Kay's Deli

Kay's Delicatessen
339 William Ave
Tel: (204) 949-0424
Fax: (204) 949-0442
http://kaysdeliwinnipeg.wordpress.com/our-food/



June, 2011


When Kay’s Deli first opened its doors, it offered a healthier option for the downtown business person. My excitement soared through the towering ceiling when I talked to the chef. He raved about his visits to New Orleans and his love for all things Cajun. As I repeated a hundred times, you’re hard-pressed to find real Cajun north of the Mason-Dixon Line, excepting culinary centres like New York City or Chicago. Very occasionally, you find an isolated Cajun restaurant that serves the real thing—they all rise from a chef’s visit to the Bayou and a desire to bring it home (visit the French Quarter Café the next time you go to Canmore).

I wondered if we’d finally have authentic Cajun in Winnipeg. If any chef spent time in New Orleans, they wouldn’t pass food with Tabasco sauce as Cajun. Kay’s chalkboard menu listed jambalaya and I trembled in anticipation. Sadly, they were out for the day.

The next time I walked through Kay’s doors, all signs of Cajun disappeared except the fleur-de-lis designs on the walls. The jambalaya was gone—even the chef was gone. Kay’s board only listed soups and sandwiches; the same menu categories adorn the board today.

During a typical busy and bustling lunch hour at Kay’s, I waited over an hour for my soup and sandwich to arrive. Meanwhile, the take-out crowd streamed in and out with assembly-line efficiency. On a rare occasion with nary a soul in the dining room, my order came to my table within four minutes of ordering. Be forewarned that if you’re an office worker out over an hour break, consider take-out or getting your sandwich from somewhere else.

The pesto chicken panini comes with roasted chicken, fresh vegetables and a red pepper, garlic mango sauce. While the sauce sounds divine, it offers very little for taste. Any of mango, garlic or pepper should pack a powerful punch but I can’t identify even one of these flavours from the sauce. The pesto sauce doesn’t do any better as I struggle to taste any garlic or basil. Smothered over the chicken breast, a strong pesto flavours and moistens the chicken; unfortunately, this meat just tastes dry, overcooked and tasteless. The ciabatta comes nicely toasted but the abundance of dried rosemary completely dominates the entire sandwich. The vegetables taste fresh and crispy but veggies alone cannot make the sandwich.

I recently discovered the beauty of food without meat and I have great hopes Kay’s veggie burger. The mango dill yogurt sauce has so much potential, but when I taste it, I can barely tell that this it’s not just plain mayo. Again, the sauce forms the weak link in the sandwich chain. The patty also has great potential but the potato ends up dominating this creation. The excess of starch makes this patty resemble a latke (potato pancake). The pecans add lovely texture but the ingredient proportions of the patty needs some adjusting. The vegetables taste crisp and fresh but the real star of this burger is the onion Kaiser bun with cheese. Kay has the basic foundation for a great burger but as it stands, there’s room for improvement.

As a deli, I find Kay’s sandwiches a little lacking but the soups tell a very different story. Without a fixture on the menu, the specials change every day—and they always look interesting and innovative. The split pea soup comes rich, thick, flavourful, with great texture from the coarsely pulverised peas. I tasted a lot of pea soups in my life and this stands near the top of the pile as one of the greatest. Similarly, the chunky tomato with pesto and feta also comes richly flavourful, even powerful. Each spoonful of broth tastes like taking a bite out a tomato out of your own garden. The hint of basil from the pesto completes the classic Italian pairing. I would have preferred fresh basil and a bit more feta, but overall, this is a wonderfully successful special.

Kay’s also carries Bento Sushi, the mass-production sushi chain that supplies kiosks, retail counters and supermarkets across Canada and parts of the U.S. A glowing sign shifts boldly stating that they make the sushi fresh every day. Kay’s carries several types of maki but I always use the California rolls as a measuring stick. Sadly, this roll rolls short of standard right off the bat. If the rolls use pollock, there’s no need to eat any further. If they have some canned crab meat, they’re in the majority. The few that use genuine lump crab meat will have me back and drooling for more, every time; you very rarely see this. Kay’s (or rather, Bento’s) version glaringly features the bright pink pollock, sticking out from the center of the roll. I can almost accept pollock from a fast-food kiosk but an establishment like Kay’s that prides itself in its ingredients should not dish out fake crab.

Kay’s tries hard to do things right—and you can tell. The ingredients taste fresh and caringly put together; unfortunately, Kay’s Deli falls short in some of its basics. While the sandwiches taste acceptable, the soups take the awards. Next time I’ll order a bowl of each of the specials of the day.

*** /5

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