Delicious Sandwich & Sweets by petitesoeur

Guest blogger petitesoeur writes:

On a Saturday in August, I went hunting for a pair of sandals since every shoe store does deep discounts at the end of a season. Even though there were great bargains at Camper, there was nothing I wanted to buy and at REI the Anhu ones that I did want weren't in my size. But the trip downtown did result in two successful scores.

Later in the day, I was meeting up with a friend for an afternoon/ evening of music at Lincoln Center Out of Doors so I purchased three sandwiches from Russ and Daughters: Oy Vey Schmear (their famously delicious chopped liver mixed with hand sliced pickle from the barrel), Pastrami Russ (pastrami-cured salmon, dressed with sauerkraut & mustard) and Fancy Delancy (smoked tuna, horseradish dill cream cheese and wasabi-infused flying fish roe). I got them all on bialys in order to minimize the amount of bread we would eat.

Sitting on a bench outside the store, I consumed half of the Oy Vey. R&D's chopped liver is perfect in every way including its consistency, which is neither too smooth nor too chunky. I am sure they incorporate both onions & chopped egg into the chopped liver as most recipes call for the addition of both those items, but there's little visual evidence of either's inclusion. There's no way to know for sure as R&D does not disclose their recipe. Whatever way they utilize those other two ingredients definitely balances rather than overpowers the flavor of the liver. Word on the street: Their secret is cooking the onions until they're so soft that they melt into the liver when mixed in and only their sweetness lingers. I never would have thought to add chopped pickles to chopped liver even though I am a fan of adding (sweet) pickle relish into tunafish salad & mixing a bit of (fresh or dried) fruit into chicken salad.  It works: the (dill sour) pickles provide just the right contrast of flavor and texture.

As much as I enjoyed the Oy Vey (as did my friend when he ate his half later on) and we both liked the Pastrami Russ, finding the sauerkraut & mustard to provide a better flavor & texture contrast than the usual schmear of cream cheese, we both agreed that the Fancy Delancy was the star of the trio. It's also perfectly balanced in terms of flavor & texture but more delicate & unusual than the other two.

It was just a hop, skip and jump (nine short city blocks) to the door of Zucker Bakery where I sampled their lemon bar & a pecan bar before sitting down to enjoy an excellent. (Stumptown) espresso and a pomegranate thumbprint cookie. I purchased some mocha flavored alfajores and a couple of date/halvah "roses," aka shoshanim, an Israeli version of sticky buns. Both types of cookies are flavorful with just the right amount of sweetness and a tender melt in your mouth crumb. The "roses" were also yummy as well as being an interesting change-up to the usual cinnamon or chocolate variety of this type of pastry. It's a sweet sweet shop.

Mile End, Brooklyn

After wandering Boerum Hill for a while, we had worked up enough appetite to eat at Mile End, the Jewish-Canadian delicatessen (named after Montreal's traditionally Jewish newly hip neighborhood).

We had a big group so 6 of decided to order a bunch of dishes and share. We started out with chopped liver, served with onion relish, egg, and a "pletzel."  Even those unsure of whether they'd like liver thought it was delicious.  The onion and egg went nicely with the liver.  The "pletzel" was like an everything foccacia (not pretzel-like was we were expecting). 

Next up we had the Deli Meat Board - that day's selection was turkey rillette, duck proscuitto, and salami served with toast and apricot preserves.  All the house-cured meats were excellent.

Then came the lamb's tongue with onion raisin marmalade, served on pumpernickel toast with horseradish.  I didn't really taste the horseradish, which was fine with me. The pumpernickel had lots of great rye flavor which went well with the sweetness of the marmalade.  I think they really have a knack for not only preparing the meats well, but pairing them with great flavor combinations.

Our next dish was Veal Sweetbreads with pecan butter, concord grape jelly, apple and chili.  Of course deep-fried sweetbreads are always delicious, but again, it was the sauces and toppings that made the dish stand out.  Concord jelly with pecan butter - like schpanky PB&J -- with crisp spicy apples on top - who would think of such combinations?!  Somehow it worked!

Our last small plate was warm chanterelle salad with radicchio, chevre noir, and maple walnut vinaigrette - the mushrooms were perfect and worked well with the crunch of the radicchio - another great dish.

Then came our mains.  My friend Tricia ordered her own main which was the Hoyt Dog (named for the restaurant's address on Hoyt Street).  It was a house made beef frankfurter with smoked meat baked beans, and sauerkraut.  The beans were excellent - the meat to bean ratio was heavily meaty - and very satisfying.

Brian chose the Trout served on top of smoked trout bisque, with pickled mustard, horseradish.  I only got a small taste of this, but it was nice.

We all dug into the Smoked Meat Deluxe.  By this point, after so much food, we just dispensed of the bread and dug into the meat in the sandwich (pictured above).  Poutine came with it on the side.  Not as good as Montreal (the cheese curds got a bit too melty in my opinion, so there wasn't that nice texture contrast of chewy cheese, creamy gravy, and crisp fries), but I can't complain too much - it was still delicious.

Mile End
97a Hoyt Street
Brooklyn, NY
718.852.7510