Mile End: The Smoked Meat Empire Expands

When Noah Bernamoff opened a little over a year ago, it was, as he called it,  a “pseudo-amateur” restaurant. Bermanoff had no professional experience to speak of, but he believed the smoked meat he was making on the roof of his apartment building was enough to work with. And boy, was he right.

The low-key neighborhood spot where customers enjoy Montreal-style Jewish deli food made daily by Bermanoff and his friends quickly became a neighborhood and then a citywide attraction, drawing people in from all over the Tri-State Area. In the past year, Mile End has been written up in virtually every publication that covers food in the city, and Bernamoff's leap from smoking meat on his roof to owning a popular restaurant has been widely publicized. Now that he’s achieved a success he hadn’t originally foreseen, Bernamoff is planning further expansions and developments for Mile End.

The scene on a recent morning in the Gowanus warehouse that's home to the Mile End smokehouse is bustling, but not frantic. It's Monday, and everyone is moving with purpose and determination. But there appears to be little to no stress: evidence that Mile End is now a well-oiled machine. Everyone here knows what to do, and they’re good at it too.

Bernamoff speaks confidently and determinedly about his plans for his business.

Mile End staff spend approximately 75 percent of their time making food that's on the menu and the other 25 percent experimenting, he said. The restaurant also bakes all of their own bread (except for the bagels which are brought in from Montreal), as well as practically everything else from pickles and jam to yogurt. At Mile End they are constantly experimenting with ingredients to not only improve what's already on their menu, but to also develop dishes that wind up as specials on the weekend menu (recent items include lamb, bacon and duck prosciutto).

They are also in the process of developing products for wholesale. Bernamoff said they are working on creating and perfecting items like veal sausage that they'll want to put the Mile End name on and sell to Whole Foods. 

Along with the wholesale food production, he is hoping to have a second restaurant opening this summer. He wants it to be in Manhattan.

“Somewhere that’s as busy at midnight as it is at noon,” he said.

With the prospect of a new restaurant and the hopes for success with prepackaged Mile End foods, Bernamoff has come a long way in just a year.

He's open about his restaurant’s shortcomings, and the fact that he knew virtually nothing about owning a restaurant when he opened Mile End with his wife, Rae. His initial intention was to create a relaxed environment: a place where he hoped people would come to relax and enjoy “Noah and his buddies” doing their thing.

But the novelty of Montreal-style food gave the restaurant an edge, and it didn't seem to matter whether or not their smoked meat at the time was particularly remarkable, he said. The rapid rise in popularity made it impossible for Bernamoff to produce all the food on his own. The original concept, he said, was "something you [could] do in Montreal. Not in New York.”

Now with Aaron Israel (the chef who developed the mouth-watering dinner menu), Richard Maggi (the restaurant’s in-house baker) and Michael Stokes, (who Bernamoff describes as a “treasure trove of information,” and who he says practically runs the restaurant) Bernamoff is able to take Mile End in a new direction.

Sitting behind his desk -- the only thing that separates him from his preparations -- Bernamoff talks extensively about these developments. While we're talking his employees stop by to chat. One man brings over a corn biscuit for him to try. Perhaps a new addition to the menu? He contemplates it for a few seconds as he chews.

“Mmmm," he said. "Cheesy!”

In the back room of the warehouse, the picklers of Brooklyn Brine, who share the space with Mile End, are canning and slicing their products while the workers of Mile End prepare food for the week. Freshly rinsed and still shimmering, slimy pink chicken livers get patted dry with a paper towel. Royal purple cabbages are stripped of their leaves while perfectly shaped loaves rise amidst streaks of flour on a neighboring table.

One of the restaurant’s onion rolls is handed to Bernamoff for him to snack on as he surveys the room. As he watches the livers being prepared he explains that it’s not the ratio of eggs to liver that makes for a good pate, it’s the way that it’s mixed. He says that whipping the ingredients doesn’t work, you have to put them through a meat grinder. When a grinder is used the mixture is forced through small holes that result in the ideal texture.

Listening to Bernamoff talk about the proper way to prepare food it suddenly becomes apparent why he has been so successful. His conviction that what he is doing is important, and his determination to do it in the best possible way, is evident. It's clear that the goals he once thought to be farfetched really weren't that unrealistic.

Tips And Guidelines For Meat Smoking At Home 

1) Any charcoal grill with a charcoal bottom and extender (to keep the heat away from the meat) can be used, but Bernamoff recommends the Weber Bullet -- the smoker he used before opening Mile End.

2) Although charcoal is commonly used for smoking it can be complicated, and a gas barbecue is easier to maintain during the eight or so hours it takes to properly smoke meat.

3) A good rule of thumb is one hour of smoking per pound of meat. The restaurant does only 45 minutes per pound because, as Bernamoff says, slicing the meat as thin as they do breaks down the connective tissue making those extra fifteen minutes more harm then help.

4) For home smoking use wood chips which smoke and smolder better than hunks of wood.

5) Use cooking wood, not firewood. Other types of commercial wood may be coated in chemicals to keep it from sparking. Bernamoff suggests Woodman cooking wood which is available at

6) The temperature inside the smoker should be kept between 200 and 225 degrees.

7) If using a regular grill it must be wide enough so that the meat can be as far away from the heat source as possible.

8) Curing is the crucial first step of the smoking process. For a wet cure which takes between 2 1/2 and 3 weeks, use a mixture of water, salt and sugar. The ratio of salt to sugar should be approximately 2:1. A good way to check if you have enough salt in the mixture is to drop in an uncooked egg -- if it floats you've added enough.