Caplansky’s Delicatessen

By Jess Wednesday July 27, 2011

Mike had been suggesting Caplansky’s for a while before we ended up here on a rainy Saturday night when we were too lazy to cook dinner. The atmosphere here was a little gloomy, kind of like the weather that evening. It was pretty empty except for several individuals eating by themselves.

Matzoh ball soup

I went with the basics and ordered the Sandwich Combo – smoked meat sandwich and cup of chicken soup with Matzoh balls ($12). I had only tried Matzoh ball soup once before and I had no recollection of how it tasted, but I found Caplansky’s soup and Matzoh ball to be so-so, as it was a little bland. Mike agreed, saying it certainly wasn’t one of the better soups he’s had. He said that his mom definitely makes it better!

When ordering the sandwich, the server will ask you whether you want the lean, medium or fatty meat. Since it was my first time here, I decided to go with the medium.

Smoked Meat Sandwich

The sandwich arrived, piled high with meat in between two slices of rye bread. Each table has a selection of mustards – honey, yellow and hot. For a person who loves condiments, I didn’t use any mustard on my sandwich because it was already so flavourful! I’m certainly no expert on smoked meat, but I thought this was a pretty solid sandwich. Although I have to say this sandwich pales in comparison to the pastrami sandwich I had at Carnegie Deli in New York.

The sandwich also came with a pickle, which was amazing. One thing you should know about me is that I love pickles. I’m one of those people who will buy a jar of pickles just to snack on, and the pickles here were certainly better than the jar of pickles sitting in my fridge.

Mike ordered the same sandwich, but added a smoked meat poutine (side order – $4). There was a slight miscommunication with the server as we had originally ordered a full order of the poutine. Luckily, only a side order came, as the sandwiches were pretty filling, so a side order was the perfect serving to complete our meals.

Overall, I really enjoyed the food and would definitely come back if I need a smoked meat sandwich fix.