Cantor Bakery memories live on in fine products and stellar service

When I was older, my girlfriend’s dad, the late Philip Migicovsky, owned a Cantor in a strip mall on de Salaberry and I worked for him weekends for one glorious year during which I snacked my way through his éclairs, mocha squares and milles feuilles on my breaks.

Alas, Cantor is today a far less imposing presence on the retail scene, with 20 stores in Montreal and Ottawa, down from 60, although they do sell their labelled products to supermarkets. But you do still come across a Cantor here and there... I personally patronize the one in downtown Gare Centrale owned by two Tehran-born brothers from Cote Saint-Luc, Payman and Pejman (a.k.a. PJ, or “Abs” due to his fit physique) Hedayati. “We were working at Cote St. Luc’s Famous Delly Boys and this opportunity came up six years ago in September, to take over a Cantor that has been around since the 1970s,” Payman told me.

When his wife Laurie came on board, she was soon popular with clients. “We know many customers by name and when our daughter Kayla was born this past Canada Day many brought presents for the baby... I was very surprised and touched.”

The Hedayatis have taken the authentic Cantor experience and updated it with new products, like the cheese bagels from Delly Boys so popular with even Quebecois clients. “But our pastries are Cantor items and Cantor traditional Jewish breads like kimmel, rye, pumpernickel and black Russian are found here, the only spot in the area. Clients love these,” Payman said. “We also make sandwiches using ‘matzah’ at Passover time.”

He added that the store offers “efficient, fast service with good food at reasonable prices.” I wholeheartedly agree with this assessment.

One consistent presence at Cantor remains Max Cantor, son of founder Samuel. I remember him well, as he and “Fishel” Migicovsky would often banter on the phone, occasionally arguing over some fine point, although always with good humour and respect. Now 77 and semi-retired, Cantor is still involved with the company he has since sold to several former employees. We spoke last week and he admitted he sold because it had become too hard to control the independent stores. “Everyone wanted to do their own thing,” he said. He also reminisced about the good old days, including how his father had started with a business selling sweets and how Max had expanded it into baked goods (“We sold many wedding and birthday cakes in those days”), how the family had owned the Bucharest establishment across from Moishe’s from the 1930s till the mid 1950s, as well as a popular inn in the Laurentians that carried the family name.

I had to ask who was responsible for the iconic poster of a toothless, grinning Eskimo munching on a Cantor bagel with the words “You don’t have to be Jewish to enjoy Cantor bagels” on it. “I was,” he said. “We found an actual aborigine from Frobisher Bay at the Montreal General recuperating from a broken arm and offered him some money to pose for the poster.”

The rest, as they say, is history, as whimsically nostalgic – or “shappy” - as it may be. Cantor, I’ll always love ya!