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| - First off, let me say, I'm a HUGE smoked meat fan. I've been known to drive from Toronto to Montreal, in large part, just to satisfy some cravings for Schwartz's. Of course, I also love smoked meat's awesome cousins, corned beef and pastrami (I've also been known to drive down to NYC for some Katz's). So, I've lamented there not being anything even remotely in the ballpark here in good old TO.
To make it worse, we've actually had some flirtatious near-hits with a few places that, for uber-frustrating reasons, have now gone (most notably Reuben S on King a few years back, run by a particularly friendly but inept owner who once claimed to me to have previously worked at Schartz's - it was inconsistently good, and the buggers had their own thoughts about the meaning of published opening hours).
When Caplansky's first opened in the Monarch Tavern on Clinton, I was thrilled (if I recall, I may have literally jumped for joy), because it was great...at first.
Elements of great Smoked Meat: proper slices (there's an art to this - brisket muscle fibres can be labyrinthine and you want to maximize cuts against the grain without shredding and wasting that precious meat), proper temperature (you want it sliced and served while still hot since we're talking about a lot of fat with the potential to congeal), appropriate fat content (if you don't order at least medium-fatty, you are not a true smoked meat fan), flavour, which is predominantly determined by the spice rub used (personally, nothing i've ever had has matched Schwartz's in Montreal - I strongly recommend picking up their pre-packaged spices), but more than all of these (even more important than flavour!!!) is what I like to call MELTABILITY. Brisket, in whatever form you prefer it, is only elevated to the divine if it practically melts in your mouth, and the only way to reach the right melt-in-your-mouth is to cure it properly and then steam it properly.
Caplansky's is still the best Smoked Meat in the city, unfortunately, they are no longer consistent with the quality of their smoked meat, sometimes they attain perfection, but too often, the meat is understeamed to the point of being near-dry.
I have had every other item on the menu as well, with the Versht and Tongue being the next best things on their menu. Unfortunately, a lot of other items are adulterated with their less than stellar "Smoked Meat Gravy".
And what's with Zane's vanity? I really don't understand why he feels it necessary to plant his likeness on everything, from the menus to the website to the food truck. And correcting people (I've seen him do this multiple times) to refer to this as "Toronto Smoked Meat", come on - who cares?...pretentious. He should worry more about the consistency of his food.
Also, if you want the best experience, always order the fries and the chocolate bread pudding for dessert - they are consistently perfect.
If I were rating from when they first opened it would be a 5-star, but now, 3.5, unfortunately.
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