Little Miss Maridee Sat at a Tablee Eating Her Curds Oy Vey!

Today started out a little later than we wanted. By the time we decided to actually get up and move on we had missed our breakfast chance at the hotel.

Our day included some of the top gastronomical feasts that have been published in travel books, what to eat before you die, and other travel sites. Our goal was to find 3 things: 1) the best poutine in all of Canada, 2) little egg tarts found at some bakery and 3) a smoked meat sandwich from Schwartz’s deli that all other deli meats are measured against.

All of this would require us to venture out of our comfort zone and conquer the Metro. Since we think we are somewhat Metro pros we knew once we got to the station we would be okay. But finding the station was the challenge.

The problem is the stations are so far and few between here in Montreal. We can either walk uphill about 8 blocks for one line or walk downhill for another line. Since we needed to find breakfast we chose to do the uphill walking early on.

After a nice breakfast of a “McCrepe” we found the Metro. Much to my delight there in the Metro station was the Harmonie bakery which features the delicious egg tarts so highly spoken of. Of course I had to buy one and wish that I had bought half a dozen they were that good.

Poutine Classique

We found our Metro stop that would allow us to walk downhill to our first “Must have”. After walking at least 30 minutes we found the restaurant, La Banquise, which serves the best poutine in all of Montreal. Poutine is a plate of French fries, cheese curds, and brown gravy poured all over it. Then you can put other stuff over it if you choose. We ordered 1 plate of poutine with bacon and weren’t disappointed. The fries were drenched in gravy; there were these big clumps of white cheese curds and lots of chopped, cooked bacon. All of this had gravy all over it.

We couldn’t finish the entire plate because our next gastronomical feast was our meat sandwich from Schwartz’s, or as Montreal insists on the sign "Schwartz Charcuterie Hebraique de Montreal". We had to save room for that so we got our check and left.

To get to our next destination we walked back the same way we came and then some more. Sure enough as our guide books warned us there was a line out the door and around the corner waiting for a table.

The restaurant recently opened up a “take away” counter so Jim and I decided that we would bypass the wait and take a sandwich for take away. We ordered the main “smoked meat” sandwich and walked past about 50 customers. I had found a park on the map so we headed to the local park for our “Best smoked meat sandwich in the world”. A picnic in the park was in order.

After walking nearly an hour and ½ back and forth we were tired and ready to sit. As in most parts of northern Europe and North America where winter has worn out its welcome, all the park benches in the blazing sun were filled with sun worshippers. That was PERFECT for us since there were plenty of benches under the cool maple trees. As we watched the squirrels run up and down the tree Jim and I devoured our utterly delicious smoked beef (Jim called it corned beef) sandwich on rye.  There was at least 1" - 2" of meat on this sandwich. Oy Vey! It was so very good, piled high with fresh meat, mustard on the rye bread and that was all. (sorry no picture of our sandwich--we ate it and then realized we didn't take a photo).

We then wiped the bits of meat off our faces and clothes and found our next metro stop. It was much closer than we had expected so we felt like after all the walking we had done since 9:00 am we had hit the Canadian lottery.

So I can say that we have seen and done all the must have’s and the must do’s that Montreal has to offer us in 2 days. I am sure there would be more for us to see and do but unless we took a cab it is harder to see the sites than usual. We feel like we have seen the greater part of Montreal and look forward to visiting Quebec on Sunday. Print this post