Mile End Deli - Brooklyn, NY

Ronna and I spent a long weekend in New York in November, and spent much of it eating wonderful food. Though it came as somewhat of a surprise to us, our brunch at Mile End Deli landed at the very top of our list of food highlights from the visit. Mile End is very well hyped by now, but for us, it lived up to every bit of it. It was so good, and I felt so teased by the non-brunch menu, that I was sad that we couldn't fit in another visit before we left town. I've got to get back to try their dinner menu. (Shmaltzed radish with gribenes and lemon juice?! Cholent with veal shortrib, sweetbreads kishke, beans, barley?!)

The star of the show was, without a doubt, the Montreal-style smoked meat. Fine distinctions between this stuff and pastrami aside, Mile End's smoked meat was nothing short of awesome. As good as any pastrami I've ever had, maybe better.

Here's what we ate:


Smoked meat, rye, mustard - See above. It really was that good.


Smoked whitefish salad, pickled asparagus, celery, chives, bagel - This was very good, I think. I'm not sure, because all I could really think about was the smoked meat. Note that Mile End serves bagels imported from Montreal. They describe them as different from New York bagels in that they are smaller, denser, chewier, and slightly sweet. I guess it was good. (Smoked meat.)


Heck of a good house-brined pickle. Went really well with the smoked meat.


Poutine - frites, cheese curds, mushroom gravy, smoked meat - If I had made a Best Things I Ate in 2010 list, this would have been on it. Fantastic. Makes other poutines hang their curds in shame and cry.

If you're heading to the NYC area, I highly recommend putting Mile End Deli on your agenda. Even if you were just planning to do Manhattan, this place is worth the trip to Brooklyn for the smoked meat alone.

--Rich

Mile End Deli
97a Hoyt Street
Brooklyn, NY
718.852.7510

(Smoked meat, smoked meat, smoked meat.)

Damn. I'd sworn off Brooklyn in favor of Queens for my food escapes from Manhattan.

Plus, Mile End is in Boerum Hill, a really charming Brooklyn neighborhood, which makes it easy to live with the long wait for one of the few tables. Put your name down and then wander the neighborhood, stopping into antique shops and boutiques.

Definitely worth a hike out to Brooklyn.

Ronna

I saw this place featured on some TV show and it's been on my list of places to visit ever since. I immediately put it on my NYC Google map for my next visit. Thanks for confirming that it is indeed as good as it looked on TV.

That pickle speaks to me. So does the smoked meat. And the whitefish salad. And that poutine. Hell, I can hardly hear anything right now!

Thanks for sharing. I have friends in Brooklyn. Might be time to visit.

RAB wrote:Mile End's smoked meat was nothing short of awesome. As good as any pastrami I've ever had, maybe better.

Wow, really, wow!

Was talking to a BBQ buddy who works for a large wholesale pork operation and he raved and raved about Mile End's smoked meat. He seldom finds retail smoked products tolerable, much less describes them in loving detail.

Thanks for posting the description and pictures, Mile End seems to be living up to high expectation.

Enjoy,
Gary

Your post was timely -- thanks for tipping me off to Mile End. I was visiting Brooklyn this weekend and love love love smoked meat, so this place was on my mind the whole time. Managed to get over on Monday for brunch and although the place is tiny, we were seated right away at the counter right in front of the smoked meat carving area. Just my luck! Or was it?

.... I had neglected to do the requisite research though, and didn't realize that the smoked meat sandwich wasn't available until after NOON on the brunch menu. Nor was the poutine on the breakfasty early morning carte. RATS!!! For once in my life I was early for breakfast after a night of sipping slivovitz, so we were somewhat limited to eggy / breakfasty things at 10:30. Ordered the smoked meat hash and was tortured by the guy pulling out the smoked meat around 11 in preparation for the lunchier part of the brunch service. No matter, I'll go back for the full monty next time. Again, thanks for the inspiration.

Gastro gnome and myself made a visit to Mile End Deli on a recent eating trip to New York. While the wait was long to get in, it was well worth it. I'd love to go back sometime for dinner, as the dinner specials on the chalkboard all sounded great.

Pickles!

The pickled fennel in particular was a real winner. I knew I was going to like the place when I saw the pickle display at the entrance.

Scotch egg and smoked beef hash

The scotch egg was wrapped in duck sausage and served with apple butter. The smoked beef hash was what all other hashes aspire to - crispy meat and potatoes, with unctuous runny egg yolk.

The main event - Smoked Meat Sandwich


And... a gratuitous smoked meat close-up...


-Dan

I was initially skeptical about that Scotch egg and now I don't know where to find one nearly as good. Perfectly fried exterior, tasty sausage jacket, and a perfectly boiled egg. It actually came together very nicely with the arugala apple salad with apple butter. Definitely elevated the dish.

Rather than writing more pointless words, I will let dansch's smoked meat pictures do all the talking.