By Scott Gummer

In a town renowned for its restaurants and shows, Carnegie Deli delivers a little bit of both. Actually, there is nothing little at Carnegie Deli, from the trademark towering sandwiches, which tout a pound of meat each, to the larger-than-life personality of the company’s president, Sanford “Sandy” Levine. Holding court at a corner table in his restaurant at The Mirage, Levine recently explained the way things work. “Rule Number One: You can’t leave until you finish,” said the 65-year-old Brooklynite, his accent as thick as his cheesecake. “Rule Number Two: If you do finish, we made a mistake.”

Learning from past mistakes helped bring the world-famous Carnegie Deli to The Mirage. An attempt a few years back to franchise Carnegie Delis around the country failed because the partners skimped and cut corners. “They did not follow our procedures,” laments Levine. “They used outside suppliers and bought different products and it just wasn’t the same Carnegie Deli experience.” The satellites were shuttered and Levine refocused his attention on the flagship deli located at the corner of 55th Street and 7th Avenue in New York City.

Established in 1937, Carnegie Deli is incredibly popular with tourists while maintaining an immensely loyal following of locals. “We can’t close!” laughs Levine. Open for business from 7 a.m. - 2 a.m. seven days a week, 365 days a year, the bustling deli never slows down long enough for Levine to accept the myriad of requests from moviemakers to film in the deli. “They can’t bring in all those lights and cameras without displacing our customers,” says Levine, “and our customers come first.” The lone exception was made for New Yorker Woody Allen, who worked around the deli’s usual hustle and bustle to film scenes for “Broadway Danny Rose.”

Once bitten, Levine was twice shy about opening an outpost in Las Vegas when he got a call from Bart Mahoney, then Vice President of Food and Beverage at The Mirage. Mahoney said he was interested in opening a Carnegie Deli at the resort, to which Levine coolly replied, “I’ll get back to you.”

A shrewd businessman, Levine spent the first 30 years of his career working in Manhattan’s garment district as an account executive for a children’s clothing company. He came to the restaurant game later in life and only then via the title that accompanies his name on his business card: SANFORD LEVINE, MBD.

“It stands for Married Boss’s Daughter,” he says with a smile at the same moment his better half strolls in after a busy morning of shopping. The daughter of Milton Parker, who has owned the Carnegie Deli since 1976, Marian Levine heads up the marketing and public relations for the family business. One of the perks of her job is accompanying her husband on his frequent trips to Las Vegas. “Look at him,” she coos as she stares across the table at her silver-haired (what’s left of it) hubby. “I can’t let him loose in Las Vegas all by himself !”

Las Vegas was a natural fit for a new Carnegie Deli because, like New York, it is a city that never sleeps. The Mirage proved a perfect partner because they embraced doing business the Carnegie Deli way. “There had to be table service,” says Levine. “No having to walk up to a counter to order and pick up your own food. Plus, they had to use only our products.” Be it pickles or pastrami, Levine grows animated when explaining the painstaking efforts that go into cooking up the famously homemade fare.