Billy Crystal has gone back to where it all began. 1989 saw Crystal star opposite Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally, the romantic comedy-drama directed by Rob Reiner and written by Nora Ephron. While the film asks the Can men and women ever just be friends,” one scene contains a very NSFW moment between Crystal and Ryan’s characters at Katz’s Deli. It’s this venue from the now-infamous scene that Crystal returned for the first time since filming that mature moment.
When Harry Met Sally had a limited initial release in select cities across the U.S., with Columbia Pictures letting fans spread word of the film themselves while also gradually expanding its presence, to remarkably great effect. It quickly gained popularity among casual viewers and critics alike and in 2022 was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
Billy Crystal revisits Katz’s Deli for the first time since filming one of the most famous ‘When Harry Met Sally’ scenes
It’s been 35 years since Crystal and Ryan joined forces to film one of the most-referenced scenes from When Harry Met Sally. The titular Harry and Sally found themselves crossing paths again and again across miles and years. Eventually, they found themselves sharing lunch at Katz’s Deli, where the two talk about intimacy and pleasure. Sally asserted that men can’t tell when a woman is genuinely enjoying herself in bed or pretending and proceeded to prove her point by faking an orgasm. Harry wore a look of shock for most of the scene. It all wrapped up with a nearby patron saying “I’ll have what she’s having.”
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Today, Crystal is 75 and recently headed to Katz’s Deli alongside CBS’s Gayle King to revisit the location and share memories from filming that scene.
Fortunately, the scene’s fame ensured that Katz’s Deli marked off the table with a sign proclaiming it Harry and Sally’s table, along with the text, “Where Harry met Sally… hope you have what she had!” That’s where Crystal and King sat for the trip down memory lane.
How the movie and Crystal ended up having what she had
The saucy scene almost wasn’t in the final film at all. When Harry Met Sally was a unique collaboration between Reiner and Ephron along with Ryan and Crystal, beyond what their respective positions dictated; they really wanted to explore the kinds of relationships men and women could have and that required balance. Crystal felt that the movie was focusing too much on Harry’s side of things and said, “We need something for Sally to talk about.”
“Well, faking orgasm is a great one,” suggested Ephron. Every one agreed “the subject is good and then, Crystal continued, “Meg came on board and we talked with her about the nature of the idea and she said, ‘Well, why don’t I just fake one, just do one.” It was also Ryan who suggested doing this scene at a restaurant while Crystal concocted “I’ll have what she’s having.” During a test screening, Reiner recalled, all the women were in hysterics while the men remained stone silent.
It was all smiles when Crystal and King visited Katz’s Deli. In keeping with tradition, Crystal said, “I want to have what Sally had that day” and asked for the same order as in the film.
The film has remained a piece of cultural history, Crystal noted, and the deli has enjoyed the same celebrated status. He feels the movie gets “more important as time goes by,” adding, “People fall in love everyday. People fall out of love everyday. People find each other, they lose each other every day. And new generations keep finding When Harry Met Sally They keep discovering it, and we’re forever young in that movie. And we represent them. They relate to us.”
For others wanting to make the trip to the number one deli in New York, Katz’s Deli, known formally as Katz’s Delicatessen, is located at 205 East Houston Street. Be sure to order what she had!