The Classic Montreal Food Tour (Montreal, QC)
This is the my original food tour from back in 2014 and the route is still one of my favourites. It explores the rich Jewish history of Montreal through some of the most iconic Montreal dishes.
Many of these stops are true institutions in the city and like all good things, you may need to wait - in this case, in long line-ups on the street. While brisk service means the lines move relatively quickly, I recommend bringing patience and comfortable shoes, and know it’ll all be worth it.
The stops of this tour all share a common theme – immigrants who came to Canada in search of a better life opening businesses with familiar recipes from the old world - recipes that would not only stand the test of time, but would become some of dishes that are symbols of the city.
Note: There is a lot of food on this tour so I definitely recommend sharing!
Montreal is located on the traditional territory of the Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) Nation.
Tour Map
A Brief Introduction to Jewish Montreal
The Jewish community of Montreal was established in the late 1800s/early 1990s south of the area where our tour is based, in what is now Montreal’s Chinatown. The community slowly expanded northward as the population grew. Between 1905 and 1920, 125,000 Jews - mostly from Eastern Europe - settled in Canada and as the largest city in the country at the time, Montreal was by far the most popular destination in the country. By the 1930s there were dozens of synagogues and other Jewish institutions in the area. Many of the newly arrived immigrants worked in the clothing industry and Yiddish (a language traditionally spoken by Jews of Eastern Europe) was the de facto language in the neighbourhood. Montreal had the second largest concentration of Yiddish theatres in North America, after New York City. By the 1950s, many Jews moved out of this area to neighbourhoods further west, and most synagogues were demolished or converted to other uses. However, even decades later, there are remnants of the rich Jewish history of the Plateau and Mile End.
Starting Point
We’ll begin our tour by visiting two of the most famous spots to get a real Montreal bagel.
St-Viateur Bagel
263 rue St. Viateur ouest
6am to 12am
Head east on rue Saint-Viateur towards Jeanne Mance.
Turn right on rue St-Urbain
Turn left on av. Fairmount.
Fairmount Bagel
74 rue Fairmount
Always open (24/7)
Kicking the tour off with a classic - the Montreal Bagel (March 2019)The tale of the Montreal Bagel
Like their cousins in NYC, Montreal bagels were also brought across the ocean by Jewish immigrants from Poland and elsewhere in Eastern Europe. However they are pretty different than the huge, fluffy NYC bagels. For one, honey is added in the Montreal dough as well as in the water used for boiling the bagels, making them sweeter. They’re also baked in a wood-fired oven.
The history of Montreal bagels is up for debate, but it is generally agreed that Hyman Seligman brought the bagel (a hometown recipe from Latvia) to Montreal in the early 20th century. He delivered bagels by pushcarts or horse and buggy throughout the area.
The first record of bagels being sold in the city were from when Isadore Shalfman founded the Montreal Bagel Bakery in 1919 on Saint-Laurent Blvd. 30 years later, Shlafman left the Bakery and opened the Fairmount Bagel Bakery. Shalfman’s grandchildren now run the shop, continuing the family tradition.
In 1953, back on St-Laurent, Seligman and Myer Lewkowicz opened a new bakery on Saint-Viateur. The shop is now owned by Joe Morena, who began working at St-Viateur at 1962 when he was just 15. He ensures the 100 year bagel history of Montreal continues to this day.
A friendly rivalry exists to this day between these two legendary bagel spots. We’ll test out both famous bagels and you can decide which deserves the bagel crown. We’ll start at St-Viateur Bagel before making a short walk to Fairmount Bagel.
Hot fresh bagels at St. Viateur (March 2019)Head a block east on av. Fairmount. You’ll hit Wilensky’s Light Lunch less than 100 metres away at corner of Fairmount and Clark.
Wilensky’s Light Lunch
34 av. Fairmount
Hours: 10am-4pm Tuesday-Saturday
Closed Sunday and Monday
The Wilensky Special
Years after immigrating from Europe, to get through the difficult Depression years, Harry and Ida Wilensky rented a corner store which also operated as a barber shop. Their son Moe, convinced his father to buy a grill and soon had many requests from customers to “make something special.” Moe tried different combinations and eventually developed the “Wilensky's Special,” a grilled beef salami and bologna sandwich with mustard on a kaiser roll, pressed flat from the grill. Yes - the mustard is compulsory. Why? Because that’s tradition, and you don’t mess with tradition. Also – no tipping allowed.
Wilensky’s has operated at its current location on Fairmount since 1952 and after a peek inside, you’ll see not much has changed. The restaurant is still owned by the family and Moe’s wife, Ruth, continued to make regular appearances in the iconic deli until her death in 2018 at age 98.
Turn right onto Blvd St-Laurent. You’ll be walking down St-Laurent to continue to tour.
‘The Main’
After enjoying a Special and chatting with the Wilensky family behind the counter, make a right. You’re now standing on Blvd. St-Laurent. Often referred to as ‘The Main’, St. Laurent transects the Island of Montreal. The Main not only divides the city into East and West but was also a symbolic dividing line between language, ethnicity, and class: English in the west, French in the east with immigrant communities right here in the middle – along the Main. This was often the first stop for immigrants for more than 100 years. In the early 20th century - Jewish, Chinese, and Italian immigrants, and later Portuguese, Greek, Arab, and Haitian. While the street contained many run-down factories in the 1980s and 1990s, it has been revived in recent years and is now full of shops, restaurants, and many summer street festivals. The street is also a National Historic Site.
“All day long, St. Lawrence Boulevard, or Main Street, is a frenzy of poor Jews, who gather there to buy groceries, furniture, clothing and meat. Most walls are plastered with fraying election bills, in Yiddish, French and English. The street reeks of garlic and quarrels and bill collectors: orange crates, stuffed full with garbage and decaying fruit, are piled slipshod in most alleys. Swift children gobble pilfered plums; slower cats prowl the fish market.”
Continue on Fairmount and turn right on St-Laurent. Continue for about 800 metres and then turn left onto av. Mont-Royal for one block.
Beauty’s Luncheonette
93 av. Mont-Royal
Hours: 8am to 3:30pm Wednesday-Monday
Closed Tuesday
The Classics
In 1942, Hymie and Freda Sckolnick, bought a Snack Bar at Mont-Royal and St-Urbain, with Freda’s lunches quickly gaining a great reputation in the area. Hymie himself continued to welcome customers to the iconic spot until his death in 2017, at age 96. His son Larry continues the tradition today. Beauty’s (Hymie’s bowling nickname) is most famous for the Beauty’s Special (a bagel with smoked salmon, cream cheese, tomato, and onion) and the Mish-Mash (eggs scrambled with chunks of hot dog, salami, pepper, and onions).
Walk back to St-Laurent, turn right, and continue for about a kilometre down the street to world-famous Schwartz’s.
Schwartz’s Deli
3895 Blvd St-Laurent
10am to 11pm (to midnight on Friday and Saturday)
The Main Deli
3864 Blvd St-Larurent
10am to midnight
This mecca for smoked meat lovers was also founded by a Jewish immigrant from Eastern Europe – Reuben Schwartz, a Romanian Jew, who ran the restaurant from 1928 until his death in 1971. Schwartz's signature dish is a smoked meat sandwich served on rye bread with yellow mustard, and the classic Schwartz's meal includes a medium-fat sandwich, fries, pickle, and a black cherry soda. Schwartz's is considered a cultural institution in Montreal, which means the line-up to get in at peak-times (and even at off-peak times) can be long. While the brisk service usually means the line moves quickly, if you don’t want to wait, you can cross the street to the Main Deli – arguably just as good and a favourite of Montreal native Leonard Cohen.
Smoked meat sandwich at Schwartz’s (March 2019)The Future
Retrace your steps and walk back up the main about 800 metres, just past the intersection with Mont-Royal.
Hof Kelsten
4524 Blvd St-Laurent
8am to 5pm
Hope you saved room for dessert! Welcome to the next generation of Jewish Montreal. Jeff Finklestein opened this bakery and casual restaurant just a few blocks from where his grandfather settled when he immigrated to Montreal in the 1920s. While staying true to tradition, Hof Kelsten provides a modern twist on old Jewish classics like babka and rugalach (pastries).
From here, you can return to the starting point, or venture a couple of blocks west to Park Avenue and explore Mount Royal. If it happens to be a Sunday in a warm-weather month, you can check out the diverse crowd gathered around the George-Etienne Cartier Monument for the weekly Tam-Tams, referring to the drum circles that are the focal point of the event.
Bonus Stop
Gibeau Orange Julep
7700 Blvd Decarie
8am-3am
While not an official stop on the tour, if you’re driving west out of the city and you haven’t had enough of iconic Montreal, you’ll want to make a stop at the Orange Julep, about 10km west of downtown. Built in the shape of a three-story orange, the tradition began in 1932 when Hermas Gibeau started serving the drink based on a family recipe. There’s no better way to end your day in Montreal than with an Orange Julep in hand, watching the sun set behind a giant roadside orange, reminiscing about the incredible food you ate covering 100+ years of rich Montreal history.
Sunset at the Gibeau Orange Julep (Aug 2020)Route Information
Tour Map
Distance: 3.5km (start to finish); 5.0km (including return to start)
St-Viateur Bagel (263 rue St-Viateur Ouest)
Head east on rue Saint-Viateur towards Jeanne Mance.
Turn right on rue St-Urbain
Turn left on av. FairmountFairmount Bagel (74 rue Fairmount)
Head a block east on av. Fairmount (corner Clark)
Wilensky’s Light Lunch (34 rue Fairmount)
Continue on Fairmont St.
Turn right on St-Laurent for about 800m.
Turn left onto Mont-Royal and continue for one block.Beauty’s Luncheonette (93 av. Mont-Royal)
Walk back to St-Laurent.
Turn right onto St-Laurent and continue for about a kilometre.Schwartz’s Deli (3985 Blvd St-Laurent)
The Main Deli (3864 Blvd St-Laurent)Retrace your steps and walk back up St-Laurent about 800m, just past the intersection with Mont-Royal.
Hof Kelsten (4524 Blvd St-Laurent)
Return to the starting point, or venture a couple of blocks west to Park Avenue and explore Mount Royal.