Wilensky

Story

Wilensky's Light Lunch, styled in its signage as simply Wilensky to conform to Bill 101, is a lunch counter located at 34 Fairmount Avenue West in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Opened in 1932 by Moe Wilensky, the restaurant was immortalized in Mordecai Richler's novel, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. Scenes in the film version of the book were shot in the restaurant.ProductsWilensky's is most famous for its Special: a grilled beef salami and beef bologna sandwich with mustard on a kaiser roll, pressed flat from the grill — mustard is compulsory, as a sign in the restaurant announces. Though recognized as part of Montreal's Jewish community the restaurant, like most Canadian Jews, does not keep kosher. Their soft drinks are still mixed by hand.HistoryThe restaurant was originally located at the corner of St. Urbain Street and Fairmount Avenue in Montreal's Mile End district. It moved to its current location in 1952 and was run by the founder's widow Ruth Wilensky (until 2012), his son Asher, daughter Sharon and granddaughter Alisa.Wilensky's SpecialThe famous Wilensky's special sandwich is a grilled bologna sandwich. It was included in Travel + Leisure magazine's May 2012 edition's article about the 'Best Sandwiches From Around the World', written by Jonathan Gold. It was also featured in the second episode of The Mind of a Chef PBS series with Anthony Bourdain and David Chang.