The Ultimate Smoked Meat

I live in a city famed for housing one of the best, if not the best, smoke meat joint in the world. Schwartz's, a Hebrew delicatessen has been serving up it's specialty smoked meat for almost 80 years. What is laudable about this place is that even after so many years of fame, the little shop set on St. Laurent's boulevard hasn't changed since 1928 - it never expanded or franchised. The family's smoke meat secret stays within the family, and rightfully so.

While it's competitors, Ruebens et. al. have expanded to several restaurants across Quebec, Schwartz's stayed a uni-business. And due to that, even under extreme temperatures of -28 degrees, you will see a long line waiting to get into Schwartz's for their smoke meat sandwiches. It is definitely "a smoked meat sandwich worth dying for", according to the Montreal Gazette.

And I crave for it soooo much. I lived quite far away from this smoked meat haven. Being extremely under-dressed with a weather of -2 the other day, me and my partner forged through the bitter wind on St. Laurent Boulevard, after having a nice Italian dinner at a posh restaurant nearby called Primadonna, for a pound of smoked meat. Only $9.95/lb and worth several delicious smoked meat sandwiches, once taken home. And it's allllll mine!

This is my loot!

I speak so much of it to my family and friends and yet, this is the first time I've actually posted a picture of Schwartz's smoked meat. Other times, I was just too busy wolfing it down to be arsed about taking pictures :P

When two of my friends came to visit from US and UK, I took them to Schwartz's - and they both loved it. Again, because it looked so good when the sandwiches arrived, we just tucked in without even thinking twice about taking a shot!

In Penang, you'd say "if you haven't had their Curry Mee, Char Kuey Teow, Nasi Kandar, Kueh Chap, Farlim's Hokkien Mee, Anson (sp?) Street's Assam Laksa and crabs in Tanjung Tokong, then you have never really been to Penang". Same goes in Montreal, "if you're in Montreal and you haven't been to Schwartz's then you have never really been to Montreal at all". And I speak of this in a purely gastronomical sense :)

Today, Schwartz's is a landmark of Montreal - follow your nose or lookout for a strangely long queue. It's a sign for awesome food, ahead! The waiters in Schwartz's are all either cousins or brothers as they all have green eyes, a white apron strapped on their waist and a white Schwartz's t-shirt. Some of them are even quite hot (and friendly) :P - now that's a double whammy!

If you think my sandwich looks mean (mine has been bastardized with spinach and dijon mustard), it's nothing as compared to the deal they serve you in Schwartz's.

Now that's what I call "all decked up!". On rye and Schwartz's Yellow Mustard with a cherry cola to down it all.

If any of you are coming over to Montreal, I'll definitely take you to Schwartz's - it's become my personal duty to introduce these marvelously smoked meats that melts in your mouth to everyone I know.


Front view of Schwartz's, taken from Man In A Suitcase.