Mayrand is a Montreal food wholesaler that is open to the public and prides itself as the place where chefs shop. With more than 15000 products coming from hundreds of suppliers, Mayrand has all the food and related supplies to meet your needs and all at wholesale prices without the extra cost of a membership fee to shop.

They still have sale flyers to entice you even more. See their flyer below for even better prices, including this week specials; How about fresh skate fish no skin $4.99/lb, bacon wrapped filet mignon $8.49/lb, all beef salami $2.49/lb, smoked pastrami $4.99/lb, Ontario tomatoes $.69, clementines $.99/lb, Gala apples $.79/lb and Anis $.99/each.

As a wholesale market, it also means that you can often find select meat in the AA or sometimes AAA grades, whole filet mignons and rib roasts, pork rump and hock, homemade sausages, marinated chicken and pork, fish and seafood.

There’s 500 kinds of cheese, ethnic foods (Italian, Latino, Indian, Asian, Mideastern) and they import their fresh produce themselves – no middleman. They buy fresh fruits and vegetables from local growers whenever possible.

Mayrand offers a complete line of grocery items which are sold by the case, the half-case or by the unit.  They carry a  huge assortment of pastas (regular and specialty), olive oils (about a hundred different varieties), balsamic vinegars, rice, lentils and legumes.

The aisles are piled 20 feet high with everything you’d find in a supermarket and beyond. It stocks 4 times more selection than that famous warehouse club with more consistency and choices. So come here for an unbelievable selection of products for your home or restaurant.

Location: 9701 boul Louis-H-La Fontaine Anjou QC H1J 2A3
corner: rue de Lamartine
Tel: 514-255-9330
Hours: Mon-Wed 6:45-6, Thurs & Fri 6:45-9 pm, Sat 6:45-6, Sun 9-6
www.mayrand.ca
sales@mayrand.qc.ca ou ventes@mayrand.qc.ca

Levinoff is a big Montreal meat wholesaler, open since 1951 and with the 2nd generation at the helm, sells retail. Since they have their own slaughterhouse, there are no middleman charges.

When Le Biftheque’s butcher shop closed, Levinoff hired one of their butchers and his customers now come here. This week there’s a special on brisket  for $3.99 lb.

Ground beef is always available at low prices, as well as fresh chicken, pork, variety meats (heart, tongue, tripe, oxtail), deli meats and handmade Italian sausages. Freezer orders can be prepared at decent prices.

Their new upscale line and shop-at-home service is for certified AAA and prime cuts (T-bone, rib roast, NY cut strip steak, rib steak, brisket or tenderloin). Call in advance to order a smoked turkey and you can find pickled tongues or briskets here too. If you order $100 worth, there’s no delivery charge;  When you come in person, your order is carried to your car – great service.

8610 8th ave., Montreal Nord
corner: boul. Robert
Phone: 514-725-2405
Hours: Mon-Wed 9-5:30, Thurs & Fri 9-7, Sat 8-5
www.levinoff.com

Q1: With summer BBQ and picnics happening, meat eaters still love to chomp down on a meaty mouthful so are there any ways to buy “healthier” meat in Montreal?

A: Local European-style butchers are still making sausages, and luncheon meats the good old fashioned way by hand. They’ve been in business for years and know how to do it without a lot of chemicals. When shopping at their stores you don’t have to worry about big factory food contamination episodes. You can find them all over town, not necessarily just down on the Main (Boucherie Hongroise or Slovenia).

Q: 2 Can you give us some places to shop, let’s say on the West Island?

I was speaking to Peter of  La Bernoise (3988 Boul. St-Charles, Pierrefonds, Phone: 514-620-6914) and he avoids phosphates and MSG when making his sausages, bacon and ham. Think about when you open a package of bacon and  it’s all wet with water. Phosphates are added to suck up salt and water making the bacon weigh more (and taste less).

With their own smoker using real wood, this 30-year-old business has been able to cook authentic European (German and Swiss) specialty sausages, smoked pork chops and veal roast, smoked ham, bacon and smoked pork hocks. The butcher counter sports the meatloaf, air-dried sausages, knockwurst, lamb sausage, schublig and air dried beef, which you can eat with sauerkraut and squeeze-tube mustard along with rye bread made with muesli. Homemade whole wheat and 6-grain bread are available as well as groceries: dumpling mixes, Kuchen Meister cakes, Knacke brot plum butter, Lindt chocolates and even German crossword puzzle books.

Q: 3 What about nitrites and nitrates, aren’t those in sausages too, shouldn’t we be avoiding them?

At Salamico (1980 Lucien Thimens Ville St-Laurent, Phone: 514-336-7104), you can buy about 20 different types of nitrate-free sausages, like German white sausage (veal), Italian or breakfast sausage. Other popular ones: Toulouse with fine herbs, merguez, cheese and mushroom cheese and broccoli, lime and coriander.  Julie Anne said the fat content is lower in her sausages too with the chicken sausage there’s only 5% fat. Pork ones have 15%, whereas at the supermarket it would be at least 20% or more fat added.

For 43 years, you could always find a little bit of the taste of your homeland (if it was Germany, Switzerland, Poland or Hungary) here. Some of their interesting specialties are Lyoner sausage, Hungarian salami, gendarme sausages, bacon with paprika, teewurst, smoked pork loins or hocks, duck fat and imported sauerkraut. For sandwiches, there’s sliced veal, roast beef, roast pork and different kinds of ham. Where else can you get “custom-made” meat where you can have them cook it in the way you  like it?

Shelves of imported foods (gooseberry, prune jam or sour cherry syrup, PK herrings, ground poppy seeds, egg noodles, biscuits) run across the front of the store along with German magazines and cookbooks.

Q4: Okay, where’s the beef, what do you have to offer the beef lovers out there?

At Levinoff, (8610 8th ave., Montreal Nord, Phone: 514-725-2405), open since 1951, there’s a  new upscale shop-at-home service for certified Angus prime cuts (the kind the restaurants use). You can get T-bone, rib roast, NY cut strip steak, rib steak or tenderloin; if you order $100 worth, there’s no delivery charge. Since they’re in the heart of an Italian district, handmade Italian sausages are always fresh and ground beef is always available at really low prices  – and you can buy fresh chicken, pork and deli meats.

This is a win-win situation, if you shop at these stores, you are keeping them in business and buying healthier choices for your body. How many of you know the first name of the butcher you buy your meat from? It’s time to go back and shop at these informative family businesses and find out what you are eating.