Katz’s to Finally KLOSE!

I have known Marc Katz for 30 years and been to many of his weddings! For a good part of that time, his Katz’s Deli on W. 6th was as close to a late-night institution as there was in the River City. You could always rely on a killer Reuben or a wonderful cheese omelet with beef bacon at 3am. Indeed, Katz’s Never Kloses was one of the more deeply imbedded catch phrases in the minds of restaurant consumers for many years. A large part of this was due to a heavy TV ad schedule where the irrepressible Katz would belt out his trademark, “I gotta tell ya,” opening to the tag line.

One of the first things Katz did when he opened his Deli in 1979 was to dumb it down a bit to make it more palatable to Texans who had no idea what NYC deli food really tasted like. As a result, the blintzes were smoother and sweeter than one would get in New York and more esoteric fare such as gefilte fish were absent from the original menu. But lack of true authenticity aside, Katz had a hit on his hands. This was a Texanized Jewish deli and it rocked.

Then came the much publicized and truly rancorous split with son Barry which was dragged out via competing lawsuits for several years. The main issues were allegations over improprieties at the second Katz’s launched in Houston but there were numerous other side bar problems as well that were equally vexing. The suits were eventually settled but it left the elder Katz in a compromised financial position from which he was apparently unable to really recover. Then there were two expensive and rather bizarre political races for Austin’s mayor and Texas Lieutenant Governor which took time away from Katz’s prime role as the meeter and greeter of the faithful at this restaurant.

And so the end of an era comes on January 2nd, 2011, when the last Reuben will roll out of Katz’s kitchen. I will miss this place as much as I will miss the seemingly endless ads, even though I was known to roll my eyes and groan when they came on. And as for Marc, I would not be so presumptuous as to write him off just yet. I mean look at all the comebacks Napoleon had!

The bagel king may have temporarily stepped out of the spotlight, but I would not be surprised to see him in some other iteration sooner rather than later.