Ranked by TableJourney editorial score.
The smoked meat sandwich is Ashkenazi cured brisket steamed and sliced thick, piled on rye bread with mustard. Toronto's Jewish-deli canon at Centre Street Deli and United Bakers anchors the city standard.
Smoked meat reached Toronto from Montreal's Eastern European Jewish community in the early 1900s. Toronto's Jewish-deli scene developed through the 1910s on Spadina and shifted to Bathurst as the community moved north. United Bakers Dairy Restaurant on Lawrence (1912) is the city's longest-running deli; Centre Street Deli from Thornhill carries the Montreal-style canon since 1988. The Toronto-style sandwich runs thinner than Montreal's, on lighter rye with a stronger mustard hit.
2 editor picks for Smoked meat sandwich in Toronto, ranked by editorial score. All Toronto signature dishes · Smoked meat sandwich across every city.
Centre Street Deli on Bay Street is the 2024 downtown outpost of the Thornhill original since 1988, Montreal-style smoked meat hand-sliced over light rye.
OrderThe classic smoked meat sandwich on rye with mustard and a pickle.
TipOrder the lean-and-medium mix; pure lean dries out fast. The Thornhill original is at 1136 Centre Street.
United Bakers at Lawrence Plaza is the city's reference kosher-style dairy restaurant since 1912, no-meat menu with blintzes, smoked fish and split-pea soup.
OrderThe split pea soup with a potato latke and applesauce.
TipKosher-style, not certified kosher. Closed Saturday and most Jewish holidays. The Ladovsky family has run it since 1912.
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