What do you get when cross a Québécois greasy spoon staple with the quintessential Hanukkah carb?
Latke poutine, of course — a gloriously calorific dish on the menu at the contemporary Montreal-style but Brooklyn-based Mile End delicatessen, available through Dec. 31.
The pile of “latke fries” (essentially the potato pancakes your Jewish grandma makes, but wedge-fry shaped) arrives at your table smothered in a rich mushroom gravy and finished off with a handful of cheese curds and scallions. It’s the creation of the Balimore-born chef Yehuda Sichel, who runs a restaurant called Abe Fisher in Philadelphia.
Sichel — after graduating the Jerusalem School of Kosher Culinary Arts in Israel, studying the techniques of French cooking at Brasserie Perrier in Philly, and rising to the rank of sous chef at the modern Israeli restaurant Zahav — has carved a space for himself with a menu that represents centuries of traditional Jewish soul food and the cross-pollination of cuisines resulting from the Jewish diaspora.
With veal schnitzel tacos and Hungarian duck “Chinatown style” in his repertoire, we’re not surprised he’d invent something like a seasonal ode to both the Canadian bon vivant and the Jewish bubbe.
Mile End typically sells threes kinds of poutine: a classic version, a deluxe one elevated to greater caloric heights with its signature smoked beef brisket, and a “poutine of the month.”
December’s will cost you $14 a plate.
At that price, we say bring on the greasy, gut-busting but oh-so-enticing mess.
Mile End has two locations, one at 97 Hoyt St., Brooklyn, the other at 53 Bond St., Manhattan.
