Renzo makes the case for a better sandwich shop in the Mile End

In a city that’s had more elevated sandwich counters than affordable rent listings lately, it takes a lot for a new one to register, but the freshly minted Renzo on the corner of Saint-Laurent and Fairmount? It sticks the landing.

The sign alone demands attention: hand-painted, bold, and legible from a block away. “Even if I’m not hungry, but I just read 'sandwich' from 500 metres away? Let’s go have a sandwich,” says co-founder and designer Guillaume Ménard of MRDK.

That’s sort of the point. Renzo was built to be noticed, but not in a shouty, look-at-me kind of way, but as something confident without being cocky, stylish without trying too hard, and nostalgic without slipping into cosplay.