Nosh: Canadian Brunch

ver in West Berkeley, Augie’s Montreal Deli is serving up Brunch Poutine on weekends. What’s that, you wonder? It’s a new dish on Augie’s new-ish brunch menu launched this summer, featuring red potato home fries, cheese curds, white gravy, smoked meat and an egg (fried, scrambled or poached — your choice).

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Augie’s Montreal Smoke Meat –The burger comes “Montreal style,” with a patty composed of 50 percent smoke meat brisket and 50 percent…

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Canadian pride bursts out of Augie’s Montreal Deli. The white subway tile-clad space is lined with framed photographs of beloved storefronts in Montreal, Canada’s Jewish deli capital. Flags for Canada and Quebec wave above the deli case. To the left, a stack of canned poutine gravy momentarily distracts from a neighboring hockey stick, signed by every player on the 1958-59 Montreal Canadiens team and proudly mounted to the wall. Owner Lex Gopnik-Lewinski couldn’t believe it when he found the stick buried in his grandmother’s basement, and it’s just one more detail that makes it abundantly clear to new diners that Augie’s is not a New York-style Jewish deli.

Food & Wine: America’s Best Jewish Delis

Canadian pride bursts out of Augie’s Montreal Deli. The white subway tile-clad space is lined with framed photographs of beloved storefronts in Montreal, Canada’s Jewish deli capital. Flags for Canada and Quebec wave above the deli case. To the left, a stack of canned poutine gravy momentarily distracts from a neighboring hockey stick, signed by every player on the 1958-59 Montreal Canadiens team and proudly mounted to the wall. Owner Lex Gopnik-Lewinski couldn’t believe it when he found the stick buried in his grandmother’s basement, and it’s just one more detail that makes it abundantly clear to new diners that Augie’s is not a New York-style Jewish deli.

East Bay Express Review

Canadian pride bursts out of Augie’s Montreal Deli. The white subway tile-clad space is lined with framed photographs of beloved storefronts in Montreal, Canada’s Jewish deli capital. Flags for Canada and Quebec wave above the deli case. To the left, a stack of canned poutine gravy momentarily distracts from a neighboring hockey stick, signed by every player on the 1958-59 Montreal Canadiens team and proudly mounted to the wall. Owner Lex Gopnik-Lewinski couldn’t believe it when he found the stick buried in his grandmother’s basement, and it’s just one more detail that makes it abundantly clear to new diners that Augie’s is not a New York-style Jewish deli.

San Francisco Magazine Review

Augie’s Montreal Deli, a month old West Berkeley sandwich shop, wears its Canadian pride with gusto. Hockey plays on three flat-screen TVs. The counter display features a tray of Coffee Crisp candy bars.

First Look San Jose Mercury News

Clearly, there is some spiritual connection between Berkeley and Quebec. Berkeley became host to the first U.S. outlet of Canadian chain Smoke’s Poutinerie several years ago. Now owner Alexei “Lex” Gopnik-Lewinski has brought Montreal smoke meat to the East Bay with Augie’s.

CBS SF Bay Area

Augie’s Montreal Deli, a deli and poutinerie that offers sandwiches and more, is another much-loved go-to, with 4.5 stars out of 384 Yelp reviews. Head over to 875 Potter St. (between Seventh and Fifth streets) to see for yourself.

The Daily Californian

After a Customs and Border Protection officer stopped Lex Gopnik-Lewinski at the airport from returning to San Francisco with his traditional Montreal-style smoked meat from Canada, he decided to take the matter — and the meat — into his own hands.

Berkeleyside

It’s a quote that’s made the rounds already, but it’s so good that it bears repeating: “It’s as if pastrami and corned beef got together, had a couple glasses of wine, turned on some Barry White and made a baby.” That’s how Lex Gopnik-Lewinski describes smoke meat, a delicacy so delicious that Gopnik-Lewinski used to smuggle it back to Berkeley from family visits to Montreal.