Monthly Archives: January 2013

Halifax Smoked Meat Wars: Sully’s Roast Beef & Smoked Meat

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IMG_7683As promised, I ventured into Sully’s today. I brought my good friend MGyver, so that we could go splits on the smoked meat and the roast beef. This no frills restaurant is brightly lit and has only counter space for eating. The one man show behind the counter is friendly, conversational, and slices our meat to order. Meanwhile, we sit on the cherished old stools of the late Ginger’s tavern and watch some tennis on the telly. IMG_7696The beef is roasted to a pinky medium at Certainly Cinnamon, and is handed over to Sully’s for sandwich glory. It is toasted in a sub bun, and then topped with tomato, pickle, onions, lettuce and banana peppers: $6 for 6 inches and $11 for a foot long. Props to you if you can eat a foot long! The meat is really tender and plentiful, and the condiments were flavourful. I was happy with this sandwich, until suddenly I heard moans of delight from my pal MGyver. I looked over and he was already into his first bite of his smoked meat sandwich.

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Sully’s smoked meat.

Yay! What a sandwich! Oh, and ignore the slice of cheese. I ordered that as an afterthought but it was completely unnecessary. The meat is shipped in from Montreal and is piled high and sliced thin. The rye bread is from the Fancy Lebanese Bakery, and is steamed before performing its sandwich duties. The steaming seems to make the bread more elastic and durable, helping it to hold the sandwich together rather than being spiteful and dry and falling apart under the harassment of several inches of meat. It is served with a modest side of potato chips, and a good brand of pickle spear, all for $7.50.

Sully's Roast Beef.

Sully’s Roast Beef.

Sully’s also serves Nathan’s hot dogs (authentic NYC) and imports pulled pork from the southern states. More importantly, they have a beverage fridge full of the aloe vera drink to which I am hopelessly addicted! There is talk of setting up a beer tap and maybe serving some Granite beer… maybe… hopefully…? There is also talk of renovations to open up more seating and better kitchen/storage. In time we will see the progression of this business, but for now you might as well go try a sandwich. You won’t be disappointed.

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Sully’s Roast Beef & Smoked Meat
3548 Novalea Dr.
Halifax, NS
902-493-5141
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Halifax Smoked Meat Wars: Hali Deli

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IMG_7665When Halifax claims (or reclaims) a food trend, it is serious business. Recently we’ve seen a boom in Korean food, for example, surging from 1 to 6 Korean restaurants in record time. Gourmet hamburgers are another example. In 2012 alone, 4 gourmet burger restaurants opened, and 2 more are on the way. Now I’m seeing a boom in smoked meat, which apparently used to be commonplace in the 1970s or thereabouts, and is seeing a resurgence now. I’ve dined at Schwartz’s in Montreal, and Katz’s in NYC, so you can imagine my excitement when a Jewish deli opened on Agricola Street, complete with matzo ball soup and half-sour pickles (half pickle, half cucumber and totally delicious!)IMG_7646The smoked meat sandwich ($10.99) is piled high with hand-sliced smoked meat, very little bread to hold it together, and mustard at the table for self-application (deli-style and ballpark yellow). I had to reassemble my sandwich due to disproportionate elements, and questionable bread integrity. The platter comes with fries (or sub salad $1.99), coleslaw and a half-sour spear. The French fries did not impress me, and they are way too heavy an ally to these colossal sandwiches. Fortunately, you can substitute them with items from the side menu, such as potato knish, kasha vamishkes, potato latke, and sweet kugel (descriptions of said items are on the back of the menu). If only they would let you substitute soup…IMG_7662Well it certainly looks good, but how does it taste? It’s good! It is nowhere near as good as Schwartz’s, but it’s satisfying. The meat is more moist, and reminds me of a pre-cooked ham more than a house-smoked brisket. I inquired into the source of the smoked meat and was told that it is shipped from a wholesaler in Montreal. Just because it came from Montreal doesn’t make it awesome… in fact, I think in-house smoking would be a vast improvement. IMG_7644

There is also smoked meat in grilled cheese form! (Grilled Cheese Deluxe $9.99).

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I was intrigued by the grilled all-beef salami ($10.99). Not bad, but there was just too much of it. Take out a couple slices, add mustard, and then you have a sandwich.

IMG_7659The mixed grill ($12.99) in an onion bun was pretty awesome. The salami is balanced with smoked meat and corned beef and everything fits snugly in the onion bun. This is a winning sandwich! The pastry is the potato-stuffed potato knish.

IMG_7649The other winner was the Reuban ($12.99): corned beef, sauerkraut, swiss cheese, Russian dressing on twin grilled rye bread. I only got to have one bite, but I would recommend it.

Despite the fact that I’m not overly impressed by the smoked meat at Hali Deli, it is a welcome addition to the city. The Reuban and the Mixed Grill are worth a return visit. If you read the menu, you will also notice some very exciting breakfast and dinner options, and a rather intriguing hamburger. More “research” is unavoidable. Next week, I will be checking out Sully’s Roast Beef and Smoked Meat as the sandwich war continues!

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@NotThatGirl1981′s lunchtime photo… makes me want to get an iphone.

Hali Deli 
2389 Agricola St.
Halifax, NS
902-406-2500
Web Site

Hali Deli on Urbanspoon

Calgary Greek-Style Pizza

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I lumbered into Calgary on a Greyhound bus one summer morning in 2009. I would end up living there for 3 years, but my first moments were filled with disorientation and culture shock, as I stumbled through the wasteland of strip malls, box stores, and chain restaurants grasping for something familiar, before discovering and understanding the real Calgary culinary scene. This involved hours of research, moving downtown, and making friends with cars. Calgary is a spread out city, but if you know where to look there are some real gems. I mean, Calgary is the culinary capital of the Canadian Prairies.

Discovering Calgary pizza was an arduous task. When I opened that first delivery box, I shuddered in disappointment. What is this monster?! It was a thick pan-crust pizza throbbing with cheese. Coming from the east coast, I had never seen such a thing. I started asking around at work, and on Chowhound, where can you get a good pizza in Calgary? I kept getting redirected to this “inferior” style of pizza, until finally, the unspeakable happened: I fell in love with it!

Spiros Pizza

Spiros Pizza: one of the best pizzas I’ve ever had.

While there are many other styles of pizza available in Calgary, I believe the “Greek-Style” is the most representative of Calgary’s unique pizza culture. Whereas Halifax is known for its Greek diners, Calgary lays claim to the Greek-run “Pizza & Steak House”, an intriguing phenomenon. A Pizza & Steak House specializes in pizza, budget steaks, breaded veal dishes and pasta. They usually consist of an oldschool 1970s-style dining room with a bar section. Some establishments are branded “Pizza & Sports Bar” instead. They may or may not serve the standard steak house fare, while emphasizing the bar/lounge atmosphere. There are also Greek restaurants that serve pizza, or, to be more accurate, pizza restaurants that serve Greek food. Lastly, there are take-out/delivery restaurants that serve pizza, wings, pasta, and salads. They lack the variety and late hours that Halifax pizza shops offer, but often provide better quality.

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Demetris Pizza

The Greek-style pizza has a pan-style crust, whereas here in the Maritimes we typically see hand-tossed crusts. A hand-tossed pizza uses a thin flat pizza pan, whereas a pan-style pizza requires a deeper pan so that the dough can be  pressed up the edges, making for a deeper pie and a thicker crust. Pizza Hut’s original crust is a pan-crust but is much greasier. A good Greek-style pizza should have a nice thick crust with golden, baked-on spillover cheese.

Atlas Pizza

Another distinguishing factor of Calgary’s Greek-style is that the pizza is entirely smothered with cheese, with layers and layers of toppings piled underneath.

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Usually I prefer vegetarian pizzas, but this is one style of pizza where I definitely recommend loading on the meat. This is the kind of pizza that comes at 14″ at its largest size, will easily cost you $30, and will make you fat in half the time as a New York slice.

4th St. Pizza (Mission)

4th St. Pizza (Mission)

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The sauce is typically spiked with oregano, but some places offer a
meat-sauce pizza which has a slight
(Greek) touch of cinnamon. Shrimp is also a popular topping, which, ironically, is not considered an acceptable pizza topping on the east coast. There is also a strange menu system (pictured right) that seems to predominate. Instead of just listing the toppings and prices per number of toppings, there is a redundant and absurd tendency, especially amongst the oldschool places, to list them in this fashion.

So where is the best Greek-style pizza in Calgary to be found? Most of it is very good. If you ask around, many people will tell you that Manies Pizzeria & Greek Cuisine is best. Others will make a claim for Atlas Pizza & Sports Bar, Nick’s Steak House & Pizza, or Inglewood (take-out) Pizza. These are certainly some upstanding classics.

Manies Pizza

Manies Pizza

But my favourites, based on my own personal research and experience, are as follows:

1) Spiros Pizza
2) Atlas Pizza & Sports Bar
3) Jeanne’s Pizza Panty (so friendly!)

Jeanne's Pizza

Jeanne’s Pizza

Honourable mentions go to: Sophie’s Pizza (take-out), Stolo’s Pizza (sports bar), Stavros Pizza (sports bar & steak house), Demetris Pizza (take-out), 4th St. Pizza (take-out), and Ogden Pizza & Pub.

Sophies Pizza

Sophies Pizza

Calgary Greek-style pizza now has a very special place in my heart. I miss this habitual over-indulgence, and ya know what else? Sometimes I miss Calgary too.

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