Boucherie Lawrence

Love this place. Quality meat meets a swath of other goodies to round out the shopping experience. Includes offerings from Guillaume bakery (the choco peanut butter squares are dank, the donuts are killer and the caramels are for coffee), many local dairies and even very reasonably priced local seasonal Veg plus a host of artisan products like honey, maple syrup, various oils, granolas and what have yous. Oh yeah! There’s beer, soda, sauerkraut, kim chi, butter, bones for the dog or the soup, it’s just great.
And I haven’t even talked about the meat yet. I get all my bacon and sausages here on a weekly basis and occasionally treat myself to pork chops, lamb burgers and sometimes go for the terrines as well. Their cured meats are all fantastic as well.
Of course, quality comes with its price, but when it comes to meat, this is a return in itself. Not to mention the ever agreeable experience of shopping there, compliments of the dedicated and courteous staff.
If you go in for only one thing, make it the back bacon.

When you’re so accustomed to the sit down & pay a lot of money for food, it’s nice to have a laid back sausage sandwich sometimes. This is the place to do just that. Super friendly staff. & they have awesome confiture & accessories.

Hummmm…
Comment né pas succomber aux charmes charcutiers de cette bonne adresse du Mile-​End ?
Côté épicerie, on aime la diversité de leurs produits qui varie selon les saisons et j’adore tout particulièrement leurs yaourts maison.
Côté boucherie, je préfère vous laisser la liberté d’y faire un détour par vous même pour découvrir le meilleur sandwich de tout Montréal (meilleur que Schwartz selon moi !) orchestré par une équipe jeune et enthousiaste !
Mention spéciale au pain et mayonnaise maison qui vaut le détour.

I came in looking for some simple, plain, salt-​free white meat. But I should have known that this was not the place to go for that…
Boucherie Lawerence oozed modern-​day hipster. Lumbersexual. Beards ‘R Us etc. Don’t get me wrong though — very polite, courteous and professional staff. Amazing customer service.
If you are on a salt-​free phase of your diet, don’t come here. There were a lot of things that had rubs on them, salted, aged, sausages.
There were some bread products as well as some cookies/​pastry things. I blocked it out since I am on sugar free and reduced carb.
Also, don’t come here without a thick bank account. Seriously. I understand the products are local and pure, but it just hurt.
Even the BOUCHERIE LAWERENCE cool-​person totes were expensive. I mean, I guess everything is expensive in this day and age. Inflation happened at some point.

Sitôt le barbecue installé dans la cour, nous sommes partis à la recherché d’une bonne pièce de viande à faire griller. C’est à la Boucherie Lawrence que nous l’avons trouvée… Un accueil courtois, de bons conseils, une côte de bœuf maturée à se damner avec son bon goût de beurre et le tout pour un prix relativement raisonnable. C’est sûr, on repassera !
La boucherie propose également des pots Mason de légumes et pickles maison, du granola artisanal et de beaux légumes frais qui n’attendent que d’accompagner une viande goûteuse…

This is was the go to stop for me. I honestly don’t know what I would’ve done without this place, and I am not exaggerating. The staff remembers me, and what I like. They’re friendly, professional, and generally enjoyable to have around. In fact, while looking for an apartment, I refused to look anywhere that was not in the area (plateau, mile end, etc).
I did a lot of research, looking for the best quality meats, and food in general, because I have a lot of health issues and eating anything less than the best ruins me, so you can absolutely consider this place the best. It has no close seconds.
One friend who had accompanied me to Boucherie Lawrence (everyone I bring becomes a regular client and fan), was near Mont-​Royal metro and bumped into one of the butchers from Lawrence. They immediately said: «you’re Oliver’s friend!», and I thought that was yet another great little thing that showed how good the staff there is.
I’ve run into some of the employees at concerts, out on the streets, in grocery stores, etc, and it’s always a friendly experience.
Absolument le meilleur boucher que j’ai eu la chance de trouver. Je cherche tout le temps pour la nourrite de la meilleur qualite, et Boucherie Lawrence et mon N#1! J’ai demenager plus proche de eu juste pour pouvoir y aller plus facilement. Meilleur viande, sandwichs, bouchers, employes, etc!

A very interesting chacuterie place, with a strong emphasis on local products (including piggies) and selling only the top notch quality products. As one of the last stops on our food tour, I can tell that my appetite had already weaned, but I just could not resist a tasting board. We had multiple kinds of cheeses, spiced sausages, and salami, and thin cuts of pork, perfectly prepared with an air of mastery over cured meats. The staff were very friendly and I only wish that I could speak a little more French to converse with them about their products.

Montrealers are so lucky to have Boucherie Lawrence. I have been there a handful of times so I can comment on what we tried, we loved it all. Twice when I arrived they were just bringing in fresh piggies (head to tail) that were laid out on the huge table behind the counter. Then the boys start breaking them down. Oh the knife skills in play, fascinating to watch them work in plain view. Here’s our take:
The bacon — tried both back & belly. Hand cut thick slices, preferred belly as back was way fatter but both were so good compared to commercial bacon.
Sausage sandwich with choucroute, cornichons, dijon on crusty roll was delicious.
Sliced ham was so nice. Made wonderful sandwiches at home,
Jerk chicken never had so good since MoBay, tried wings, ½ breast & drumstick. Great flavour, nice heat. Fresh, you cook yourself, chicken got crunchy sticky, was simply awesome.
5 pound Pork shoulder was rubbed & slow roasted then pulled. Pork was so tender, flavour was amazing, best I’ve ever made or had!
Italian sausages, only bought 2, everyone wanted more, so tasty.
Freshly made rolls & burger buns — stock up as they freeze well & you will be happy they are on hand.
Nanaimo bars tasted better than what I tried in Nanaimo. Thick, rich, just wonderful.
Salted caramels — decadent treats. They sell out quickly. Also didn’t last too long at home. $ 1.00 per.
Spicy salty sweet nuts — mix of peanuts pecans walnuts maybe others. Addictive, my crack, can’t stop until they are gone.
Will be back again this week to try something new.

My one-​stop place for the perfect apéritif with friends. Saucisson and pâtés are excellent, interesting rotating selection of cheese from Quebec, perfect cherry tomatoes and out-​of-​this-​world bread. Seriously, Lawrence’s house bread beats Joe La Croûte, Guillaume and the likes.
Obviously you can also buy meat there, even the unusual cuts, at a fair price.
Strongly recommended!

Très bonne qualité de viande. Cadre super agréable. Ils disposent aussi de produits type épicerie fine.

Not much to say here, but we loved all the cured meats and cheeses we tried. So much more here that I wish I could have checked out.

Amazing butcher shop that takes great care into where the meat is sourced as well as how it’s prepared

VIBE
Imagine your dream butcher shop. It’s spacey yes, but this is it. I do wish it had a bit more seating though.
I ATE/​THE GOODS
This place is so much more than where you can get your meat. Not only can you get sandwiches but also a ton of baked goods and homemade lemonade. You can also buy lots of canned goodies too and printed Boucherie Lawrence bags. Super cute selection and nice merchandising.
But we need to talk about the sandwich. Because holy crap, it is one hell of a sandwich! Forget the prosciutto and the ham. It’s all about the cotechino.
Wikipedia does a better job at explaining this than me:
I do know that BL has their cotechino in sous-​vide as part of the process. It’s a mix between a slightly sweet and slightly salty meat and with the pickles (not even sliced!), the mayo and the fresh made sour dough bread, it truly is a treat. Oh, and it’s $ 8.
It is one of the BEST sandwiches I have ever had. Top it off with knowledgeable and friendly service and voila! Repeat customer.
OBLIGATORY CATCHY REMARK
Where to go if you can’t get into Lawrence for brunch. The thing is I could have gotten into Lawrence for brunch but this was a cheaper option. Quicker too!

I used to live in Texas, studied there for a while, and often you’d see these t-​shirts that said «F… you, we’re from Texas». I hated those at the time; such an ostentatious stupid macho display of bravado. Yet now I get what they were saying: we’re proud of our ultra-​conservative gun-​toting abortion opposing gay-​bashing redneckdom. Ok, I still hate those t-​shirts and what they stand for, but the point is, when you have something you love, and that’s as good or better than anywhere else, and in the aforementioned categories Texas was as good or better than anywhere else, you flaunt it. Montréal, atten-​shun! You have in Boucherie Lawrence an artisanal butcher named Marc — a former stock broker who said «screw this, I’d rather kill and dismember animals», and who studied at the great Fleisher’s in NYC — one of the great butcher shops in the world. Where else on this island do you get, when you ask for ground beef, a guy who goes into the meat locker, pulls out a side of dry aged beef, and starts carving what will be your ground beef off the chuck, cutting out the seams, and then grinding it bespoke to your order? And where else do they also have homemade sausage, crispy pigs ear, homemade rillette and pâté, great local produce, and in general beautiful locally sourced meat, also in a hyper-​clean and inviting space, with attention to detail all-​around? That’s right — you’d have to go back to Fleisher’s in NYC to find anything like this anywhere near close to Montréal. But why would you go there, when you can get it here? Exactly, because of a growing number of places like this that completely kick ass, we could now safely say, «F… you, we’re from Montréal», but for thankfully very different reasons than those in Texas.

Beautiful meat products from well raised animals in local farms. The head butcher Marc is awesome and very helpful. Great sandwiches too.

I passed by at the end of day hungry and disappointed that they were out of the sandwiches I’d heard about, but when I asked the owner for suggestions on what I could eat asap she immediately said: ribs. Yes. One bag of smoked ribs to go please. The bag cost $ 12 and she threw in a full loaf of sourdough bread.
Let’s stop for a second and talk about how hard it is to find actual sour dough in Montréal. It ain’t easy to get the proper sour flavour you taste in SF and think about for ages afterwards. But the boucherie bread is perfect. It’s certainly not what they’re all about (the sausages! the steaks! oh my!) which makes the perfection of it all the more noteworthy and appreciated.
The ribs though the ribs — dry smoked, sweet with a crackling heat… ideal for picnics.

The good, good people at Lawrence (the restaurant) have now opened a «boucherie de quartier» and they’ve hit the ground running. The space is airy, minimal, and beautiful, the coolers are fully stocked (chicken, lamb, pork, beef, sausages, charcuterie, smoked fish), the walk-​in features a huge, full-​length window so you can check out their lovely stock in all its glory, the prep area is open and brightly lit, and they’re offering sandwiches that are already among the very best in all of Mile End (if not beyond). Today’s choices included smoked ham, roast beef, and porchetta, and they all came fully loaded on house-​baked bread or rolls. Other pluses include house-​made yogurt, free-​range eggs, and my absolute favourite Canadian cheese: PEI’s Avonlea cloth-​bound cheddar. Good coffee, too. And all of this was on Day 1. By the weekend of Week 1 they’d added a beautiful roasted chicken sandwich with cucumbers and capers (weekends only) and some plump, sweet, and briny Green Gables oysters (P.E.I.) to the mix, and I’d already had two great experiences with their grass-​fed, grain-​finished beef. Quite a start! Can’t wait to see where things go from here.