Victim of his own success: Zane Caplansky is out of smoked meat

Zane Caplansky, owner and operator of Caplansky’s Delicatessen, confirms on his blog that he will not be serving his famous smoked meat for one week—that is the time he’s estimating for the meat to be properly cured. This may pose a problem for his patrons, as the somewhat limited lunch menu has two items with smoked meat: an eight-ounce burger (20 per cent smoked meat, 80 per cent ground chuck) and a seven-ounce sandwich.

The reason behind the shortage is entirely due to Caplansky’s success: “I am a victim of my own excess. Or lack of excess,” he writes. “I figured we’d be busy. I didn’t think we’d be this busy.” The meat master is convinced that the deli meat he has been serving is not up to his standards, so serving none of it for a week is “better than [feeding customers] under-cured meat and have them never return.” Fret not, though; Caplansky goes on to say he’ll be purchasing a new bigger and better smoker for the deli within the next few days. Until then, we’ll have to stick to non-hilariously named foods. Grilled versht, anyone?