Food of the Gods
An article in the estimable and now defunct Saturday Review by Mordecai Richler, when he still lived in London, and published in the early seventies, described what Richler considered to be the best deli in the world, Schwartz’s. Nothing in literature had ever filled me with such yearning, not even Shmendrick’s “Ode to a Hottie”, written in 1772. This is back when Schwartz’s really was the best deli in the world.
A year or two later I was in Montreal. Johanna and I met Noel at Schwartz’s for some sandwiches. As we left who should be walking in but Mordecai Richler. By the time I got my camera out he had a seat at the counter and I took this shot through the door.