Bread is Pain

When I first moved here and got the low down on Montreal smoked meat, I was told that there were two types: the Schwartz’s version and the Dunn’s version. Without ever having tasted either, no explanation would be adequate, I would just have to find out for myself. Well, after trying both, I’ve since became a rabid fan of neither, preferring the thicker, fattier brisket slices at The Main, but I understand the disparity.

While Schwartz’s may be more synonymous with Montreal smoked meat in guide books the world over, Dunn’s has more of a presence in Canada, even with locations in Toronto and Ottawa now. Dunn’s is clearly an institution, slicing up briskets since 1927, but the diner experience seems more sterilized than the rest of Montreal’s counterparts. It somehow caters to a different type of diner, one who wants something rustic and authentic without willing to sacrifice consistency and uniformity in the process.

As you can see in this video, their smoked meat is expertly sliced to ridiculous thinness and piled high on mustard smeared rye. You can also see that even their “medium” sandwiches are quite lean and that there is a significant lacking of the crunchy smoked peppercorns and coriander seeds that give a smoked meat sandwich so much character, so the meat has a more brined flavor than a spiced and smoked one.

The smoked meat or sandwich platter will run you $12.25 with the standard sours (coleslaw and pickle) and fries. The sours are fine, the fries have never been particularly fresh in my experience, dry and counter chilled to room temperature blandness. The club roll ($10.75), the hallmark of The Main deli’s decadence in my opinion, misses the charbroiled flavor and sliced tongue, but the onion roll that they serve it on is clearly a better meat delivery system. It’s an overall “cleaner” sandwich, void of the offal cuts, grease and ash, which no doubt has a better mass appeal.

Dunn’s has a better family dining feel to it, and you’re not going to fight through the lines to get in the doors. It’s hard to be even remotely objective in reviewing such a place, as though there is nothing particularly horrible with any of the locations I’ve visited, I also feel that it gives a diminished perception of what Montreal smoked meat can be to any of their diners, and I can’t help but feel that tourists lingering along St. Catherine’s find themselves wandering in their doors and thinking, “This is what these crazy Quebecois rave about? What’s the big deal?”