A Brisket Is A Brisket Not Poitrine! What’s going on at Schwartz’s?

Montreal’s venerable smoked meat mecca is serving too many sandwiches that fight back

Tags: Montreal, Schwartz’s, smoked meat

On Wednesday, June 10, very near to five on an otherwise glorious Montreal afternoon, the unthinkable happened: I took a bite of a freshly unwrapped medium-fat smoked meat sandwich from Schwartz’s, then chewed, chewed some more—chewed far too much—and then, racked with sadness, tossed the rest of it into the nearest rubbish bin. This was a profoundly poignant moment for someone who has been a regular at the iconic delicatessen on the Main since long before he could even see over the counter—way back when the sign outside actually just said Schwartz’s instead of Charcuterie Hébraïque de Montréal. So a few days later, I rang up and broke the news to Schwartz’s manager Frank Silva, who works days.

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Is diversification creeping into the curing room? Holy Shopsy!