Discovering: A Taste of Montreal on Cannon Street

Heritage. Heart. Handcrafted - Joshy’s Good Eats Delivers the Real Deal

Author

The Vibe Hamilton
November 04, 2025

A bagel with cream cheese and lox has always reminded me of trips to Montreal or NYC.

But there is no need to travel beyond Cannon Street, just West of Ottawa, for this classic sandwich - found at Joshy’s Good Eats.

This is a mom and pop local shop - they work and live in their neighbourhood.  Josh Charbonneau smokes his own fish, and his wife, Hillary Walker bakes the bagels, and their son attends school in the neighbourhood. 

You may remember Joshy’s from the downtown farmer’s market, where they were located for 4 years before opening up their own shop six months ago. 

I had a friendly conversation with Josh. “You don’t mess around with fish”, he said. “Always be safe.”  He smoked his first fish with his grandfather in Scotland and uses the Scandinavian technique Gravalax, which involves curing with kosher salt, brown sugar and gin (which helps remove the fishy taste) and then some fish are smoked. And I learnt that the word lox’s origin is Yiddish for salmon. 

I had the classic bagel (cream cheese and lox), and my friend had a wonderfully delicious combo called ‘the Purple’, which is trout cured with beets.  Of course, we shared and both were excellent, as good as Montreal and New York City in my opinion! Bagel sandwich costs range between $9-13. 

Joshy’s offers chewy bagels, many kinds of cured and smoked fish, homemade pickles, various flavours of cream cheese, drinks, and snacks. 

There is one eat-in table, but the weather was fantastic the day of our visit, so we ate outside at their picnic table and watched a steady stream of happy customers who walked out holding their precious wrapped bagels, all smiling. 

Josh’s Good Eats

1111 Cannon St E, Hamilton, ON L8R 2J5

Tel: 905-544-2772

Web (for menu & take-out): https://www.joshysgoodeats.com/

🗓️ Do you have a favourite Hamilton foodie spot that you would like to see included here? Please let us know [email protected]

Everything included in this newsletter is accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication. Sometimes the links we include pay us a referral or sponsor fee, which helps us continue to publish The Vibe at no cost to you. We will always tell you when an affiliate link is shared.

©️ 2024-5 The Vibe Hamilton | All content and information set forth above was created by Paul Copcutt for The Vibe Hamilton and is the intellectual property of this publication. It is protected under copyright law, including but not limited to “The Digital Millennium Copyright Act.” Unauthorized reproduction, distribution, or duplication of any material, in whole or in part, without express written authorization & consent, is strictly prohibited by law and may result in legal action. Violators will be subject to prosecution to the fullest extent of the law.