La Belle Crawl – Schwartz’s Deli

Okay, so you may or may not know this, but I’m a vegetarian (strictly speaking, I’m a peskaterian, I eat seafood).  But I’m also a trained chef, and a big food geek.  As well, I spent a lot of my time in highschool in the pages of fiction by Mordecai Richler; pages laced with references to a variety of Montreal-ness, including frequent mentions of Schwartz’s medium-fat on rye sandwiches. So when I found myself in Montreal, a stop for a sandwich at Schwartz’s wasn’t just a possibility, it was required, despite any existing dietary preferences.

These are the classic Montreal smoked meat sandwiches, but if your picutre of Montreal smoked meat is some type of deli meat that can be thinly sliced on a slicer, you’ve never had it done right.  Schwartz’s meat is smoked in a crazy old smoke-house, which is imbued with decades of smoke; it is literally irreplaceable.  The meat is brined and then smoked.  It is sent to the deli where it is reheated, and served, hand-cut and falling apart, on basic rye bread with “ballpark” mustard.  Nothing fancy.  You can get a variety of sides, Rob and I opted for coleslaw and a pickle.

Before I get to the sandwich, I must say:  The pickle was insane.  I make pickles myself, and tend to think mine are nearly perfect, but the pickles at Schwartz’s topped mine.  They’re the classic brined pickle, in a cloudy brine (like a Strubb’s), not the more common canned/pickled style I make.

The sandwich is huge, with a big old stack of meat, that is sweet, with a bit of the spices it is brined with, and (of course) a robust smokiness.  Tender, moist and falling apart, I can see why people line up for these (we had tried to line up, but seconds after we had joined the queue, an apron-fronted man pointed at us, said “Two?  Counter okay?” and ushered us in).  I must confess at this point that a big part of my dietary choices are based on a genuine dislike of meat, so while I appreciated all the elements that make this a truly mighty sandwich, I still didn’t really personally “like” it.  I was impressed by the artistry of it, though.  And so glad I made it and had one.  I felt for a moment like a part of history, both real and literary.  Oh yeah, and the coleslaw was pretty good too.

If you’re in Montreal, don’t be silly, get over to Schwartz’s and get yourself a sandwich.  They also (apparently) have other stuff on the menu too, but I didn’t bother, I just ate the sandwich and was happy.  Well worth any effort getting parking and waiting in line.  Sadly we didn’t bump into Leonard Cohen, but you might!

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