on the prowl.  Failing to find a satisfying appetizer while out about time (which was more an effect of our cheapness than our ability), and on the way home, the urgency to find something to eat before we got back to the train was pressing from all sides.  As you can tell from the title of this post, it wasn't until the very end of our journey that we actually decided on something.

I have no idea, actually, what the name of the place from which we got food actually is.  I didn't catch it, and I'm not sure, if they have one, it's very well presented.  The outside just advertises warm corned beef sandwiches, and that's what took us into the shop.  It's basically a convenience store that operates a fairly diverse deli.  With places like that, there are essentially two options: frozen food heated up and cheaply served for a maximized profit to the store, or something truly legit where expense isn't wasted on the surroundings for the sake of offering good food at minimum pricing.  This nameless place (seriously, if you know what's it's called, let me know) is most certainly a member of the latter camp.

The menu featured everything from Gyro's to basically any combination of deli meats you could dream up, but as advertised, the warm corned beef with mustard is appropriately the number one seller, and I doubt I'll ever buy anything else if I ever get a chance to stop in again.  I always try to get the "specialty" when I visit a new place, and especially a place that's wholly local in ownership.  There might be better corned beef sandwiches in cleveland, but I am positive that they are transcendent, because the one I had late Friday night was flavorful, tender, and positively scrumptious.  Though it was simple; just corned beef between rye with mustard, it was legendary.  The amicable cook who freely conversed with the customers while preparing the food put at least 4 inches of meat between the bread.  If this sandwich were a standard sandwich, Americans would eat 10x more cows per year, I think.  It was terrific.  My friend, who ordered the same thing, complained of a "dry" sandwich, but I think he ordered his without mustard.  Maybe that's a bad sign, that the sandwich needs mustard to remain moist given the amount of meat.  I'm not sure.  Either way, I know mine was delicious.  It's probably unhealthy, to eat so much meat in one sitting.  I may have taken days off my life on Friday, so I doubt I'll frequent this unnamed establishment.  But on the rare late night when I'm downtown, I can't imagine a better end to the night than a warm corned beef and mustard sandwich on the way back to the train.

-Zack