- People are getting playful with Jewish food.
You know, I have a friend in Boston,
he loves to like mash up Korean flavors
in a matzo ball soup, you know what I mean.
So, there's people getting playful with it too.
Like, that's such a fun way to kind of move it forward
and test the boundaries of like what Jewish food is.
- I'm walking down Saint-Laurent, or Saint Lawrence
in beautiful downtown Montreal.
I'm heading to a place inside a museum,
a Museum of Jewish Montreal.
The Jewish people have a long history in Montreal.
And, their food is deeply embedded
in the history of the cuisine of the city.
What Fletchers is doing is really interesting,
they're doing a modern take on
traditional Jewish flavors and dishes.
I'm excited to try it out.
So, let's go.
(upbeat music)
- I go to McGill, study art history.
I live in the neighborhood,
all my friends live in the neighborhood.
So, this is definitely a place a lot of my friends
come to hang out, spend a lot of time
just sitting around and talking here.
I think people are really confused by it at first
because it kinda looks like a boutique or a cafe.
And, it kind of is like a real hybrid of things.
But yeah, it's definitely unique,
and there's like a lot of events here,
and it's doing a lot of stuff.
- I mean, I'm not Jewish, are you?
- No, I'm not Jewish, but a lot of it
is really like nostalgic for me even
because my family's Ukrainian, and that's like
obviously Ashkenazi, Jewish food's huge.
And so, things like borscht, they had that in the winter.
That's a huge thing for me.
Pickles, anything pickled.
- One of the things that I love is,
we've taken gefilte fish, which is
a super traditional, eastern European food.
- Gefilte fish, yuck!
- Right? - Right kids.
- [Customer] Yuck!
- Boo, boo. Thank you.
But, wait. - But no,
it's actually so great.
When Jews come in here they're like,
gefilte fish tacos, and gefilte fish club sandwich?
And, they're kinda like, they don't know what to do with it.
- Sure.
- And, then I'm like, no, no, wait,
just let me make it for you.
- [Lucas] Just try it.
- Try it out.
And, then they're like, this is so good.
And, then they keep coming back.
- Okay.
I actually really like that.
Nice minced fish, halibut and tilapia.
It's got characteristics of, of course, a fish taco.
Which is a common thing in Mexican cuisine.
But then, it's also got that nice component of
a deli whitefish salad, which you would pick up
at a traditional kosher-style Jewish delicatessen.
I think, combined together it works very well.
You've got nice pickled veg here.
Some nice tender, semi-fatty whitefish.
And, then you've got sort of a creamy harissa mayo,
which imparts just a hint of peppery spice.
The fish flavor is really
what comes through within the whitefish.
I really like that.
So, this is gonna be the za'atar spice sandwich.
Z-A'A-T-A-R.
It's a spice mixture that is composed of
among other things, thyme, oregano, marjoram, sesame seed.
It's gonna be a real nice, nutty, earthy, spice flavor.
Used throughout the Middle East.
This is going to impart a real grounded herbal flavor.
It's a nice complement to the egg
and the tomato in the sandwich.
Potato pancakes, or latkes, closely associated
with the Jewish holiday of Hanukah.
The key to getting a good latke, get all that moisture
outta there, 'cause you're gonna fry those suckers.
And, that's what's really gonna give you
a nice fry, a nice crunch.
And, they're commonly eaten with sour cream, or applesauce.
In this case we have yogurt,
which is gonna be a nice, sour, cold dairy.
(crunching)
This is sort of the ultimate version
of like a sour cream and onion potato chip.
Nice crunchy latke.
Dessert time.
Ice cream sandwich, massafan.
It's essentially an almond cookie.
And, then we have ice cream in the middle.
♪ This is how we do it ♪
That was a bad idea.
(laughing)
Maybe that was a terrible idea just to bite right into that.
I love the flavor of cardamom, and rosewater.
I get a lot of that within this.
Chewy, almost marzipan-like, massafan cookie.
So, again, with this dessert creation,
similarly to the breakfast sandwich with the za'atar,
similarly to the gefilte fish, turning that into a taco.
They are taking the traditional Iraqi massafan,
and turning that into like a delicious ice cream sandwich.
Mixture of new and traditional.
It's such a simple concept.
But, I think when it's done well, it almost always works.
Part of the idea of cuisine, is that
there are traditions within our food,
but that our food ways also evolve.
We have our traditions, we revere our traditions,
but that also there is room for our cuisines to grow,
to try new things, to try new flavors.
Because why not?
That is what makes life interesting,
and that is what makes life fun,
and that is how things change, and evolve, and grow.
And, I think it's done really, really nicely here.
I really hope you enjoyed this episode
of Dining on a Dime from Fletchers,
inside the Jewish Museum of Montreal, in Montreal, Canada.
If you'd like to watch more, please click here.