Mile End Delicatessen
Montreal smoked meat is cured brisket, sliced by hand, and this kitchen has been curing and smoking its own in Boerum Hill since 2010. Get it on rye. The Ruth Wilensky is the salami sandwich beside it.
Why go
Robert Sietsema puts the difference in the spicing: a slightly different constellation of spices, a bit more sweetness and ruby color, and, in general, less smokiness.
1 That matters at the counter, because a New Yorker who orders this expecting pastrami has ordered the wrong thing. Around the sandwiches sits the Canadian half of the menu, poutine and latkes and schnitzel.2
Order this / avoid
- Order: smoked meat on rye. The Ruth Wilensky is the salami sandwich and it is the one Sietsema names.1
- Avoid: treating it as pastrami with a different name. Order it for the sweetness and the lighter smoke.
What locals & experts say
- Robert Sietsema, Eater NY, 2022: Mile End
specializes in hand-sliced 'smoked meat,' the Canadian answer to pastrami.
Its other sandwiches,such as the salami-based Ruth Wilensky - reflect Jewish-Canadian food attitudes. Schnitzels and matzo ball soup round out the menu.
1 - I have not found a New York review of this room published since that guide.
Good to know
- Booking: the kitchen takes reservations and the room is small.2
- The door: 97A Hoyt Street, Boerum Hill.1
Verdict
should-visit — Sietsema is specific in the way that matters at a deli counter, naming the spicing, the color and the smoke rather than saying the sandwich is good. His sentence also settles what the room is for, since a reader who wants pastrami is in the wrong shop and one who wants the Montreal version is in the right one. The Ruth Wilensky and the poutine come from the same source and fill out an order. The kitchen dates itself to 2010 on its own page, and that page is the only current evidence the room is trading.