It's What's for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

THESE DAYS, MEAT is king. It seems like no matter what kind of flesh you’re interested in, there’s a shop devoted to making sure it’s readily available. And now we’ve got two new sandwich shops in the game: This Little Piggy Had Roast Beef and Mile End. Both focus on making a supreme meat sandwich, whether it’s roasted, braised, boiled or steamed.

 This Little Piggy Had Roast Beef is the brainchild of Francis Garcia and Sal Basille, of Artichoke Pizza and Led Zeppole fame, and most of the space in this tiny East Village shop is devoted to serving up three sandwiches: This Way ($4.50), That Way ($7.50) or The Other Way ($6.50). The first two are classic roast beef sandwiches—This Way with thinly sliced meat and Cheez Whiz on an egg roll and That Way with fresh mozzarella and onions on a hoagie—and the third has pastrami.

On a mild Tuesday night around 7 p.m., the shop felt like any other takeout spot as the mainly male clientele ordered their sandwiches to go. Not that this piggy offers much in the way of in-house dining. A thick wood ledge juts out in an L-shape across from the front counter, and though there are no chairs, plenty of paper towels are available.

If you do stay, the staff is likely to offer you a taste of the rich, peppery pastrami and endless spears of sour pickles. But bite into the gooey That Way, with the rich au jus running down your arm and the salty tang of the cheese mingling with the succulent beef, and space and time fade away. I barely noticed the thick cut steak fries ($3) that come with (or without) a bright yellow coating of cheese. Their other sandwich, This Way, tasted similar to an Arby’s beef and cheddar melt, only gourmet style.

Across the river, law school student cum deli owner Noah Bernamoff decided to bring a little bit of Montreal to Cobble Hill with his delicatessen, Mile End. Situated just off Atlantic Avenue on Hoyt Street, a recent Thursday proved exceptionally busy for lunch, and the deli was chockfull of very attractive bearded men—and not just the ones working the counter. The smoked meat is served daily from noon until it’s gone—usually about four hours later. It was no wonder there was a 10minute wait before we could snag one of the four picnic style tables against the wall. Mile End also has a nice counter space with five comfy stools where you can watch the luscious slicing of meat while waiting for your sandwich ($8).

Any wait we had was worth it, though. Their pastrami consists of beef that is dry rubbed and cured for 10 days with garlic, peppercorns and coriander, smoked over oak for hours, and then steamed and cut to order. When our sandwiches came out, the beef was piled high between two slices of soft rye bread with a slathering of mustard. And, unlike This Little Piggy Had Roast Beef, Mile End offers more than just sandwiches, like the Quebecois staple, poutine ($8). Since our health code laws prevent cheese from sitting in open air for a long period, you don’t get the glorious squeak of curds found in the traditional

Not the Lanford Lunchbox: Mile End’s famous pastrami sandwich.