Happy “Special” Birthday Ruth Wilensky
Yesterday I wrote about a great deli man. Today, I’ll toast a great Deli Woman. Possibly the greatest of all.
Tomorrow, Oct 3rd, Ruth Wilensky, of Montreal’s venerable Wilensky’s Light Lunch, has a very significant birthday. How significant? So significant I have sworn not to reveal the number, but let’s say it ends in a 0 and most of us only dream of getting there. So happy birthday to you Ruth!
Her husband Moe Wilensky opened their small corner store, barbershop, and delicatessen in 1932 (when Ruth was just 13), at the height of the Great Depression. Moe invented a “special” sandwich as a way of bringing in extra business. It features two slices each of six kinds of beef salami, and one slice of bologna, and pressed them on a sandwich griddle, then slid them into a cornmeal dusted pletzl, spread with mustard, and pressed it all together. The result was something so crisp, greasy, and perfect that the Wilensky’s eventually abandoned the barber shop, the salads, eggs, and other foods and focused exclusively on Specials. Since then, pretty much nothing has changed. You can read more about it here.
Moe Wilensky died of cancer 25 years ago, but Ruth just kept on doing things the same way at Wilensky’s, with her son Asher, her daughter Sharon, and her late son Bernard, who passed a few years. If you go to Wilensky’s today, Ruth will likely be there, making your sandwich, making sure you don’t linger, clearing the counter or just sitting there, peacefully…that is unless you dare ask for no mustard or some ridiculous request. She’s a woman of few words, but those she speaks count, and her uncompromising way is what’s undoubtedly preserved Wilensky’s as a delicious shrine to simple deli in Montreal.
And so Ruth, we salute you! You are a real maven of deli and the queen of all Deli Women out there. Mazel tov. May you live to see 100 more years.
Wilensky Light Lunch
34 avenue Fairmount Ouest
Montréal, QC H2T 2M1, Canada
(514) 271-0247
October 2nd, 2009 at 1:20 pm
I rarely reply but this is a must. What a nice tribute to Mrs Wilensky. A lovely lady. I first went there with Popa Sam and then with the Vineberg twins (Ronnie and Lenny, olava sholom). In those days we were just starting high school and would run there from Outremont High to scoff down a few specials at 17 cents each and tell our parents we were studying as you mentioned in your link. It was wonderful then and it is still wonderful now. Can’t wait to go when we go for the Montreal opening of Save the Deli. Keep up the great work. You are a Mensch
October 2nd, 2009 at 3:15 pm
Terrrific post. I am going to seem like a baby compared to Michael as I started going to Wilensky’s when the specials were $1.75. The place literally has not changed an iota in the 2 decades that I have been going. Will there be a Montreal stop to the Save The Deli book tour?
October 5th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
What a gorgeous lady.
You go, girlfriend.
October 21st, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Lovely lady…but there aint nothing lite about Wilensky’s. That smooshed sandwich is all you need for the day.