The hottest “chien chaud” in Montreal

There were sev­eral high points dur­ing a recent visit to Mon­treal with my boyfriend Ross.
Deliv­er­ing his red pick-up to valet park­ing at the Queen Eliz­a­beth hotel kicked things off. I have a hunch they don’t park many such vehi­cles in the bow­els of that trusty land­mark cur­rently cel­e­brat­ing the 40th anniver­sary of John and Yoko’s famous bed-in.
Next came bril­liant British gui­tar genius Jeff Beck’s appear­ance at the Jazz Fes­ti­val. The vet­eran rocker played to a high-testosterone audi­ence of avid fans each of whom had forked out a good wad of money to attend. His encore, the haunt­ing “Jerusalem,” was mag­nifique.
No visit to the city of my birth is com­plete with­out a pil­grim­age to smoked meat mecca Schwartz’s on St. Lau­rent.
Tim­ing is key, as I’ve learned the hard way, and 3 pm on a week­day was per­fect for intro­duc­ing Ross — a Schwartz’s vir­gin — to a late lunch of a smoked meat sand­wich, fries and dill pickle eaten at the best spot in the room: a stool at the counter.
As for a new dis­cov­ery, we came upon Chien Chaud Vic­toire (for­merly Vic­tory Hot Dogs), located at 1025 Beaver Hall, en route to Old Mon­treal from our hotel.
This nifty spot has been around for more than 30 years and basi­cally makes two things: hot dogs and fries.They use Lester’s franks and offer the buns steamed or grilled. And they do them well — more proof that sweet and sim­ple win the day.