A Montreal smoked meat deli with Texan inspirations

It's a rich smell: Deep, peppery bark of properly smoked brisket cutting through the usual Atwater Market mix of fresh produce and weekend crowds.

Follow it past the cheese vendors and flower stalls, all the way to the far end where you'll find Antoine Bériault doing something that should probably be impossible: making Montreal smoked meat that offers its own retooling of the places a city native's grandfather swore by.

Aylwin Deli opened three weeks ago in what used to be a chocolate shop, and while Bériault is still figuring out the rhythm, the product is winning over hearts and minds.