Food

Schwartz's Deli - St. Lawrence Blvd., Montreal.

Photo Credit : Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives
Schwartz's smoked meat, medium fat, Montreal, 2010.

Photo Credit : Chensiyuan
Schwartz's.

Photo Credit : Oh God! Oh Montreal! Travelling with Mordechai Richler, Andrea Paolella
Bens De Luxe Delicatessen & Restaurant, Montreal, 2007.

Photo Credit : Michael Stanton
Advertisement for H. Rees British American Delicatessen, most likely the first sit-down deli to sell smoked meat in Montreal, in the Jewish Times, Wednesday, April 29, 1908.

Photo Credit : Jewish Public Library - Archives
Advertisement in an 1894 Yiddish-language almanac/calendar issued by Ogilvy's. The ad is for Aaron Sanft, a butcher on Craig Street, who was most likely the first purveyor of Jewish smoked meat in Montreal.

Photo Credit : Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives
According to family stories, Aaron Etinson arrived in Montreal from Romania prior to World War I in possession of a secret recipe for smoking meats. He opened the store in 1918.

Photo Credit : Michael Etinson/Debby Newpol

Smoked Meat

Along with bagels and poutine, many identify Montreal’s smoked meat (beef brisket enhanced by spices and Eastern European-influenced smoking methods) as emblematic of the city’s cuisine, and the question of which delicatessen introduced the first and best smoked meat sandwich has long been debated along the Main.

Bens, which opened in 1911, claimed to be Montreal’s first delicatessen. Catering to factory workers at their fruit store on St. Lawrence and Duluth, Ben and Fanny Kravitz expanded their repertoire to include smoked meat sandwiches, using Lithuanian techniques. In 1925, the store was renamed B. Kravitz Delicatessen (also known as Bens de Luxe Delicatessen Sandwich Shop) before moving to Burnside Street (now de Maisonneuve), where it remained until 2006, when it closed due to a labour dispute.

While Kravitz promoted himself as having introduced smoked meat to Montreal, Lovell’s Directory and newspaper ads reveal that Hyman Rees’ British-American Delicatessen Store (on St. Lawrence near Ontario) was actually dispensing smoked meat sandwiches in 1908, a few years prior to the establishment of Fanny’s Fruit and Candy Store. While Rees’ was the first sit-down delicatessen to sell smoked meat, a series of butchers were preparing smoked meat as early as the 1890s. Aaron Sanft, a butcher on Craig Street (now St-Antoine), was perhaps the first. Using a Romanian recipe, he advertised his American Sausage Factory’s smoked meat in an 1894 Jewish calendar.

Another contender for Montreal’s smoked meat fame is the Montreal Hebrew Delicatessen, popularly known as Schwartz’s. Established in 1927 on St. Lawrence near Napoléon, and employing Romanian smoking techniques, the original owner, Reuben Schwartz, was forced to sell the business in 1932 due to his gambling and womanizing. The new owner, a musician named Maurice Zbriger, was reluctant to have his name affiliated with a “pedestrian eatery” and rehired Schwartz as his manager to front for him.

With the closing of Bens, many label Schwartz’s as the undisputed king of Montreal delis (although its competitors across the street at the Main Deli, as well as at Lester’s, Dunn’s and the Snowdon Deli would argue otherwise). The history of Schwartz’s is commemorated in Garry Beitel’s film, Chez Schwartz’s and Bowser & Blue’s Schwartz’s: The Musical.

According to Eiran Harris, the Jewish Public Library’s Archivist Emeritus, as smoked meat sandwiches gained an international culinary reputation, Jewish delicatessens expanded from four at the turn of the century to 45 in 1932. A number of these lesser-known delis prepared their own smoked meat, including Etinson’s, Rogatco’s, Chenoy’s, Hebrew National, Putter’s, Shagass’s, Levitt’s and Montreal’s Palestine Salami Factory. Today, few Jewish-style sit-down delis remain in Montreal, and none are under rabbinical supervision. However, they remain culinary landmarks, and popular tourist attractions.

Special thanks to the Museum of Jewish Montreal.

Learn More:

http://thecanadianencyclopedia.com/en/article/maurice-zbriger-emc/
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/theatre-and-performance/schwartzs-the-musical-do-you-want-it-on-rye-or-with-the-singing-pickle/article574477/
http://www.mtlblog.com/2016/05/the-real-story-behind-schwartzs-deli/#
http://imjm.ca/location/2363
https://soundcloud.com/iciradiocanadapremiere/la-viande-fumee-daaron-sanft-cest-pas-trop-tot
http://www.erudit.org/revue/cuizine/2009/v1/n2/037859ar.html