Restaurant thread....the best place to eat...Where!!!

[Sol Tee Nutz]

Still in the Vancouver area, the trend for micro breweries here is sampling stores. A friend of mine's wifes brother owns one ( Steel and Oak Brewing Co. )
Great beer, do not serve food or have waitresses, you must go to a order desk and make an order, you can have food delivered to the place and eat it, no issues. Special license if you follow the sef serve and only sell your craft.
As for food here, wow. Little Italy on Commercial Ave is perfect, tiny little eateries that have great staff, food and music.

 

[smuler]

Still in the Vancouver area, the trend for micro breweries here is sampling stores. A friend of mine's wifes brother owns one ( Steel and Oak Brewing Co. )
Great beer, do not serve food or have waitresses, you must go to a order desk and make an order, you can have food delivered to the place and eat it, no issues. Special license if you follow the sef serve and only sell your craft.
As for food here, wow. Little Italy on Commercial Ave is perfect, tiny little eateries that have great staff, food and music.

I've unfortunately not been to Vancouver in a couple years..
Way back when ( a couple years ago ) , Alibi Room had the best selection of beers IMHO :
http://www.alibi.ca/

Here is your friends place, but technically in New Westminster
https://steelandoak.ca/

I wish small craft brewers a lot of success....

If you happen to ride a bike, make sure to take advantage of the excellent system..I highly recommend 1 & 2 on the attached map :
https://www.tourismvancouver.com/activities/cycling-mountain-biking/5-great-bike-rides/

..how's the cereal ?

Best Regards
Smuler

 

[Sol Tee Nutz]

The cereal is superb and cheap, a whole bag for $170, edibles are everywhere. I am still new here, call everywhere Vancouver area, the fish places in Whiterock are excellent also. Grandville and Davies St have some good pubs, live entertainment pubs are plentiful.

 

[Sol Tee Nutz]

Thanks for the writing tip, I will file that in it's proper place.

 

[TnT]

I have not had a smoked meat sandwich for years. What is the best place for smoked meat these days? What new places are there and have the old places jumped the shark or gotten better?

 

[Julia Sky]

I have not had a smoked meat sandwich for years. What is the best place for smoked meat these days? What new places are there and have the old places jumped the shark or gotten better?

I didn't read the posts, just found the page, but I think from page 35 onward there's a discussion about smoked meat : https://merb.cc/vbulletin/showthrea...-thread-the-best-place-to-eat-Where!!!/page35

 

[Al Swearengen]

There is a deli counter with a couple of tables on St. Laurent south of Pine called Slovania. They will cut you a hot smoked meat sandwich for $4.50. I will not say it is the best smoked meat, but it is a tremendous value.

 

[montreal1234]

Grinder , Makro , Garde Manger , Gibbies , The Q, chasse esr peche

 

[EagerBeaver]

Grinder

Coolest thing about Grinder is they are not actually located in Montreal. Their business card says "Griffintown, Quebec." It speaks to the independent spirit of this neighborhood, much like Tribeca in New York City, which became a recognized, geographic neighborhood only through the sheer will of longtime residents in the 1970s. Now they have their own Film Festival. It's not the NYC Film Festival, its the Tribeca Film Festival, started by longtime resident Robert DeNiro.

You could say that Grinder is the culinary heartbeat of Griffintown, and that Griffintown is the coolest area in Montreal.

 

[sharkman]

For smoked meat in Montreal my favourites are:

1) Lester's on Bernard street (their old fashioned smoked meat coupled with extra mustard and sours is fantastic...they have great karnatzels as well)
2) Schwartz's

 

[transatlantic]

I tried both Reubens's locations as well as Main deli. Schwartz still comes out on top.

 

[R the Man]

I go to Schwartz's when I have time (I'm usually in downtown area) and if it is too busy, to the Main across the street. I like Rueben's or Dunn's when I'm downtown.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Is Schwartz’s offering a pastrami these days as well as smoked meat? It would serve them well to offer both....

 

[jalimon]

Is Schwartz’s offering a pastrami these days as well as smoked meat? It would serve them well to offer both....

Shame on me as a montrealer I am clueless on the issue but what is a pastrami? I mean compared to a smoked meat?

 

[EagerBeaver]

Shame on me as a montreal I am clueless on the issue but what is a pastrami? I mean compared to a smoked meat?

It's a cousin of smoked meat that is favored in Jewish delis in New York City and elsewhere in the USA:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastrami

Sort of the NYC version of smoked meat. I would like to see Schwartz offer a pastrami and smoked meat platter or mix and match sandwiches, like a half pastrami sandwich with a half smoked meat sandwich. This would promote diversity and inclusion among all smoked meats.

 

[sharkman]

Pastrami and smoked meat are similar but they are prepared differently. Both also come from different parts of the beef. Montreal style smoked meat come from the "brisket" cut of the beef, whereas NY pastrami comes for the "navel" (fattier with more marbling).

They are both dry cured but smoked meat is soaked to lower the salt content (in a process called desalination) and then steamed.
Pastrami is rubbed up using salt and sugar until absorbed by the meat (similar process to italian prosciutto or spanish jamon).

The tradition of pastrami and smoked meat was brought to North America by Romanian jews who settled in large parts in NY and Montreal.

In fact, the word pastrami derives from the turkish language. No surprise, since Romania was part of the Ottoman Empire at one point and the process was probably introduced by the turks to eastern europe.

 

[EagerBeaver]

The tradition of pastrami and smoked meat was brought to North America by Romanian jews who settled in large parts in NY and Montreal.

Basically the strain of European Jews who came to Montreal favored smoked meat whereas the European Jews who came to NYC liked pastrami better.

Pastrami is sometimes made from brisket, but you are correct that the NY style pastrami served in the hardcore old school Jewish delis generally is a fattier cut of meat than typical Montreal smoked meat. However, some places in Montreal, like Snowdon Deli, offer choices of a fattier smoked meat. So the distinctions between Pastrami and Smoked Meat are blurring a little bit because you can get lean pastrami or fatty smoked meat. I have had lean pastrami that is leaner than Schwartz's smoked meat, but I do not like it as much as the typical pastrami of NYC.

BTW Pastrami is smoked and steamed. Just like smoked meat- although as you noted the curing process is different.

Suffice it to say that Pastrami and Smoked Meat are first cousins in the world of smoked meats. Italian Prosciutto and Spanish Serrano Jamon are more like 2nd or 3rd cousins. I think they are made out of pork as well, removing them further from the Pastrami and Smoked Meat lineage.

 

[sharkman]

In regards to italian prosciutto or spanish jamon, I was referring to the dry curing process not to the meat. I know they are pork and not beef. Similar to pastrami, prosciutto and jamon are heavily salted in the dry curing process.

You can dry cure any type of meat/cheese these days.

Lester's deli on Bernard street in Montreal also offers different textures of smoked meat ranging from fatty, old fashioned, medium and lean. But the textures are cut from within the brisket and do not overlap into the navel part of the beef as it is the case with NY pastrami.

 

[kabukicho]

what about sushi? any okay places downtown? lotta bad places run by Chinese. quite a few buffet sushi places that are bad...

 

[jalimon]

Kuu Bistro

Went there with Scarlett (her choice) and detour. Awesome! Scarlet kind of scandalized every patron and staff but that was kind of cool

Cheers,