When Omar Temory left Kabul, Afghanistan, in...

When Omar Temory left Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1971, he’d never heard of pastrami or corned beef. Now, as the owner of New York Deli in Torrance, Temory arguably serves some of the best corned-beef and pastrami sandwiches in the South Bay.

Temory was introduced to the restaurant business in Germany, where he became a cook at the respected Kasierstul restaurant in the Black Forest city of Freiburg.

He came to the United States in 1982 and landed a part-time bartender’s job at Kandles, a popular delicatessen in Canoga Park. After six months, he was running the restaurant.

Five years later, Temory opened the New York Deli, so named because the city is where he met and married his wife, Kamail.

The deli’s two biggest sellers are the hot pastrami and hot corned-beef sandwiches ($5.25), on which he piles half a pound of meat. The meat comes precooked from Rose and Shorte, the respected purveyor of fine meats. Temory steams it for four or five hours, then trims off the excess fat, providing for a very lean but highly flavorful meat.

Temory also makes several triple-decker sandwiches, the most popular being--what else?--the New Yorker ($7.95). This colossus comes with corned beef, pastrami, Swiss cheese and Russian dressing. Few people finish it.

There also is such familiar deli fare as lox and cream cheese on a bagel, smoked whitefish, brisket of beef and chopped chicken livers. New York cheesecake, German chocolate cake and Black Forest cake highlight the desserts.

Omar and Kamail have named three of the triple-decker sandwiches after their children, making the New York Deli the only restaurant in the nation, maybe the world, to have sandwiches named Farrokh, Hammed and Fatana.

The New York Deli is at 2225 W. Sepulveda Blvd. (just east of Arlington Avenue) in Torrance. Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed Sundays. (310) 320-2321 .