Back to basics Sherbrook Street Deli reopens with a focus on delectable sandwiches By: Alison Gillmor Posted: 7:00 PM CST Wednesday, Mar. 6, 2019 Last Modified: 11:15 AM CST Thursday, Mar. 7, 2019 Updates

Opinion

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This article was published 05/03/2019 (2025 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After shuttering last September, this warm West Broadway venue has recently reopened with a new management team and a scaled-back menu.

The selection at the Sherbrook Street Deli is now short, simple and sandwich-centred.

I will miss the old Sherbrook Deli’s gribenes. (I mean, where am I going to get shmaltzy chicken cracklings now?)

But overall, this reboot could be a good thing. Small restaurants often stay viable by concentrating on what they do best.

It also feels right to focus on the fundamentals of the traditional deli sandwich, which is basically about bread, meat and mustard.

Despite the cool neighbourhood, this is not nouveau deli or hipster Jewish fusion. This food is old-school.

The Winnipeg smoked meat is cut thick and served warm, and it’s tender, rich, flavoursome and a little fatty. (And I don’t mean that last descriptor as a pejorative. Fatty is all part of the experience.)

The basic sandwich is thick and well-packed, but if you’re a little nutty, you can order the Big Earl, which supplies a solid half-pound of meat.

The house-made mustard is available in mild or hot. Both are good and sharp, with the hot version delivering a head-clearing kick.

Almost everything at Sherbrook Street is made in-house, and the few things the deli brings in come from Winnipeg companies with deep roots. Bread — light rye and marble rye — is from Gunn’s, while the pickles are supplied by Elman’s.

We were unable to sample the beef tongue sandwich on two visits. (There are supplier issues, evidently, maybe because this is an untrendy off-cut.)

The barbecue beef sandwich has a dark, slow-cooked depth of flavour that’s not too sweet. The smoked turkey is good and simple, with moist meat cut in substantial slices. Salmon salad made with mayo and hot-smoked salmon is also very good.

In contrast to thin-cut, silken slices of lox, hot-smoked salmon has a flaky texture, and the Sherbrook version has a lovely flavour, with a bit of a smoky finish but not so much it overpowers the delicacy of the fish.

There’s a weekly vegan sandwich special, rotating in every Friday, and this is where the chefs can get a little fancy and freestyling, bringing in various legumes, vegetable combos and clever condiments like lime aioli.

Sides, which come with the sandwich platters or can be ordered on their own, include salads, soups and chips.

Restaurant takes on matzo ball soup are always going to be tricky, since some patrons will inevitably be comparing them to their Baba’s. Personally, I prefer a soup that shows off the purity of the chicken broth with maybe a little dill and possibly one piece of carrot, so I find the Sherbrook version a bit cluttered up with vegetables.

I do like the matzo balls, though, which go right down the middle in the dense-versus-airy argument, with a texture that’s light but still comforting.

Vegetarian beet borscht features a resplendently ruby red broth that is full-bodied, just a little sweet and tart and packed with downright big chunks of beet.

The caesar salad is just OK. The crisp croutons are made, appropriately, from rye bread, but overall the salad is a little overdressed and gloppy.

Coleslaw is probably a better match for deli sandwiches, and Sherbrook’s version, with a snappy, vinegary dressing and the peppery undertones of caraway, helps to cut the richness of the meat.

There are also homemade chips. These could be a little inconsistent in the old incarnation of the deli, but on two recent visits were tasty, not too salty and nicely crisp.

Service is friendly but basic — you order at the counter and get fairly brisk table delivery.

Drinks include canned pop (the homemade fountain drinks are, alas, gone) and a short list of beers, which could include imported options along with a changing selection of local favourites like Barn Hammer’s very good Coffee Black rye pale ale.

The only dessert available is an Imperial cookie, which is a bit limiting but also as Winnipeggy and nostalgic as the vintage photos that line one wall.

alison.gillmor@freepress.mb.ca

Alison Gillmor
Writer

Studying at the University of Winnipeg and later Toronto’s York University, Alison Gillmor planned to become an art historian. She ended up catching the journalism bug when she started as visual arts reviewer at the Winnipeg Free Press in 1992.

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