What's Inside Our Chef's Reuben-Style Guinness Pastrami
At Yogi's Home Plate, a neighbourhood sports bar tucked into Lake Highlands, the kitchen has quietly turned the familiar Reuben into something worth planning the night around. Scratch-made food, live music, and a wall of screens already pull in Dallas crowds, but the Reuben-Style Guinness Pastrami keeps regulars coming back between UFC cards.
For Australians who treat a great sandwich like a weekend ritual, the appeal lands quickly. A slow-cured beef plate finished with a stout glaze echoes the patience behind a low-and-slow brisket served in Surry Hills or a hand-carved roast rolled out for Sunday lunch in Fremantle. The chef's training turns what could be a bar snack into a layered plate built the long way.
This is a full breakdown of what arrives at the table: the cut, the spice rub, the Guinness-soaked braise, the stack, the sides, and the pairings that make fight nights at Yogi's as much a food destination as a sports bar.
The beef behind the brisket
Pastrami earns its reputation from time, not tricks. Yogi's starts with a whole beef navel, the same cut Texas pitmasters have smoked for generations, trimmed and sorted before the cure even begins.
The cut matters because the muscle carries enough interior fat to stay tender through a week in brine. A leaner eye of round might cure faster, but it dries out once it meets the heat of the smoker. The kitchen chose the navel for the way the fat ribbons and bastes itself as the smoke rolls.
A standard cure runs five to seven days, with the beef submerged in a seasoned brine and turned daily. After that, the meat is rinsed, dried, and rolled in a second coating of aromatics before it ever sees the smoker. Slow, deliberate, and almost identical in rhythm to the way an Australian butcher might break down a silverside for a winter weekend.
The spice rub and the stout glaze
Two short lists capture the layers that give this pastrami its colour and its bite. The rub rides the outside of the meat after the cure, then sets into a crust during the smoke. The glaze comes off the heat, brushed on while the pastrami rests, carrying the dark sweetness of a reduced Dublin stout.
What goes into the dry rub:
- Coarse black pepper, cracked fresh the morning of
- Coriander seed, toasted and ground in-house
- Smoked paprika for colour and a quiet warmth
- Garlic powder and a touch of brown sugar
- Mustard powder to anchor the spices
What goes into the Guinness glaze:
- Reduced Guinness Draught, simmered down by a third
- Brown sugar and a splash of malt vinegar
- Whole-grain mustard for texture
- Worcestershire sauce and a thin pour of Texas honey
- Butter to round the sauce before brushing
The rub gives the pastrami its peppery bark. The glaze gives it the glossy, almost lacquered finish that lands against the bread.
Stack-building on the line
Once the pastrami has rested and been sliced thick against the grain, the sandwich comes together at the pass. The kitchen pulls a slice of house-baked rye, toasted dark on the flat-top, and starts layering.
Russian dressing is spread on the top slice, made in-house with a base of mayo, ketchup, minced pickles, and a touch of smoked paprika. The bottom slice gets a swipe of whole-grain mustard, then a generous layer of melted Swiss, which softens against the warm beef. A pile of house-pickled sauerkraut goes on top of the pastrami, not under it, so the heat keeps the kraut from going limp.
The lid lands, the sandwich gets a quick press, and it is cut on the diagonal before going out with a ramekin of jus and a small hill of crunchy slaw. Every element is built to hold together through the last few minutes of a championship fight or the slow build of a UFC co-main.
Watching the fights the way Australians do
Fight nights at Yogi's pull in Dallas locals and curious travelers, but the kitchen treats the pairing list the way a good Sydney publican would. Australian craft beer has matured into a serious match for smoked meats, and the bar keeps a few cans cold for guests who want a taste of the southern hemisphere.
A quick note for any visitor from Perth, Melbourne, or Adelaide: Texas drink laws sit differently from RSA rules back home. The bar can stay open until 2 a.m. on weekdays under the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code, and service can extend later with special event permits on fight weekends. Tourists should carry a passport or valid ID, since US pours run heavier than standard Aussie schooners.
The kitchen also plans around the time-zone gap. UFC pay-per-views often tip off at punishing hours in Australia, so the bar leans into Sunday brunch cards alongside Saturday fight nights to keep everyone fed at reasonable hours.
A side-by-side with a classic Reuben
| Element | Classic New York Reuben | Yogi's Reuben-Style Guinness Pastrami |
|---|---|---|
| Bread | Square rye, often store-bought | House-baked rye, dark toast |
| Meat | Pastrami, typically steamed | Cured and smoked navel pastrami |
| Cheese | Swiss, sometimes American | Melted aged Swiss |
| Dressing | Russian, often bottled | House Russian with smoked paprika |
| Pickled layer | Sauerkraut | House-pickled sauerkraut, kraut on top |
| Defining twist | Marble rye optional, deli mustard | Guinness reduction glaze + whole-grain mustard |
| Best moment of day | Midday lunch rush | UFC fight night, big-screen derby day |
It is easy to see where the chef stayed faithful and where the kitchen pushed the sandwich forward.
For anyone curious about the kitchen's broader playbook, the team has also written up the-history-of-our-legendary-queso-dip-74074 — same scratch-first approach that drives the pastrami.
Stop in for the pastrami before the next UFC card, reserve a table for a derby morning brunch, or send a pickup order straight to the couch. Yogi's Home Plate takes walk-ins, group bookings, and catering requests, with online ordering through major delivery platforms for anyone staying in for the night. The chef curates seasonal specials every few weeks, so the next visit might bring a smoked turkey twist or a pork-belly riff built the same way.