As a regular patron of Caplansky’s Deli, a Toronto staple that pumps out arguably the best smoked meat in town, I was particularly excited to eat dinner there last night.

Owner Zane Caplansky had encouraged any interested parties to join him at the Deli for a live viewing of his pitch on CBC’s Dragons’ Den to try and take his food truck business Canada-wide.

We arrived early enough to make sure we had plenty of time to enjoy some smoked meat and we were certianly not dissappointed. After ordering a pint of Dunkel we decided to split a couple of staples on the menu. We started with a plate of the Latkes, lightly fried and served with apple sauce for dipping. Not suprising that these are a popular choice at the Deli and it was an enjoyable precurser to the main.

We decided to split two sandwiches for our main and first up was the smoked meat sandwich that made him famous. We felt it necessary to up it to the “Fresser” size which as you can see by the picture is an enourmous serving of smoked meat.

I was even able to catch one of the line cooks in action – with precision accuracy, he meticulously carved juicy thin slices off of this glorious looking piece of meat and if it was going to taste as good as it looked being carved then we were in for a treat. Paired with the Caplansky “Hot N’ Horseradishy” mustard, it truly is the best smoked meat sandwich in the city, enough said!

Our second sandwich was the BBQ Beef Brisket on a Bun. Glazed with the house made bbq sauce, the meat was juicy and each bite had a nice crunch to it with the crispy onions.

With dinner finished, we moved into ideal position for the live viewing.

Having followed Zane and Thundering Thelma closely, I was excited to see what the Dragons’ had to say about his food truck business.

With what was deemed the “largest prop ever”, Caplansky and his food truck Thundering Thelma were on the show to seek a $350K investment for 15% of his business, with hopes to franchise his food trucks across the country.

Here’s the video:

Being the first entrepreneur of the episode, Zane’s pitch to the Dragon’s was over pretty quickly – no deal.

After turning off the TV, Zane addressed everyone in the Deli personally. “So this is an important day for me” Caplansky said, letting everyone know that filming the Dragons’ Den episode was a great experience.

After explaining how he was encouraged to go on the show by a friend, Caplansky proceeded to explain the outcome of what happened on the show.

“The whole thing… and they picked up on it… was that it was a bit of a ruse, that I was making a case and a valuation based on a business that didn’t exist and that the Truck was a prop”. Caplansky was referring to the fact that when the episode aired his Truck was not up an running at that point and ultimately, that was the deciding factor in not coming out of the Den with a deal.

Caplansky didn’t come away from the experience feeling like he had lost, in fact, far from it. Although the Dragons’ didn’t buy Caplanksy’s valuation for his business, they all agreed that his smoked meat was something special.

Kevin O’Leary, a Montreal native, went as far as stating “Look I know smoked meat, I was born in Montreal, and that is phenomenal smoked meat.” For Caplansky, that was his victory on the show.

Fast forward to present day, Caplansky was happy to tell the patrons of the crowded deli that the truck is now rolling and “Everything is going really well.”  Thundering Thelma has been received extremeley well at events around the city and Caplansky is confident that it will continue to grow his business both inside the deli and on the truck.

Caplansky also appeared on this morning’s episode of CBC’s Metro Morning where he recapped his experience on Dragon’s Den and discussed the Food Truck scene in Toronto with Matt Gallaway.

Citing the issue of political red tape, Caplansky explained that it’s very hard to get through to the right people at City Hall but that he will continue to work with the city to improve laws so that food trucks have more accessability around the city.

Although the red tape issue at City Hall is still a problem for food trucks in Toronto, we salute Zane’s efforts thus far and commend him for putting it on the line in front of the Dragons’. He has done a huge part in creating awareness for food trucks in Toronto and we look forward to seeing Thundering Thelma dishing out more amazing smoked meat all over the city and even the country in the future!

Do you think the Dragons were short-sighted in not supporting Caplansky’s vision to grow his business with food trucks? Let us know in the comments!