Wilensky's World Famous Bologna Sandwich (since 1932) 

P.T. Barnum would be proud of those prices.

They don't change the way it's done and their customers stay loyal. Love it!

Fried Bologna sandwiches are a southern staple….make one up north and they put you on the food network. 😂

As a person living just outside Toronto..... Montreal is mother And when you come home she always has something warm And toasty waiting for you

I'm 72. I started cooking at nine. Making fried eggs (fried hard) with ketchup was my first cooking adventure. Then I added fried bologna later I added a dollop prepared BBQ sauce. That addition turned out to be the piece de resistance. Now in 50 years I switch between BBQ and ketchup.

I love a chef who's willing to let their food speak for itself instead of trying to appease the customer with every bell or whistle, there's something charming about it

The price shows how the ownership is in the game more for the love and reputation than the money. Unlike say Katz's, just deplorable prices.

It’s been on every southern dinner’s menu since forever.

I grew up on bologna and I have always said if I ever open a food business, bologna is going on the Menu period. In the South that's considered a meal. It's phenomenal when you add mayo lettuce and tomato and it's gotta be cooked just right! Shouts out to this place for still serving this! ❤️🫶❤️🤤

I grew up on grilled balogna and cheese so this hits home. If I'm ever in Montreal I'll have to visit this place

Used to own a little butcher shop/deli. Treat the staff to lunch on Saturdays. One Saturday I was going to make fried bologna sandwiches. First response - - ew! ( they were all young ) " ever tried one? " NO. So I made them with cheddar and mustard of course. Ew turned to wow instantly. Like the idea of including salami, have to try that. I'm in British Columbia so might not get to your restaurant, but thanks for sharing.

I saw the special in the picture and drooled. Been there many times and will eat there until one of us is gone. Preferably me, wouldn't want to deprive anyone of that delicacy.

It's added to my Google Must Visit list for my next trip to Montreal. I'm an American Southerner so I kinda thought I'd outgrown fried baloney (how we say it) from my youth, but that bread looks amazing to me. I love mustard. I'd like to try it. As a former chef/ bakery owner, the not cutting and customizing it is not only tradition, but it makes dollars sense. Every deviation slows service down and could mess with your margin. They don't have all the normal bells and whistles of a kitchen so it makes sense to not complicate it. It keeps their overhead down not having to buy to go silver, knives for cutting, etc... The soda syrup is probably extremely inexpensive in comparison to the food costs of the meat for the sandwich , so if they push the drinks, the profit margin is consistently high.

I had this once. I remember thinking I have no idea how anybody can like this.

They need to go on and on and on....such a great simple sandwich!

Wow, I thought the prices might be silly high because they’re a landmark, but I found a menu and the “special” is $4.17 & sodas are $2.25 for a large.

How did I not know about this place when I lived in Ottawa! Next time I'm in Montreal I'm getting one of these sandos with pickles and trying those homemade sodas.

Alright!! Found this video at a good time. I'm in Montreal next month. Gonna look them up and go get me a couple of specials.

Looks so delicious. Wish I was in Montreal right now. I'm not though. I'm in Auburn Massachusetts and salivating for this goodness of a sandwich.

I'm up here in Canada. I remember when my mother would buy bologna, it came in a heavy waxed covering. She made us all toasted fried bologna sandwiches. I'm talking in the 50' and 60s. Her Mother, who was French Acadian, fed her children the same thing.

Salivating; miss it so much.. every day when was in Baron Byng!!!

I don't know what it is now, or if they still do it, but when Moe was alive, and cranking out the Specials, they always charged 2 cents more for *no* mustard. The default was a Special with mustard, and Moe felt that when someone wanted no mustard on theirs, it would disturb his concentration - his "flow", if you will. So if a Special was 56 cents, it was 58 without mustard. If 71 cents, it was 73 without mustard. And if I'm not mistaken, the original used a wider array of coldcuts than just bologna and salami. I believe there was "mock chicken" loaf slices in there too. But established in a largely Jewish neighbourhood there was NEVER cheese. Not shown in the video - likely because the practice was discontinued - were big Coke glasses with cut sticks of "karnatzl" in them. Karnatzl is essentially Jewish pepperoni, except that it's beef and dried out to be chewier. Once your order was prepared, you'd tell them how many sticks of the stuff you had worked your way through while waiting, and it would be added on to your bill. And, of course, the walls were plastered with Wilensky grandchildren's artwork. My dad spent his young adulthood around the corner from Wilensky's, on St. Urbain, after he and his family escaped Poland in mid-1939. He took me there in the late-1960s or early 1970s, and told me that many of the pulp fiction paperbacks they had on the bookshelf when he was a young man were still there, decades later. I was told that when they shot "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz", Wilensky's had to be "modernized" a bit to look era-appropriate. It was not uncommon to see bigshots in $800 (at the time) Holt-Renfrew suits seated at the counter at lunchtime, with their attache cases by their feet. It was like salmon migrating to the place where they were hatched.

I love bologna sandwiches. I make min with mustard, lil but of mustard, and crushed tortilla chips. Amazing ! I hope this place is still open. Id love to visit on my next road trip

I've been there. Amazing! Love it.

Definitely on the bucket list.

Been there a few times when I’ve been in Montreal. ❤️ I still have. The t shirt

Awesome. Like going to Paul's Place - Rocky Point, NC Can't beat a tradition!

When you go to Montreal , it isn't the same without getting a "speciale". Just order & take what you are given - no cutting , additions or deletions. It's always just been that way ! 👍

Nice video!!

Reminds me of my childhood and my Polish roots.

New to the city and didn't know this place. Thanks to this video, we walked to Wilensky's today and tried the special sandwich. It was great! I also realized we'd actually been right next door to the Japanese arts & crafts store once before. Wish I knew Wilensky's then.

My mouth is watering!

Seems expensive when a whole pack of bologna is 1.00$ lol but I would still try it

I can kinda picture a certain segment of our society crying because they can't get their sandwich cut in half, lol! So glad they stick to everything original.

As an Okie from the lower 48, I approve this sandwich. Growing up in the south, fried bologna is something everyone has tried or still eats.

Amazing rare clip of Moe Wilensky and Mordecai Richler together at 5:50 that I never seen before !

Can NEVER go wrong with fried bologna.... its a must in my home. Nothing like this place though, guaranteed 🤤🤤 want to try so badly

So much respect.

Reminds me of a dialog I witnessed on a blog. A: - Where are you from? B: - Italy. A: - I love Bologna! B: - Have you been there? A: - Is it a place? I thought it was a kind of sausage.

I will make it there one day for sure.

We need more of this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Came here many years ago with my grandfather, was unique and delicious, hope to return one day as an adult…

Used to go there a lot when my grand-father had his shop near Jean-Talon

New place on my bucket list

It’s crazy to me how many people would love bologna if they would just try it!!!!!

Great family success Never change a winning formula

Why did I watch this video? Now I have to make my way to Montreal!

Now I want one! Really!!!

Mannn I love bologna sandwiches allready I have to go to Montreal to have the Special

Love family restaurants and should I be lucky to get to Montreal I'll definitely visit.

I love it. I’m going for lunch!

My grandma was from Missouri. She had her children during the depression, which very much effected her frugality with food. She made fried bologna sandwiches (in a cast iron skillet w/ a little butter) which were simple but delicious. It is the ONLY way I like bologna.

awesome!

I’m from the U.P. And have made fried bologna for 50 years.

I've been eating fried bologna here in Texas for 55 years. Fried bologna, tomato, mustard. And fried bologna with eggs for breakfast. I have been a butcher for 35 years and as a kid I thought round steak had a red rind around it. 😂

Good job

I just visited from New York. I don’t know how this was so good, but it was….

These people are living my dream.

Man, I love simple restaurants like this. They don't over complicate things. Just like the guy said "Don't mess with how you do things, if you don't like it GET THE HELL OUT" that should be preached everywhere in this world today.

no matter what...you truly cannot beat a bologna and cheese.

We have these in the states. Just been commercialized "deli express" like everything eles. They call em a Chuck Wagon in Mt.

The only place to get it...I guess making one yourself would be, unheard of. I'm 58 and have been making fried bologna combo sandwiches for a very long time.

Wilensky's was featured in The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, who was played by a young Richard Dreyfus....

I know the background music is supposed to be just that but it's distracting to me, it's a popular song from the 30's called "please don't talk about me when I'm gone" that someone has thrown a modern beat onto and rearranged the song a bit. Michigan J Frog sings it in an episode of Looney Tunes too. Lyrics: Please don't talk about me when I'm gone, Oh, honey, Though our friendship ceases from now on, And listen, If you can't say anything that's nice, It's better not to talk at all, Is my advice, We're parting, You go your way, I'll go mine, It's best that we do, Here's a kiss! I hope that this brings, Lots of luck to you Makes no difference how I carry on, Remember, Please don't talk about me when I'm gone Anyway I'd love to have a fried bologna sandwich at this place while listening to 30s music haha

Looks delicious

That's an absolute banger version of Please Don't Talk About Me

I wonder what kind of roll that is, looks like a thin ciabatta type roll. I believe they referred to onion roll, so presumably flavored with onion.

4:18 Steve Harrington!

Cheap eats with a cool story ❤

Would love to eat there! I can consume me some bologna!!!😁👍

Respect!

beautiful and heartwarming story. 🥲 hope to visit one day. 🤗

I’m embarrassed- I’ve been going to Montreal for over 20 years and I’ve never heard of this place

Good bread and keeping it simple is the way

Used to have bologna regularly as a kid. It was cheaper than some of the other stuff we get nowadays, but I still have not tried "Fried" bologna.

The movie Duddy Kravitz was filmed here

I worked there in 82 and 83 loved working there the top hotdog with swiss is the best dog in the world .

Yeah, Montreal. And the bagels on St. Viateur. Montreal is a special place.

Adding this place to my food/restaurant bucket list, and I don’t even like bologna! 😅

Why am I hungry all of a sudden?

I thought this was an American documentary for the first 6 minutes 30 seconds. Amazing how similar Quebecois and Midwest Americans are. They're good people. I hate the image in the media. They all have a passion for tradition, yet simplicity, and family.

If I ever get to Canada I'm going there..

So have all these people never had a fried bologna sandwich?! It's common in the Southern U.S.

GREAT

We grew up on fried bologna ❤️ parents from Iowa, raised in KS .

Reminds me of The Burger Nest in Jackson Heights, Queens New York.

Refusing so hard to cut a sandwich just for the sake of "That's how it is" In find a bit strange but I like Bologna sandwiches and will try it next time I'm there.

This inspired me to a baloney sandwich for breakfast this morning.

Ok, they are stuck in The Depression. We have evolved to Duke's Mayo, onion, pickle, tomato, and my wife still gives me that look when I slip some Lays chips in my bologna sandwich.

Do they make their own bologna? Or is it store bought?

Awesome very yyyyyyyyyyyy. Special place

Something else good 👍🍻🎶🎸🌮 stuff

WHEN IT COMES TO UNIQUE ICONIC FOODS, MONTREAL IS TOP -DOG. WILENSKY'S IS ONE OF THESE JUST AS POUTINE AND MONTREAL SMOKED MEAT ARE. NOT JUST AS BOLOGNA SANDWICH BUT WITH LOVE!!

I wonder what kind of roll that is.

Balonga is like no, but fried up or grilled it's perfect lol mustard as well love it.

Anyone see the irony of them donating to the Heart and Stroke Foundation? Still, I love fried bologna. Never had it with salami, but I will now.

Classic.

Real Canadians love a good newfie steak sandwich

I'll be taking the train up once they reopen the border, that sandwich looks delicious

Been making this sandwich since I was 7 years old. It's never bad!