Brad's Montreal Odyssey -- Day 6. 15 Avril

The sixth of the daily blogs, stressing food and drink, from Montreal!

After Sunday's extravaganza of a day, Monday needed to be a bit more laid back, casual, etc.
Plans were to explore some neighborhoods with a definite idea for lunch but nothing definite for dinner.
So, after cafe au lait at the Brulerie St. Denis on a bright sunny day, I headed to the metro to explore the Mile End neighborhood and some Montreal classics.
After a wrong turn and then a bit of confusion, I eventually wound up at my lunch destination: Wilensky's Light Lunch.
This place is a living fossil.
Run by the same family since 1932, Wilensky's is essentially a nine-seat soda fountain that sells, really,  one kind of food: their "special" sandwich. This is beef bologna and beef salami grilled on machines that date to the 40's, smashed together, put in a grilled roll with some mustard, and cheese if you want, and served hot.
As they - the founder's grandson waited on me - will tell you, it always comes with mustard and it's never cut in half - I actually saw them refuse to do that for a customer.
It doesn't sound delicious, but it sure is, meaty and rich and tangy. Frankly addictive. I had two, one with cheese to see the difference, and I preferred without cheese. I could have had more, but went with a dill pickle - really really good; where do these places get such good pickles in Montreal? - and a bright half-sour pickle.
They also sell hot dogs grilled, slathered with mustard, and jammed into an onion roll, either the top of the roll with onions or the bottom, the part without. These are ordered as "tops" and "bottoms". They sell egg sandwiches and cheese sandwiches, candy bars, and a overgrown all-beef Slim Jim called a karnatzel.
And that's it, food-wise.
Ah, but to me the main attraction was the soda fountain, an absolutely untouched and unchanged classic of the kind that existed in every town and now is almost extinct. They make their own syrups - yes -  and they have at least a dozen. You can mix and match - I got pineapple-vanilla, sinfully tasty, plus their No. 1 seller, cherry cola, to go.
And in between I had a classic chocolate egg cream. If egg creams were Burgundies, this one would be Grand Cru - perfect. Perfect blending, rich syrup, heavy-duty fizz. Again, I could have had three.
Service, such as it is, is lightning-fast and perhaps a little standoffish at first to a stranger, but once I chatted with them a bit and mentioned I was a sportswriter from out of town, suddenly it sounded like good bar talk, as the staff, four of them, bemoaned the state of the slipping Canadiens, mourned the loss of their beloved baseball team, denounced the Olympic Stadium, recalled Jarry Park fondly, called Jeffrey Loria every name in the book, and denounced the Toronto Maple Leafs, Bud Selig and Gary Bettman with a passion. I entered as a stranger, I left as a friend.
Cost? Two specials, two pickles, two sodas, an egg cream: $16. Oh, they don't accept tips, and if you do leave change they donate it to charity. It is also solidly Anglophone; they can speak French, but the language of the shop is English, perhaps appropriate for a neighborhood where Mordecai Richler grew up.
And this is no kitsch joint kept alive as a tourist trap, not the recreated "Colonial Williamsburg" of soda fountains. Quite the contrary. First of all, not many tourists would ever get there. And locals and regulars filed in constantly, one guy ordering six specials at a time. And the place's fixtures, much like Schwartz's, are ancient.
What it is is a living fossil, a place frozen in time sometime around 1943 that somehow has survived and prospered and found a niche it can prosper in. I am quite sure there's nothing quite like it in North America. Don't miss it.
I wanted to go see the site of Jarry Park - "it's a tennis stadium now", the Wilenskys said sourly - but first there was another Montreal legend to try: bagels.
I walked right by one of the two legendary spots, Fairmount Bagel, which is practically next to Wilensky's, to St. Viateur Bagel a few blocks north so I could see a new area.
There, I got a sesame seed bagel hot from the oven and a poppy seed bagel. I was considerably more impressed with the sesame, which was awesome. The poppy was good, not great.
Montreal bagels are different than New York style; they are smaller, sweeter, denser and much more covered with toppings. They don't need butter or cream cheese to be good, though that'd be tasty too. I can see why NYC bagel devotees would sneer - Montreal has many fewer flavors, for one, no garlic or onion or pumpernickel, etc. - but these were really tasty and fun to eat, hot and almost gooey. I can attest the cute fox-eared squirrels at Jarry Park liked the poppy-seed leftovers I fed them.
After more exploring in the Mile End neighborhood, including a terrific espresso at the very cool-looking Arts Cafe on Fairmount, looked like a fine place to eat as well - a long bus ride to Jarry Park and a long stay in the park, also called Jarry Park - yes, the swimming pool is still there in right-center, or what would be right-center if Jarry were still a baseball stadium - I headed downtown  to see the Guimard Metro entrance at Square Victoria and pick a downtown restaurant for dinner.
That proved difficult as my first five choices were all "ferme Lundi", closed on Monday. Grrrrr.
I wound up at Brit and Chips, a chippie joint on Rue McGill and a solid continuation of the day's keep-it-simple mode.
They make the classic fish and chips out of several different fish with different batters. I chose haddock in a maple-syrup batter, which seemed appropriate in Quebec and a curried fish cake to start with a glass of their house ale to go with it.
Home runs, mostly. The fish was very fresh and the batter, faintly sweet, matched it well. Currying a fish cake is an idea somebody in Philadelphia, land of fish cakes, should copy; this one came spicy, moist and made a real contrast to the sweetish fried fish. The ale was bitter and hearty and went down smoothly.
Only snag was the chips, which were tasty but too soggy for me.
Service was friendly and casual.
Feeling tired from a lot of walking, I skipped a nightcap and had some cheese and wine, an indifferent 2010 Cahors from Comte Andre de Monpezat that was quaffable, short, lacking generous fruit but with some cassis and dark cherries, good gripping finish, about worth the $11 I paid, at my place.
A different day of dining, simple and fun. But special. Wilensky's rocks.

Wilensky's Light Lunch, 34 Fairmount Ave. West, Montreal, H2T 2M1. Open Monday through Friday, 0900-1600; Saturday, 1000-1600.

Arts Cafe, 201 Fairmount Ave. Ouest, Montreal. Open 0900-2100 Mon-Fri, 1000-1800 Sat-Sun.

St. Viateur Bagel, 263 Rue St. Viateur Ouest, Montreal. Open 24/7. There are branches around the city with different hours, BTW.

Brit and Chips, 433 Rue McGill, Montreal. Open 1100-2300 Sun-Wed, 1100-0000 Thurs-Sat.