Purists beware — there’s a new deli in town.
Just opened in Boerum Hill, Mile End has taken your favorite Jewish deli staples and given them a Montreal flair.
“We still have the same focus on meats and pickles and food of that sort. It’s just a different take on the tradition,” said Park Slope resident Rae Cohen, who opened Mile End at 97A Hoyt Street with her husband and Montreal native, Noah Bernamoff.
The biggest differences can be found in the meat.
“Instead of pastrami, we serve smoked meat, which is a brisket cured for 10 days then smoked in-house. It’s very similar to pastrami but it’s more peppery,” explained Cohen, a Manhattan native. “The smoked meat is definitely the thing that people want to come here for.”
Menashe Gottlieb of Gottlieb Deli in Williamsburg welcomed the Montreal eatery to the borough.
“It sounds good to me. There’s a lot of different types of people in Brooklyn these days,” he told this paper. “If it doesn’t take away business from me, it’s okay.”
Jay Stern, manager of Jay & Lloyd’s Kosher Deli in Sheepshead Bay, isn’t so impressed with the idea of straying from traditional Brooklyn deli fare.
“A deli is corned beef, pastrami and brisket heaven,” he said. “I’ve never heard of a Montreal-style deli.”
On second thought, Mile End could be a good fit in its Brooklyn nabe, Stern said.
“With the saturation of new-wave yuppies, I would say sure, why not? If it’s not from the old school, it will work there,” he said.
Check out the Montreal-style menu at http://www.mileendbrooklyn.com.