We decided to go not too far away from his office – Dunn’s Famous. This eatery originated in Montreal back in 1927 and has made it’s way to Vancouver. I have a soft spot for Montreal smoked meat- my old coworker used to go there to visit her mother every winter and bring me back a huge slab of smoked meat – which is very hard to duplicate here in Vancouver.
I was torn between the Reuben and the Super Montreal Smoked Meat “super sandwiches” – but Will recommended the Super Montreal ($10.99). You get to decide what type of meat goes into your sandwich: lean, medium or fat. I went with medium but Will recommended I go with medium-fat and so I did. I’m glad I did!
When our food came, at first glance, the sandwich looks fairly small. 6oz of smoked meat – where are you?
However, when you turn the sandwich around – you can see the layers of meat that go into this baby. The sourdough bread was not too sour and the mustard on one side of my sandwich complimented the bread really well. The meat was flavourful – there was a couple slices of fat but mostly lean meat. It was a little dry in certain areas, but with a little bit of mustard was just fine.
And I really enjoyed the sides here. Their coleslaw is fresh and by no means the overly mayonnaise-d version you get elsewhere. This is actually real coleslaw. I had a gigantic half of a pickle that I took a bite in between parts of the sandwich. The fries were one of the best parts of my meal. They tasted like they were deep fried in the same vat as some sort of meat – maybe chicken, I’m not entirely sure. But they were so flavourful and crispy.
Will ordered the Hot Chicken ($11.99) which consists of free run chicken breast on white bread smothered in gravy and peas. His side was salad – you can also have their featured soup for no extra charge. This is definitely an old school dish that I could see my parents enjoying. The chicken was flaky and I couldn’t taste much flavour from it since it was covered in gravy. The gravy was thick and delicious – I think if this dish was ordered with fries – they’d be so tasty with the gravy! Will found the chicken a little dry and nothing too special.
Our server was prompt and polite – came to check on us a couple times too. I was surprised that there weren’t a lot of people in since I keep hearing how packed it is. I guess since it was a Monday afternoon it wasn’t so bad.
The customers who sat next to us joked around with me that I needed a wide angle lens to capture my huge sandwich – I agree!!
Food:
It’s hard to find a great Montreal smoked meat sandwich in Vancouver. I was impressed with the sides as well.
Check out their website and menu here.