a great reuben sandwich is tough to find on the west coast

I thought I read the LA area had a few deli places? Haven't traveled much on the west coast(except to San Francisco and Vegas), but yep different regions of the country will do better when it comes to serving certain types of food. Also, I thought I read some deli place had opened in Las Vegas, but can't remember which one it was that opened there.

As for the Chicago area, I also really like Kaufman's in Skokie a lot. Shorter trip for me to get to vs. Manny's, and to me it's about as good. The Bagel(with 2 locations, 1 at Old Orchard Shopping Center, and the other in Lakeview on Broadway south of Belmont) isn't bad, either. New York Bagel and Bialy in Lincolnwood is probably the best place I've found for bagels, and there are other places that carry their bagels in the Chicago area as well.