It’s happening — just like our colleagues at Hey Alma said it would.
After teasing on social media last week that “we’re reuniting for something iconic,” actors Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan — stars of the enduring 1989 rom-com “When Harry Met Sally” — will once again convene at the Lower East Side’s Katz’s Deli.
This time, however, instead of Ryan noisily faking an orgasm — which elicited the most famous line from the film, “I’ll have what she’s having,” delivered by a deadpan Estelle Reiner, mother of the film’s Jewish director, Rob Reiner — the duo are shilling for Hellman’s Mayonnaise in an advertisement set to run during the Super Bowl on Sunday, Feb. 9.
Hellman’s dropped a 20-second teaser trailer of the spot, which shows a long-suffering Katz’s waitress reading back a particularly persnickety order. “One turkey on rye, but only if it’s fresh, if it’s not fresh then on white bread, but then it’s toasted,” the waitress says. “Two whole lettuce leaves, paper thin tomatoes, one sour pickle sliced lengthwise, so every bite has a bit of pickle, and some Hellmann’s mayonnaise.”
“On the side,” says an off-screen voice — presumably Ryan channeling the high-maintenance Sally Albright, who plays the foil to Crystal’s Harry Burns, whom the New York Times described as a “remarkably gentle, a sensitive mensch” in their review of the film, written by Nora Ephron, which they call a “saunter through the romanticized lives of intelligent, successful, neurotic New Yorkers.”
“On the side,” the waitress echoes, adding, “You better be a good tipper, lady.”
The teaser goes on to note that Hellman’s was established in 1913. That’s just three years after Katz’s became Katz’s, though the famed deli has roots that date to 1888, according to their web site. (According to their web site, Hellman’s Mayonnaise began at a New York deli, too, when German immigrant Richard Hellmann and his wife, Margaret, opened Hellmann’s Delicatessen on Columbus Avenue, where they began to develop their creamy condiment.)
As it happens, just this past November, Katz’s unveiled their first-ever commercial, a digital spot created by Italian-Jewish filmmaker Nicolas Heller, who’s better known to his 1.4 million Instagram followers as New York Nico.
“Obviously, Katz’s doesn’t need a commercial, which is why they’ve never had one,” Heller, who created the ad to help cover the costs of having his wedding at the deli, told the New York Jewish Week last year. “Everyone and their mother knows Katz’s.”
Katz’s is repeatedly been named among the most iconic spots in New York City; last year, their pastrami sandwich was named by the New York Times as one of the sandwiches that “define New York City.”
While mustard is typically the most common condiment to enjoy on a pastrami and rye sandwich, Katz’s online menu states that mayonnaise is also available, “if you must.”
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