Schwartz's Deli

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Schwartz's, also known as the Montreal Hebrew Delicatessen, is a delicatessen restaurant and take-out, located at 3895 Saint-Laurent Boulevard in Montreal, Quebec. It was established in 1928 by Reuben Schwartz, a Jewish immigrant from Romania. Schwartz's is the most famous remaining Montreal-style smoked meat restaurant. The restaurant also sells smoked meat by mail order. It is kosher style rather than kosher.The staff of Schwartz's credits the unique flavour of their smoked meat to their mandatory 10-day meat curing time, the high turnover of their meat, and their brick smoke-house covered with over 80 years worth of buildup.OfferingsSmoked meatSchwartz's signature dish is a smoked meat sandwich served on rye bread with yellow mustard. The meat is served by the fat content; lean, medium, medium-fat or fat. Medium and medium-fat are the most popular. According to journalist Bill Brownstein, the classic Schwartz's meal includes a medium-fat sandwich, fries, half-sour pickle, coleslaw, red pepper, and a black cherry soda.Smoked meat fans debated whether Schwartz's or Bens (another local deli) had the best smoked meat sandwich. Bens thin sliced meat was piled high between rye bread, while Schwartz's offers plates of thickly cut smoked meat. Bens had a longstanding and widely believed advertising slogan that claimed the restaurant had invented smoked meat, but this has been debunked by cultural historians.