So it was our last night in Montreal. We'd done the fancy dinner thing. We'd been to a few clubs. We had some crepes. It was down to our last dinner in town so we asked the concierge, "If there was one place you'd say we HAD to try before heading back to the States, where would it be?"
With little to no hesitation, he said:
SCHWARTZ.
And then he proceeded to warn it was not a "classy place." He explained the whole 'smoked meat' phenomenon, which sparked an entire cab ride of lewd jokes revolving around meat smoking. Ha - and the concierge was worried about classy.
It was refreshing to see this family owned and operated, bare bones shop serving solid platefuls of meat, classic french fries and giant deli pickles. There was absolutely no way I could finish my sandwich (I swear there must have been a pound of meat on there) and I left with a big, full-belied grin on my face.
Sitting at the counter is the only way to go, as the owner (manager?) chatted us up about our trip, explained the ordering process to us and was just genuinely glad to have us at his establishment. For the experience and the service, I can't even say I minded the cash-only thing!