Schwartz's

Schwartz's

Relevant Links:
Schwartz's Website
Schwartz's - Plateau-Mont-Royal - Montreal, QC, Canada (Yelp.com)
Schwartz's (Wikipedia.org)

French Fries / Patates Frites

20160225:
Between the airport and our final destination, we pass through the city and stop by a well-known smoked-meat restaurant called Schwartz's. While there are various options on their menu, the main event is the smoked meat.

Dill Pickle / Cornichons

Extras:
We ordered various extras: French fries*, dill pickles, 1/2 sour pickles, and coleslaw.

Unfortunately, the 1/2 sour pickles were barely sour and mostly tasted like regular cucumbers.

Coleslaw / Salade de chou

*The customers sharing our table asked for mayonnaise for their fries, but the employee said they don't have mayonnaise, because it's a Jewish establishment. Doing a bit of research, while mayonnaise is kosher, there is some sort of cultural resentment against it.

Salami Sandwich

Salami Sandwich:
If I remember correctly, all of their sandwiches are cold cuts except for the smoked meat. With that being said, I had a piece of this sandwich after eating my smoked meat sandwich and it was simple, but good.

Smoked Meat Sandwich / Sandwich a la viande fumee

Smoked Meat Sandwich:
With the choice of lean, medium, and fat meat, I went with the fat and it was so delicious! The meat practically melted in my mouth.

In the end I traded a quarter of mine for a quarter of Jack's medium. Not as rich as the fat meat, the difference was as clear as night and day.

1/2 Sour Pickle / Cornichons 1/2 surs

Thus, while the medium cut might be the way to go if you eat here often, go with the fat cut if you're just stopping by once in a blue moon!

A View on Taste:
So a friend of mine brought up this topic on how people could distinguish between expensive wine and cheap wine, and yet prefer the cheap wine.

While I did not see the original article, I questioned whether or not the participants were already accustomed to the cheap wine. As an example, I grew up eating nachos with nacho cheese sauce (e.g., Taco Bell) and like it more than nachos with melted shredded cheese.

But what if I had a child and raised him/her to eat nachos with melted shredded cheese?

Skipping some strong points, the conversation lead towards the subject of condiments and I said heavy use of condiments is meant to hide any lack of flavor.

Buy a pack of meat and take it to go!

After a bit of agreement and disagreement, a customer seated at the end of our table - a chef by profession - chimed in and offered his point of view. While I don't remember precisely what he said, it was to the following effect: every part of a dish has a voice and certain ingredients like ketchup or salt have voices which scream.

[20160316 Edit]