Foodie Toronto Trip: Caplansky’s Delicatessen (as seen on Dragons’ Den)

A family friend suggested that we go to Caplansky’s Delicatessen for a late Mother’s Day celebration, since I was in town. My mom loves a good deli so we were all excited to go.

But! When I saw their food truck? I was beyond extra excited. It confirmed that this was the same deli that I had seen on the Dragons’ Den not that long ago. I felt a foodie story brewing.

Deli owner Zane Caplansky went on the Dragons’ Den to pitch his idea of growing his business with food trucks. I immediately knew it was a brilliant idea. Save a ton of cash on not being bricks and mortar and go to all sorts of locations in Toronto to not only feed people but spread the word about his restaurant? Genius and absolutely on food-trend right now.

It is the one time I absolutely and totally disagreed with all the dragons. They thought he should continue what he was doing and really did not see the value in the food truck business. They got it totally wrong and Zane proved his theory right.

I was even more excited now, getting to check out the food with my family!

Fresh baking is a good sign. Yum!

Right in the centre of the deli is where the foodie magic happens. Where you get all that freshly house smoked and hand cut Toronto deli meat.

There they are! Beautiful freshly made desserts. Nice!

As soon as I saw the sandwich combo, I knew I had to have it. That is why I was there, to try the Toronto smoked meat.

Shannon got the smoked meat and eggs. She let us try some, soon good! Those latkes were amazing and a bit of a kick to them too.

My mom wanted to go there because of the knishes but sadly they had ran out! She was a tad heartbroken until our server told her that they do delivery so Mom could order some in the future. That cheered her up so she ordered The Caplansky Burger with 30% smoked meat.

Jamie and I both went classic with the deli sandwich. The bread was nice and tender, not too dry.

We tried all three of the deli’s mustards and the Mild ‘N’ Delicious was by far our favourite. Super extra hot was not very hot at all actually. The honey mustard was quite good. I kept using a little bit of one and then another per bite of the unbelievably delicious smoked meat. I loved every chomp!

And I even liked the fries which is very rare. I normally do not even bother with them but these were fantastic. Super flavourful.

You would not think a cup of coffee would be all that controversial but we had to see if it would pass The Mom Test. Which at first, it didn’t. Jamie and Shannon loved their coffee and my decaf was excellent. By the end of the cup, Mom had grown to like it. Very rare to win her over but she is super picky about coffee so well done!

We decided to share a piece of homemade cheesecake and Mom and I immediately picked up that it was made with condensed milk. How unusual! Jamie could taste a bit of salt in there too. Definitely not a cheesecake I have had before. Fascinating!

As we were devouring the dessert there was a bit of drama. The food truck was backing out of its spot and I heard a man on the patio yelp at the driver. He then ran to move a bicycle out of the way of getting crushed. The funny part? I looked at the truck and the image of Zane Caplansky and the man with the bike. Back and forth. Back and forth. It was the owner!

Well Zane, parking issues aside, I think you are a genius and well ahead of your time as a foodie entrepreneur. I am so glad you did not give up on your food truck dream and you are experiencing a ton of success as a result.

The quality of your food is excellent. We all loved our meals and the idea of picking up one of those sandwiches while downtown for lunch? Genius. I don’t think I could walk past without picking one up.

Even the service was excellent! One of the ladies there took all sorts of photographs of our celebration with our Mom which was so sweet. Thank you for a fabulous lunch out with my family and much success to you in the future. You totally deserve it.