David Schwartz is proud to “take the long way” with the pastrami at Linny’s in Toronto’s eclectic Ossington neighborhood. Schwartz, the culinary director, and his team, including head of production Josh Bagalacsa and head chef Ethan Roger “do everything, beginning to end.” That means brining the brisket — cut from the navel as is common in New York, but less so in Canada — anywhere from four to seven days, before smoking it for 12 hours.
Linny’s is dubbed a “deli steakhouse” because, as Schwartz puts it: “Deli culture is this one anomalous space where people understand it as being Jewish but not religious. I have no interest in going to eat at a restaurant that is like a Christian restaurant. I think a lot of people don’t understand the difference in Judaism as being an ethno-religion versus, just a straight up religion, right?”
But the Ashkenazi-style touches come to vibrant life one bite at a time. House-brined pickles accompany the warm, fluffy challah service that emerges straight from the oven to waiting tables. There are sour and half-sour cucumbers, as well as juicy green tomatoes. Fresh cheese that surrounds homemade jam allows diners to dip their bread for an added element of salty and sweet.
Linny’s opened in the fall of 2024, but the pastrami has already become the dish for which fans are most likely to make a pilgrimage. Sliced thick and plated simply with pickles and mustard, the beef from local Martin’s Family Farm falls apart on contact with a diner’s teeth. It’s well-marbled, but also retains a lovable edge of pure, melting fat.
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For those who think “this would make a stellar sandwich,” Linny’s Luncheonette opened next door in May 2025. With just a few outdoor seats, it’s a place to pick up a hefty portion of pastrami that’s just as it should be: Served on chewy rye with nothing to interrupt its lilt of smoke and spice except yellow mustard. In the bag you’ll also find a napkin, a wet wipe and a stick of Bazooka bubble gum for an extra dose of nostalgia.
At its core, Linny’s is a steakhouse, a showcase for regional beef farmers. But every steak at the restaurant, including a take on a garlicky Romanian, is broiled, then finished with pastrami tallow butter. It leaves just a hint of coriander and black pepper flavor on the already optimally seasoned cut. The combination is unique to Linny’s and you’ll wish someone had thought of it sooner.
How did the fusion happen?
“Opening a steakhouse on its own sounded a little bit boring to me. Opening a deli on its own sounded like something that would be extremely difficult to do viably, and so combining them together solved for both of those problems,” Schwartz said.
Before opening Linny’s, Schwartz was noted for his regional Chinese food, which he gained a passion for while dining at restaurants with his family. In 2023, the chef was named Toronto’s Michelin Guide Young Chef Award Winner for his work at his Bib Gourmand restaurant Sunnys Chinese. He also owns stylish Mimi Chinese in both Toronto and Miami.
The seed of an idea for Linny’s, said Schwartz, came from the fact that “if I’m not eating in Chinese restaurants, I want to be in a steakhouse.” But this time, he used “lived experience” over exhaustive research to inform his menu.
That included a childhood of dining with his Polish grandparents, two of whom were Holocaust survivors. His maternal grandfather owned a poultry market in Toronto’s Kensington Market neighborhood, where Schwartz and his young family now live. His restaurant is named for his mother, who died when Schwartz was in elementary school. Her handwritten recipes line the restaurant’s walls.
Though there were many hits in her repertoire, there are also a few that Schwartz has not chosen to replicate exactly. He recalled that “smoked carp was a big thing. It’s gnarly.” He didn’t like kasha varnishkes, either. So he decided to upgrade the classic with house-crafted bowtie noodles. They have more al dente bite than most versions of the dish. Called Kasha & Bows, a seasonal vegetable also makes it into the mix. On a July evening, it’s spring onion, which glistens, along with the noodles and groats, in adipose “chicken butter.”
“I wanted to kind of convince myself that the food of my heritage could be great and interesting,” he explained.
One need only taste Linny’s warm chocolate babka, an individual round loaf that towers with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, to see that Schwartz and his team have achieved that goal. Each buttery spoonful is slightly different, a delicatessen equivalent of an Everlasting Gobstopper.
And every bite at Linny’s is proof that in honoring his roots, Schwartz has taken Toronto’s cuisine to a whole new level. It’s not easy to get a reservation at Linny’s — but you should definitely try.
