• EAT: It's not easy finding a tongue sandwich anymore.

With each disappearance of a South Florida deli -- Wolfie's, Rascal House, Pumpernik's, Corky's -- a little piece of history (and pickled meat) also goes away.

So where did all the chopped liver, brisket and belly lox go?

You may have to look a little harder, but they're still around. Our deli cravings took us to a place where kosher salamis hang from the ceiling. Where Dr. Brown's soda chills by the door. Where a deli man takes your order at a counter brimming with silver trays of cream cheese, herring and fat sour pickles.

We're in Mo's Bagels & Deli, a pastrami palace for many former New Yorkers looking for an overstuffed sandwich with cole slaw and a kosher dill on the side. This Northeast Miami-Dade deli, tucked on a side street off busy Biscayne Boulevard south of the Aventura Mall, has all the staples you would expect.

We tried four deli sandwiches on rye bread (of course!): center-cut tongue, brisket, whitefish salad and vegetarian chopped liver (which looks like the real thing but has more subtle flavor).

While the counterman went to work slicing, scooping and assembling our order, we watched the parade of people and salivated over a huge bakery case filled with cookies. Each sandwich came with cole slaw or potato salad and a pickle. The tomato, lettuce and onion on the side, as requested, was laid out in a separate foam tray and sealed tightly with plastic wrap -- a nice touch to keep the bread dry.

The tongue, savored by the longtime tongue lover in the family, was fatty and tough in spots, but the mere fact that this was indeed tongue slathered in brown mustard had my mom rolling back her eyes in ecstasy.

The vegetarian chopped liver -- made of walnuts, eggs, crackers, peas and vegetable oil -- was a healthy and tasty alternative to the traditional spread, and meshed perfectly with a slice of raw onion.

We couldn't get enough of the whitefish salad and the brisket, both staples at any New York-style deli, and done right and big at Mo's. The meat-loving, always-hungry tween of the family looked wide-eyed at the pile of brisket spilling from the bread.

``This will last me for a long time,'' she said before attempting a big bite.

• DRINK: Dr. Brown's, of course.

• WATCH: Crossing Delancey, the 1988 film about finding true love with a pickle seller.

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