Schwartz's Montreal Hebrew Delicatessen

Location: 3895 Saint-Laurent boulevard, Montréal, H2W 1X9

When in Montreal, we highly recommend that you have a Montreal smoked meat sandwich at Schwartz.  Schwartz is a famous Hebrew Delicatessen and they've been around forever.  It's one of those joints that look like a hole, but has a constant line-up of people out the door, no matter how cold, or windy or wet it is outside.  We went to this restaurant despite the 35km winds and -19 degree C weather in Montreal.  I know from now on ONLY to vacation in Montreal in the spring to fall, the winters are much too cold for me. 

As open the door to the restaurant and walk inside, you get a waft of amazing meat and spices smell.  We come here all the time.  Make sure you get your own plate, or else they charge a sharing fee of $3.  Here's what we got for dinner.  Note:  All of the plates are the same size, basically appetizer plates:

Smoked meat sandwich (medium fat) with mustard on light rye bread - $5.95
Montreal smoked meat is made from the chest of the cow, basically Brisket.  Brisket, when slow cooked, is absolutely amazing.  :-D  This is always the thing to get here, the smoked meat is steamed back to life and tender and moist.  I'm not a big fan of rye bread, but it does suit the sandwich, and mustard is always a must with a smoked meat sandwich. 

 

Nash with rye bread- $1.25

This was by far the cheapest thing on the menu.  I had always wondered what Nash was, and it turned out just to be thin pepperoni sausage.   It's not bad, I'd get it again if I need just a bit of extra food to fill up on.  We ordered them grilled, but they will give them to you cold and plain if you'd like.  It comes with 3 slices of light rye bread.

Giant Pickle - $1.75
The pickle does overtake the plate, but essential in enjoying the Montreal smoked meat.

Vinegar Coleslaw - $2.25

The coleslaw does come from a tub, but it's cold, fresh and crisp, a good compliment to the smoked brisket. 

This is definitely are must eat joints and cheap eat joints in Montreal and great on a budget.  They also have Schwartz beef and steak spice that you can take home with you for only $4 a bottle.  It's GREAT on slow cooked roasts, like our slow cooked roast beef (recipe HERE).  We use this spice quite often.  In fact, we just slow cooked a brisket with this spice and it was just heavenly!   This spice doesn't taste as good on steak though, only slow cooked roasts.  If you're not heading to Montreal anytime soon, you can actually call them and get them to ship smoked meat or spice to you.  It's pricier then eating it in the restaurant, but hey, if you can't go to Montreal....get Montreal to come to you.  :-)