The Origin Story
Caplansky’s claim to fame
In the summer of 2007 Zane Caplansky had a smoked meat sandwich craving. Unsatisfied by anything he could find nearby, Zane decided to make it himself. He bought a smoker, pickled a brisket, invented his own spice rub and two weeks later his life changed forever. Delis are different than restaurants. When someone’s born, you call the deli. When you get married or get people together for any of life’s special moments, delis are there. “Caplansky” is Polish for “community”. Ok: that’s a big, fat lie but it’s also kind of true.
As a baby, Zane Caplansky would only eat smoked meat, kosher dill pickles and spicy mustard. While this may not be exactly true, he certainly was born to own a deli. Even though he took his time to find his calling, once found, Zane established himself as a Deli Man to be reckoned with. Creating a place where anyone and everyone feels not just welcome but connected to time-honoured deli traditions may be his legacy. At the very least, Caplansky makes one helluva smoked meat sandwich. Check out this TedX talk Zane did about his journey.
“Caplansky’s smoked meat rival any to be had at New York’s legendary delis.”
– The New York Times
Spilling the beans
For Zane Caplansky , great smoked meat is his life’s work. It starts with selecting the highest quality beef brisket, trimmed to his specifications and cured by hand, using Zane’s proprietary spice rub. It takes two weeks to make the savoury smoked meat as it is not fast food, but rather slow roasted for 12 hours. Out of the smoker, the meat is cooled before it gets refrigerated and the brisket is steamed for about 3 hours to break down connective tissues and tenderize so it’s ready to melt-in-your-mouth.