Snowdon Deli | Best Smoked Meat In Montreal?

Smoked Meat Is Not Pastrami

You’ll find what might be the best smoked meat in Montreal off the main strip of Queen Mary at Snowdon Deli. A big deal in Quebec’s Metropolis, smoked meat resembles what U.S. delis call pastrami. Radiant with exotic spice, it delivers flavor that is smoky indeed. They cut it by hand because it’s too tender for a machine.

Lean, Medium, or Fatty?

The big decision to make is how fatty you like it. Customarily the choices are fatty, medium, or lean. Unless you’re dieting, forget lean. It lacks the extreme succulence that makes smoked meat so alluring. You can’t always get fatty. It’s virtually all fat, available only when the meat cutter can gather enough on his block. We told the woman behind the counter that we like ours pretty fatty but don’t cotton to the idea of a total fat sandwich. She suggested yet another option: “extra medium.” With a straight face, she explained that extra medium is more fatty than regular medium. Okey-doke.

Full-Service Deli

Come to Snowden’s for smoked meat in Montreal, but look beyond it, too. Smoked whitefish, lox and carp, knishes, pickles, salads, and pastries occupy space in the deli’s long glass case. Beyond these items, which most people buy to take home, Snowdon’s offers full-service delicatessen meals. Sit down for hot plates, smoked fish sandwiches, and desserts.

A Nice Nosh

As we stood at the counter gaping at gorgeous spheres of gefilte fish, a woman tending seafood salads asked if we’d care for a bite of karnatzel. She pointed behind her to a hanging curtain of long, cigar-thin beef salamis. You’ll find these salamis in every Montreal deli. When we licked our lips at the sight of them, the woman quickly sliced a couple of four-inch lengths. She wrapped the chewy pieces of karnatzel with a squirt of mustard in slices of oven-fresh rye bread. She told us to nosh while we while we waited for the deli men to cut our meat and assemble our sandwiches.