Eat Montreal

nationalpost:

Schwartz’s for sale: Iconic Montreal deli could be sold to group that includes Celine Dion and husband Rene Angelil
Mordecai Richler immortalized Schwartz’s in book form. Barney Panofsky, the protagonist of Barney’s Version, refers to Schwartz’s spicy, smoky and impossible-to-pin-down scent as a “maddening aphrodisiac.”

At times sublime, at others merely spectacular and sometimes disappointing, always served by a waiter who, no matter their name, or years of service, leaves the impression of being the same waiter who has been working behind the same counter since the place opened in 1927. There always seems to be a lineup, and cars with Ontario plates parked illegally nearby, former Montrealers loading up for the road, the nearby 24-hour bagel shops their next stop.

Schwartz’s — a.k.a Montreal Hebrew Delicatessen — is an institution. For its constancy; for its stuck in-a-time-warp-trench-coat-and-fedora-decor; for the quirky wait staff; the hustle bustle; the occasionally leaky ceilings and the smoked meat sandwiches — the taste of which remains tattooed on many a Montrealer’s palates no matter how far they stray from home.

Change is not the attraction here. Many devotees were made nervous when a separate take-out counter was opened one store over a few years back; even when the lineup snakes up to the corner, people willingly wait for a spot in the real restaurant, rather than sit on a stool in the new spot. Other attempts to expand have been abandoned amid controversy. (Photos: Graham Hughes for National Post; Scott Robert Collins/Montreal Gazette)