Mr Zinman "Chickie" Man

There have been many times when I've mentioned growing up in suburban Montreal and never hearing terms like "free range" or "organic". It was a simpler time... to say the least. My mom was a stay-at-home mom, like all of her sisters and all of our neighbours and no one ever even asked what they "did". And although we lived quite a hike to even a paved road - we were one of the first families in the new suburb called Ville St Laurent - so new in fact, we left billy boots at my parents' friends house over half mile away for our trek home.

Imagine.... my mother didn't have a car and yet, we ate extremely well. I'm obviously dating myself, but the milkman came to the door - and nooooo...not in a horse driven cart - I'm not THAT old. Milk, however, was sold in glass bottles - a new resurgence at some of today's farmers markets. Grocery stores delivered FREE OF CHARGE - our fruits and vegetables came from Mr Young's Fruit Market. My mother would call in her order and a couple of hours later it would arrive - everything fresh and delicious. She'd arrange for her meat purchases the same way from butchers who had close connections with the source. My mouth waters for her veal chops. Unlike today, veal came from small animals. A typical dinner portion was three breaded veal chops (we didn't eat much pork at home), a side of mashed potatoes and some vegetable - usually green. Today... if you can find veal chops near you... they are huge - think rib steak... and expensive. SIGH....

But my favorite memory is the weekly phone calls from Mr Zinman. When any of us kids would answer, he'd say "It's Mr Zinman - the chicky man. Is your mummy there?" I knew wonderful things were in store. Fried chicken, "BBQ" chicken (mom's sauce is also awesome on spareribs), ginger capon for special events like Rosh Hashana... I'm drooling.
You can find them all in my eCookbook Every Kitchen Tells Its Stories , if you're interested. But I digress a bit.

When Sharron and I were leaving the Jean Talon Market, I couldn't believe my eyes...
and in trying to find their website - they don't have one, but I did discover this great review...

"I can't believe no one mentioned Zinman Chicken Market. the place is huge, supplies most of the mentioned butcher shops, and has great service! the meat never disappoints, and they will prepare anything you want. the store is on the corner of st-dominique and mozart. the butchers are extremely knowledgeable. you can ask them pretty much any thing. give it a try you won't be disappointed!"

from Chowhound forum on great butcher shops in Montreal

It's always wonderful to see that an old favorite is still everyone's favorite all these years later. Do you have a long standing favorite?