Schwartz's, also known as the Montreal Hebrew Delicatessen is a delicatessen established in 1928 by Reuben Schwartz, a Jewish immigrant from Romania. It is a landmark, currently at 3895 Saint-Laurent Boulevard and the most famous remaining Montreal-style smoked meat restaurant. The restaurant also sells smoked meat by mail order. It is kosher style rather than kosher.
The staff of Schwartz's credits the unique flavour of their smoked meat to their mandatory 10 day meat curing time, the high turnover of their meat, and their brick smoke-house covered with over 80 years worth of buildup.
Schwartz's signature dish is a smoked meat sandwich served on rye bread with yellow mustard. The meat is served by the fat content; lean, medium, medium-fat or fat. Medium and medium-fat are the most popular. According to journalist Bill Brownstein, the classic Schwartz's meal includes a medium-fat sandwich, fries, half-sour pickle, coleslaw, red pepper, and a black cherry soda.
Schwartz's is also credited with creating Montreal steak seasoning or Montreal steak spice when Morris "The Shadow" Sherman, a broilerman working at Schwartz's in the 1940s and '50s, began adding the deli smoked meat pickling spices to his own rib and liver steaks. It was so popular that it was copied by other Montreal delis and steakhouses.