Where to get New York Smoked Meat
Comments
2009 May 1
Of course I had the Empire Sandwich platter, which was fairly priced for dinner at $12.95. They give you a big load of smoked meat, with the usual tiny slabs of rye, a little pile of fries, a quarter pickle, and a bowl of homemade coleslaw.
The coleslaw was very nice. Maybe just a little sweet for my taste but it hit a good balance of creaminess and tangy-ness.
The pickle was the best I've had in my admittedly limited deli experience. Certainly better than others I've had at Ottawa's smoked meat outlets.
The fries were not to my taste at all. Quite dark and very greasy, I found they irritated my mouth (as potatoes sometimes do to me). Kudos for serving both white and malt vinegar with the fries though!
This was my first experience with New York style smoked meat and I was eager to give it a try. It was sliced very thin, piled very high, and had a dryer texture and meatier flavour than the Montreal style smoked meat. You can choose between Hebrew National mustard and bright yellow French's -- something that becomes necessary to moisten the dryish combination of meat and rye bread. Montreal smoked meat sandwiches are moist enough that the slices of rye are needed to keep your fingers dry; the flipside is that the bread absorbs some juices and becomes quite tasty. The bread in my sandwich at Grand Central seemed very dry and quite bland. I don't see the point of dry bland bread with dry smoked meat so I'd suggest just leaving the bread behind (or asking for it without). Squirt some Hebrew National on the smoked meat and dig in with knife and fork for a nice little feast!
My wife preferred this to the Montreal style smoked meat but I continue to favour Montreal's more moist and seasoned product. To each his own!
Three hours after the fact, I'm gulping water like crazy. As Ken V hinted, you may want to avoid this place if you're on a low sodium diet.
The coleslaw was very nice. Maybe just a little sweet for my taste but it hit a good balance of creaminess and tangy-ness.
The pickle was the best I've had in my admittedly limited deli experience. Certainly better than others I've had at Ottawa's smoked meat outlets.
The fries were not to my taste at all. Quite dark and very greasy, I found they irritated my mouth (as potatoes sometimes do to me). Kudos for serving both white and malt vinegar with the fries though!
This was my first experience with New York style smoked meat and I was eager to give it a try. It was sliced very thin, piled very high, and had a dryer texture and meatier flavour than the Montreal style smoked meat. You can choose between Hebrew National mustard and bright yellow French's -- something that becomes necessary to moisten the dryish combination of meat and rye bread. Montreal smoked meat sandwiches are moist enough that the slices of rye are needed to keep your fingers dry; the flipside is that the bread absorbs some juices and becomes quite tasty. The bread in my sandwich at Grand Central seemed very dry and quite bland. I don't see the point of dry bland bread with dry smoked meat so I'd suggest just leaving the bread behind (or asking for it without). Squirt some Hebrew National on the smoked meat and dig in with knife and fork for a nice little feast!
My wife preferred this to the Montreal style smoked meat but I continue to favour Montreal's more moist and seasoned product. To each his own!
Three hours after the fact, I'm gulping water like crazy. As Ken V hinted, you may want to avoid this place if you're on a low sodium diet.
lilfoodie
My husband and I are big fans of Montreal's Schwartz's deli but we don't want to have to drive all the way to Montreal for it. We are from Toronto so we've looked everywhere between Montreal and Toronto for good smoked meat and came up with nothing. We weren't even impressed by the place that is known to have "Toronto's best smoked meat".
Anyway, we love our smoked meat! And we started to look for alternatives.
GCNYD is definitely a great alternative! The meat is very also very tasty, and smells delish. My husband also enjoyed the pickle (he is a big Schwartz's pickle fan) at GCNYD.
My sister is coming up in a few wks so I'm going to bring her here. We're definitely coming back for more!
Our only complaint is that the prices are quite expensive! At Schwartz's, u can get a sandwich for 5-6 bucks. At GCNY, I had the 5oz sandwich only and it was 8.99!