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Though John Lennon was at times a vegetarian and heavily invested in macrobiotic foods, his dietary habits changed in his later years. In James L. Dickerson’s book, “The Last Suppers,” the author says Lennon’s last recorded meal before his death on December 8, 1980, was a corned beef sandwich and hot tea from New York’s Stage Deli.
In much the same way the Beatles started in England before becoming an American cultural juggernaut, corned beef was popular in England before becoming a staple of every good New York deli. The Stage Deli, in particular, was famous for serving oversized sandwiches — big enough that you may not have needed to indulge in an à la carte order of fries. The restaurant also had a habit of naming various menu items after its star-studded clientele. While you could order its corned beef plain, the ingredient was featured in many of its triple-decker sandwiches, like the Larry Davidson with turkey, Swiss cheese, and both corned beef and pastrami, and the Clint Eastwood with corned beef, tongue, and turkey…