Nate ’n Al

Our verdict

Since 1945, when Nate Rimer and Al Mendelson opened their doors on North Beverly Drive, this Beverly Hills deli has functioned as something closer to a civic institution than a restaurant. The entertainment industry's informal dining room for eight decades, it occupies a specific and durable place in Los Angeles food history that newer, more concept-driven openings have never displaced. The menu holds to the canon of the American Jewish delicatessen without revision: pastrami, corned beef, matzo ball soup, Reuben sandwiches, stuffed cabbage, chopped liver, Nova salmon. In 2011, LA Weekly ranked the matzo ball soup first among Los Angeles versions of the dish; the following year, CBS Los Angeles placed the corned beef Reuben among the city's best. Neither accolade is recent, but both reflect the consistency that keeps regulars returning across generations rather than novelty that attracts a single visit. The setting is deliberately old-school and casual, a counter-and-booth deli where the format has not chased contemporary dining trends. That resistance to reinvention is the point. Beverly Hills has accumulated a considerable number of upscale restaurants over the same period Nate 'n Al has been operating, yet the deli's role as a neighborhood anchor for the local Jewish community and the broader entertainment industry has remained stable in a way that speaks to genuine, long-term loyalty rather than reputation alone.

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