Wilensky's, officially known as Wilensky's Light Lunch, is a lunch counter

Lunch counter

A lunch counter is a small restaurant, much like a diner, where the patron sits on a stool on one side of the counter and the server or person preparing the food serves from the other side of the counter, where the kitchen or limited food preparation area is. As the name suggests, they were most...

 and soda fountain

Soda fountain

A soda fountain is a device that dispenses carbonated drinks. They can be found in restaurants, concession stands and other locations such as convenience stores...

 in Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

, Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. Founded by Moe Wilensky in 1932, the restaurant was immortalized in Mordecai Richler

Mordecai Richler

Mordecai Richler, CC was a Canadian Jewish author, screenwriter and essayist. A leading critic called him "the great shining star of his Canadian literary generation" and a pivotal figure in the country's history. His best known works are The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Barney's Version,...

's novel, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz

The Apprenticeship Of Duddy Kravitz (book)

The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz is the fourth novel by Canadian author Mordecai Richler. It was first published in 1959 by André Deutsch, then adapted to the screen in 1974.-Plot and setting:...

. Scenes at Wilensky's in the film version starring Richard Dreyfuss

Richard Dreyfuss

Richard Stephen Dreyfuss is an American actor best known for starring in a number of film, television, and theater roles since the late 1960s, including the films American Graffiti, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Goodbye Girl, Whose Life Is It Anyway?, Stakeout, Always, What About...

 were also shot on location in the restaurant.

Menu items

Wilensky's is most famous for its Wilensky's Special: a double grilled salami and bologna sandwich with a splash of mustard on a kaiser roll

Kaiser roll

The Kaiser roll, also called a Vienna roll or a hard roll , is a kind of bread roll, invented in Vienna, and thought to have been named to honor Emperor Franz Joseph...

, pressed flat from the grill — mustard is compulsory, as a sign in the restaurant announces. Despite its historic role in Montreal's Jewish community the restaurant is not kosher, offering patrons the option of cheese on its signature grilled meat sandwich.

Soft drinks are mixed by hand, by combining soda water and a range of syrups.

Significance

The restaurant was originally located in another building on Fairmount Street in the city's Mile End

Mile End (Montreal)

Mile End is a neighbourhood and municipal electoral district in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.Mile End is part of the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough in terms of Montreal's municipal politics...

district. It moved to its current location in 1952 and is currently run by the late founder's wife Ruth Wilensky. Many individuals who leave Montreal often nostalgically return to Wilensky's or recreate the Wilensky's Special elsewhere.