Montreal's famous 'smoke meat' will make its Bay Area debut

You could call it a cross between pastrami and corned beef.

Or, you could borrow Lex Gopnik-Lewinski’s more colorful description.

“It’s like pastrami and corned beef got a fine bottle of Napa Valley wine and turned on some Barry White (or Keith Sweat) and got together and made a baby.

“That’s Montreal smoke meat.”

Starting Feb. 14, Lex Gopnik-Lewinski plans to introduce Bay Area residents to his gastronomic passion at Augie’s Montreal Deli in Berkeley, the region’s first Canadian delicatessen and, when the Molsons and Labatts arrive, the East Bay’s first hockey bar. (For a second location he’s already got his eye on that Canadian stronghold in San Jose — you know, the neighborhood where hockey fans converge.)

A Canadian native who moved to the Bay Area in 1988, Gopnik-Lewinski used to bring his sealed, smoky haul back here after visits home — until one day when an SFO customs officer confiscated his Montreal meat. That was when he decided he needed to learn from his friends up north and make his own.

After years of perfecting the recipe, the result was a pop-up and finally, plans for this East Bay brick-and-mortar. The Bay Area’s “hippy gourmet,” chef “MikeC,” is co-owner and chef. For Gopnik-Lewinski, it’s a family affair, with son Augie lending his name to the business, daughter Georgie’s name on the poutine, son Atticus’ name on the smoked turkey and wife Josie supplying the entrepreneurial spirit.

The dish — arguably Montreal’s most famous — dates back a century to the Hungarian Jews who immigrated to the province of Quebec. The working-class dish has become a staple at legendary restaurants like Schwartz’s, Snowdon, Lester’s, Reuben’s and Smoke Meat Pete (where Gopnik-Lewinski got his training).

Although Montreal smoke meat (and yes, they call it “smoke,” not “smoked”) does spend a few hours in a smoker, it’s more charcuterie than barbecue, Gopnik-Lewinski says.

The process starts with a whole brisket, including the fatty point side (“the fat’s where the flavor’s at”). By the time the meat is cured, soaked, smoked, baked, chilled and steamed, it will have the buttery richness of a pastrami and the crumbly texture of corned beef, he says.

His Augie’s version has a little twist: Maple syrup in the final spice rub of cracked pepper and coriander. (You’ll get no other secrets out of him.)

They’ll slice the meat to order for sandwiches and pile it on rye bread from Metropolis Deli and serve it with house-made Polish-style dill pickles and yellow or spicy brown mustard. Any crumbles are great as a topping for pizza or mac-and-cheese or in a Bolognese sauce, he says.

Montreal’s other famous dishes — poutine and bagels — are also on the menu. “Your cheese curds have to squeak. And the gravy should not be fancy,” Gopnik-Lewinski says. He buys the curds from the Oakdale Dairy near Modesto; the gravy is imported from Quebec.

Berkeley sandwiches may be just the start. He hopes to expand retail sales and “bring a little piece of Canada” to folks beyond the Bay Area.

Already, there’s a demand. A few weeks before the opening, some big-shot Canadians called to see about placing an order for his Montreal smoke meat.

It was the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C.

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