With macarons in tow, we decided to look for some real food for dinner. And by "real food," I mean smoked meat. Schwartz's was one of the restaurants we were determined to try on this trip, so we walked about half an hour from Centre Eaton to the deli. And once we were there, we were met with a line-up of about 20 people outside, waiting for a seat inside the tiny restaurant. Yes, people, this deli is so popular, it can get 20 people waiting in the cold on a Monday night. After a half-hour wait, our party of six was finally seated.
A side of fries came first...
And then the famous smoked meat sandwich!
The bread is really just an afterthought...
And fatty cuts are the only way to go!
There is nothing fancy about Schwartz's. It's a cramped restaurant with a massive take-out line-up along with packed tables, waiters running around, guys behind the deli counter yelling across the restaurant, unflattering fluorescent lighting, and old pictures and paintings and newspaper clippings hanging on the wall. But I would line up for half an hour again and again and again to eat at Schwartz's. 'Cause, seriously, that was the best sandwich I've ever had in my life. It doesn't look very big, but there is so much smoked meat packed in between those two pieces of rye bread that I had to take out about half of it to eat separately with a fork. It was amazing. Real quotes from that night: "I can go outside right now, get run over by a car, and it would be okay, 'cause I got to eat that sandwich," "Easily a 10 out of 10," "I can die happy now." In my humble opinion, Schwartz's lives up to 100% of the hype. Would I say it's the best restaurant in Canada? No, probably not. Is it the best smoked meat in Canada? Well, I haven't eaten all the smoked meat in Canada, but I wager that it is.
OMG I would kill for that sandwich. It looks sooooo delicious. Even the fries looks greasy & heavenly.
ReplyDeleteI'm salivating as I type this by the way.
Haha, it's the most glorious sandwich I've ever eaten! And I would say that it's 100 times more delicious than it looks. THAT'S HOW DELICIOUS IT IS.
DeleteI wish I were still in Montreal. :(
that looks insanely good. Kinda funny how the bread is sliced normal.. you would think that if you had a huge slab of meat as filling, they'd make the bread a little thicker too!!
ReplyDeleteIt seriously looks sooooooo damn good. ugh!
LOL, I know, right? The bread is really just there to act as meat holders. But I think they made the ratio of bread to meat that way on purpose... It's like, "YES, MOUNTAIN OF SMOKED MEAT. But how can we make this into a sandwich? AH HA, BREAD! Little pieces, just enough to hold the meat together..."
DeleteOh, god, I am so hungry right now. :(
My parents used to own a deli... but we never sold anything like THIS. It's monstrous and it's FANTASTIC. I'm salivating. You know, the bread is just to a spot for your hands to hold the meat together!
ReplyDeleteEXACTLY. That is what the purpose of bread is in a sandwich like this. Liz, I'm telling you, this sandwich was... transcendent. Glorious, god-like, divine, majestic, sublime, enter other adjective for PHENOMENAL.
DeleteThose burnt fries are calling my name! And I love a higher meat-to-bread ratio as well. Sandwiches just don't taste great when all you feel like you're eating is bread.
ReplyDeleteThose fries were actually really, really good. They kind of remind me of the Swiss Chalet fries... but better.
DeleteAnd I totally agree, sandwiches should have a 4:1 innards-to-bread ratio. ;)