Corned Beef, Sliced Fresh Every Day: The Sandwich Sunnyside Keeps Coming Back For

Walk into The Butcher Block on any regular Tuesday and you will see it before you even reach the counter. Someone is ordering a corned beef sandwich for lunch. Someone else is asking for a pound sliced thin for a Reuben tonight. A regular is picking up hash for breakfast on the way to the 7 train. None of it has anything to do with March. Corned beef doesn’t wait for St. Patrick’s Day around here. It is on the counter, cut fresh, every single day, all year long, available for walk in and order or collection and local delivery through Door Dash.

Cured and Cooked In House, Then Sliced While You Wait

Known across NYC as being the go to Irish butcher and deli for over 30 years, we have been curing and cooking corned beef the same traditional way since 1995. That means a proper brine, real spices, and time, not a pre packaged brisket shipped in from somewhere else and reheated. It rests in the case whole and gets hand sliced to order, so what lands in your sandwich this afternoon for the best lunch in Sunnyside was cut minutes ago, not days ago.

Three Ways Our Regulars Order It

The everyday sandwich. Piled high on rye or a soft roll, this is the lunch order that built our deli counter’s reputation. Simple, filling, and ready in minutes if you are grabbing it on your break.

The Reuben. Corned beef shaved thin, melted Swiss, sauerkraut, and a good dressing between grilled rye. Ask the counter to build it for you on the spot, or take a pound home and put your own together for movie night or the game.

The hash. Diced corned beef with potatoes and onions, pan fried and topped with an egg. It is the kind of breakfast that quietly turns into brunch, and it pairs well with our rashers and sausages if you want the full spread.

Ask Around Sunnyside and You Will Hear the Same Thing

We are not the only ones saying it. Craig, a recent visitor, called this the best deli counter of any grocery store he has been in. Michael put it simply: for a proper Irish breakfast, go right to the butcher’s counter. Matt said our sausage rolls alone are worth a trek out to Sunnyside, and our corned beef earns that same kind of loyalty from regulars who stop in every week. Even The Infatuation, reviewing the shop, singled us out for having the best hot food bar and deli on this side of Queens.

That kind of feedback, from neighbors and from food critics alike, is thirty years in the making. Noel has run this counter since 1995, and the recipe has stayed the same the entire time. It is also the reason we still cut everything fresh instead of taking shortcuts.

Quick Questions From the Counter

Is corned beef only available around St. Patrick’s Day? No. It stays in the case and on the hot counter all year, cured and cooked the same way every week.

Can I get it already made into a sandwich, not just the raw meat? Yes. The deli counter builds sandwiches and reubens to order all day, ready in a few minutes if you are on a lunch break.

How is your corned beef different from the packaged kind at a regular grocery store? Ours is cured and cooked here, then hand sliced when you order it, rather than pre sliced and sealed days earlier. You can taste the difference by the second bite.

Do you deliver corned beef, or is it pickup only? We offer local delivery for the days you cannot get to Sunnyside, though most regulars prefer to swing by so it comes off the slicer straight into their bag. Reach out and we will sort out the details.

Fresh Today Means Come In Today

Corned beef sliced to order does not sit around, and that is the whole point of doing it this way. If you want it at its best, the counter is where it happens. We are open daily from 8AM to 7PM at 43-46 41st Street in Sunnyside, right where we have always been, a short walk from the 7 train.

Stop in for a sandwich on your lunch break, pick up a pound for tonight’s Reuben, or grab hash and rashers for a proper weekend breakfast. Call ahead at (718) 784-1078 if you want to check what’s on the counter today. Local delivery is available for the days you genuinely cannot make it in, just reach out to arrange it, but half the experience is watching it get sliced fresh right in front of you at the counter.

See you at the counter.

— The Butcher Block, Sunnyside 🍀