Montreal – Jean-Talon Market and Schwartz’s Deli

I knew we needed some exercise after our zillion calorie meal at Au Pied de Cochon. So I had planned on hoofing it up to Jean Talon Market but it was drizzling so we decided to catch the metro instead. When we arrived the place was pretty much deserted.

It was pretty quiet and we weren't going to be doing any self-catering during our last evening in Montreal, so we just kind of wandered around.

Nothing caught our fancy, so we decided to head on back to Mount Royal area.

Jean-Talon Market
7070 Henri Julien Ave.
Montreal, QC H2S 3S3, Canada

It was a pretty good walk.

There are some pretty interesting buildings in the area, like this one.

I couldn't figure out what it was, so when we returned I looked up the address and it's named Musée des pompiers de Montréal. It's the firefighters museum; which is only open on Sundays from 130pm to 4pm.

It was still a bit early for our lunch destination, so we decided to grab a cup of coffee and relax. We found this very modern-hipsterish looking shop named Dispatch Coffee.

I got some espresso and they served it up right….with sparkling water.

Dispatch Coffee
4021 Boulevard Saint-Laurent
Montreal, QC H2W 1Y4, Canada

By this time our early lunch destination was ready for business.

I'd heard countless times that you "need" to go to Schwartz's when in Montreal. It's an iconic purveyor of Montreal smoked meat….don't be calling it pastrami in MTL. While similar in in terms of being seasoned, cured, and smoked, classic pastrami is made with beef navel, the front or "ventral" part of the beef plate. Montreal smoked meat like corned beef is made with the brisket. You can read more about the differences at a load of sites; some of them humorously opinionated. I was here to eat.

One quick thing about Schwartz's. You'll see the opening hours listed as 8am; you can get stuff next door to go at that time. But if you want "hot meat", you'll have to wait until 1030.

We got in right at 1030 and sat at the counter. The young man who served us was great; friendly, helpful, in that truly Canadian way.

The place filled up pretty quickly.

The young man pointed out that the "classic" Schwartz's combo was a Smoked Meat Medium Fat, Fries, Dill Pickle, and a Cherry Soda……we got fifty percent of that, the dill pickled, crisp, nicely balanced in flavor and the Smoked Meat Sandwich Medium Fat (9.75 CAD – about $7.40/US !!!). We watched with anxious anticipation as the meat for our sandwich was hand cut.

Man, this was good!

It's not very often that a place delivers on all the hype and expectations. Schwatrz's did this and more. From the surprisingly tender and moist texture, to the balanced seasoning, not too salty, but with more "umph" than most pastrami sandwiches I've had, the wonderful savory tones really shone. The bread was soft, but stood up well to the pastrami with the flavor of caraway, that malty-nutty-spiciness, bringing things together. The mustard added just enough acidic-pungency to cut any richness.

The Missus is still talking about this sandwich.

There was a line forming outside the deli as we left. I can see why…..

Schwartz’s Deli
3895 Boulevard Saint-Laurent
Montreal, QC H2W 1X9, Canada

A while not everyone would agree, I'd say Schwartz's really delivered. We left, satisfied and not stuffed, just perfectly happy.