The Cardinal Tea Room will make you feel like British royalty
“One lump, or two?”
That was the first thing to enter my mind as my roommate and I reached the top of the narrow staircase and took in the Cardinal Tea Room on St-Laurent for the first time. Plush, jewel-toned Victorian sofas, worthy of a Downton Abbey set, were complemented by antique trunks in place of tables and a large chandelier in the centre of the tea room. It was a real salon, accompanied by easy-listening soft jazz and folky classics playing in the background. It smelled like coming home to my grandmother’s apple crumble, and was warm enough to combat the fall chill outside instantly. It wasn’t too crowded. It wasn’t too loud. I was in love… And then I saw the prices on the menu.
Photo by Andrej Ivanov.
The menu is chock full of some of my favourite traditional British fare: scones, clotted cream, muffins and a variety of teas including English breakfast, Norfolk breakfast, Irish breakfast and lavender Earl Grey. There were also a few green, white, oolong and rooibos options, though naturally none of those lists compared to the more traditional British black teas. The prices ranged from $4.50 for a two-cup teapot to $8.50 for a six-cup teapot.
There were also sandwiches and savoury dishes relatively well-priced at $5, but then again these were really only cream cheese and cucumber on some bread. Despite that, however, my roommate and I bought one of their savoury muffins (bacon, thyme and cheddar) and a blueberry scone, which comes with jam and butter. Clotted cream is an extra dollar, making this tea-time snack $5 in all its glory. At first, I was a little skeptical of paying $9 for a muffin and scone and, once they arrived, slightly warmed on adorable, delicate plates, I couldn’t help thinking how small the muffin looked.
My other critique is that while the scone came with butter, the muffin did not. It was a little dry and some added butter from the scone’s plate improved it. Despite its size, however, it was quite filling and the consistency, apart from its dryness, was really nice. The blueberry scone, it was decided, tasted like something your grandma would bring over for breakfast. It was good, but it wasn’t the best scone we’d ever had.
The tea, however, made all the difference. I think I’d like to take a bath in the Cardinal’s lavender Earl Grey. Often when you infuse teas with other flavours, the blend doesn’t work as nicely, or it overpowers the original tea. The lavender Earl Grey was a perfect blend of the two. It was mild enough that you could drink it with or without milk or sugar. Easily the perfect tea and, despite my original skepticism about the price, definitely worth the money to split a large pot with someone.
At the end of the day, the Cardinal Tea Room is a lovely little spot in Mile End. It’s the sort of place you take a first date you want to impress, or where you go when your snobby friend from Toronto comes to town and you want them to feel terrible about the fact that they don’t live in Montreal. Either way, I’ll definitely be going back again.
Cardinal Tea Room is located at 5326 St Laurent Boul.
The buzz about the Hive has been circulating through the Loyola Campus for years. At long last, the Concordia co-op opened for business yesterday, Monday Sept. 29, on the second floor of the Student Center (SC) building.
The opening was an informal affair, with doors opening at 10 a.m. and staff welcomingly ushering in their eager new customers with free coffee and an expansive menu, which highlights organic and local fare.
“Today was just a friendly little meet and greet,” said Fiona Keats, the coordinator at Loyola campus’ Hive. “In the fall we hope to have a big first Hive bash.”
Photo by Sara Baron-Goodman
A large part of the purpose of Monday’s humble event was to encourage member sign-up. As a co-op, the organization runs on a volunteer basis largely supported by the Concordia student body. Membership costs $5, lasts a lifetime, and garners you 10 per cent off of everything at the café. Members are encouraged to offer suggestions and get involved as much as they can or want to in order to keep the Hive running.
“Not everything is 100 per cent sustainable yet,” said Keats. “But that’s the ultimate mission.”
For now, they do the best they can, until more opportunities become available from community sources.
“Some stuff is local, some is organic,” she said. “We try to, in everything we buy, have at least one element of sustainability in it.”
At the very least, they’re transparent. Information on where each specific menu item comes from is designated on the wall by the cash register.
For now, that includes loose-leaf teas from Concordia’s City Farm School, fresh sprout salad from the Concordia Greenhouse, local Quebec apples, and sandwiches from Côte-des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-de-Grâce’s Café Zephyr, which has a farm-to-table model.
Also on the menu are gourmet scones, fresh-baked muffins, an incredibly hearty vegan chili, and grilled cheese on organic sprout bread.
The Hive also sponsors a lunchtime program, where they offer free vegetarian lunches (while supplies last) to anybody who visits.
In both cases, only the continued support of volunteers and members limits costs and allows them to affordably sustain such programs.
Their sprawling space has an abundance of room to sit and eat, or just hang out — stop by the SC building and see for yourself.
Concordia co-op invites you to come in and shop or just sit and stay awhile.
“Are you a member of the co-op?”
Good news is, as a Concordia student, you automatically are. Members, in addition to being vital parts of the community that keeps the co-op running, also benefit from 20 per cent off everything in store.
Minutes after opening the doors, Ms. Forti alternates between serving customers and stocking the chip shelves.
It’s the coffee that draws in the first clients. The co-op’s members are mostly students, and at 50 cents to fill a reusable cup, it’s cheap.
Photo by Sara Baron-Goodman.
Le Frigo Vert doesn’t exist to make a profit. It began over 20 years ago as a bulk food buying group and expanded to a store where it can best serve its mandate: provide affordable, organic food and environmentally-friendly products to students on campus. They keep their mark-ups low and their shelves stocked.
By the time the doors have been open for half an hour, the store has a steady stream of customers buying everything from sprouting seeds to organic cotton tampons. The convenient location just steps away from the Hall building, good prices, and high quality products are what bring in members.
It’s not just their regular weekly groceries that members can buy here.
“There aren’t a lot of spaces downtown where you can just hang out without having to buy anything,” Forti said. The co-op’s back room fills that need. Boasting a kitchen to heat up your lunch, a fully stocked bookshelf to peruse, and a newly renovated seating area, the lounge space is also home to workshops throughout the year.
“It’s fun to work in a store that also has a mandate to put on a workshop series every year,” Forti said. Past events have included anti-colonial dinners, DIY lotion and cosmetics workshops, and information on herbal remedies. Planning for this year’s workshop schedule is underway.
Le Frigo works with organizations around the city dedicated towards important causes such as food justice and the fight against poverty. In the summer months, it’s a drop-off point for local farms’ Community Supported Agriculture baskets. Leftover vegetables are purchased from the farms and sold in the co-op.
The clientele at le Frigo Vert is mostly made up of students. Since they are a fee-levy group, Concordia students are automatically members. Membership for non-Concordia students costs $15 per year.
The community feel of the place is apparent. This isn’t a store that’s set out to pay for a CEO’s yacht. “We’re a collective,” Forti said. “So many people rely on us for their groceries. It’s really important that we have what they need when they need it.”
If you’re interested in getting involved, send an email to yesfrigo@gmail.com. They regularly hold volunteer orientations.
Are you craving authentic Italian gelato and fresh baked goods, or just a cozy place to sit with a cup of coffee while you catch up on your homework? If so, look no further than 2 Sorelle Gelato Café.
Situated on Amherst Street in Montreal’s Gay Village, 2 Sorelle was founded by sisters Cynthia and Jessica Colati this past summer.
The Colati sisters didn’t always dream of opening a gelato shop. Jessica, a buyer for a fashion label, and Cynthia, an accounting clerk for a construction company, were inspired after jokingly brainstorming ways they could be their own bosses and make a lot of money.
“We were coming up with ridiculous ideas,” said Cynthia. “Like, let’s just marry a rich man, or let’s create this insane makeup line.”
Photo by Keith Race.
A few weeks after their conversation, Jessica brought up opening a gelato shop, like their parents always wanted to do. Still thinking her sister was joking, Cynthia told her to look into it, and if it was possible, they could try. After getting together for coffee and going over the numbers, she realized, “Oh my god! We can do this!”
A few months later, 2 Sorelle, Italian for “two sisters,” was brought to life.
With so many gelato shops opening around Montreal as of late, it’s difficult to stand out from the crowd. For Cynthia, what sets 2 Sorelle apart from the rest is not only their array of unique gelato flavours (like peach bellini, Nutella, lemon granita, and a brand new pumpkin spice flavour), but also their dedication to making sure each customer feels welcome.
So what’s on the menu? Besides their homemade gelato — you’re encouraged to try as many flavours as you want — they also offer fresh gourmet paninis and salads, coffee beverages (including the new Nutella latte), Nutella brownies, cronuts, and a variety of other baked goods.
And for those of us who have some trouble getting through those tough Monday mornings, 2 Sorelle even offers a Monday special with $1 coffees and $2.50 lattes and cappuccinos.
“It felt like your friends were working behind the counter,” frequent client and Concordia student Michael Chaar said. “They would strike up conversations with you, ask you about yourself, and make the experience a rather fun one.”
With its brightly-coloured, cozy environment and abundance of comfort food, 2 Sorelle is the perfect spot for a lazy day or an afternoon study session.
Even though the business is still fresh, Cynthia has her sights set on the future. With hopes of becoming a major gelato distributor in the next two years and opening a second store within the next five, there are no plans to slow down anytime soon.
The much-anticipated homegrown cafe aims to provide sustainable food to students
What’s better on a crisp fall day than a warm bowl of chili or a grilled cheese sandwich on sprout bread? Picking it up on your way to class from a café where you are part owner.
This is the opportunity being given to Concordia students this year with the opening of The Hive Solidarity Cooperative. The Hive is the result of an ongoing project, which has already lasted many years. All the planning finally paid off when, in the Concordia Student Union (CSU) by-elections last fall, 87 per cent of students voted in favor of starting a student-run, nonprofit cooperative on the second floor of the Hall building.
The result of this vote is the café itself, the purpose of which is “not only to provide sustainable food on campus, but to have a food provider on campus that students can engage themselves in and have a direct say in,” said Jessica Cabana, Vice President of Sustainability with the CSU.
This business plan leads to two huge benefits for students.
First, it allows the Concordia population to own and have a say in what they want from a homegrown café. Membership to the co-op costs five dollars and lasts a lifetime. Benefits for members include a tantalizing 10 per cent rebate off of everything in store. Concordia’s community has been eager to join the coalition, adding over 1,000 new members in the first two weeks of the academic year.
Second, it will aim to introduce sustainable foods into the diets of Concordians. At present, their sustainable food options are rather limited, with the exception of the excellent sprout salad grown in Concordia’s greenhouse. As a result, many items on the menu are brought in from outside caterers. The goal is to move towards more sustainable food, as the current catered items are not. According to Cabana this is only temporary, as The Hive will move gradually towards a self-catered food model as opportunities become available.
In the meantime, the food and drink will remain of high quality and reasonable price. The reason for this, Cabana said, is that the Hive is “for the people, not the profit.”
Already the co-op has been showing these words to be true in their involvement with the Loyola luncheon program. The luncheon program provides free vegetarian lunches on campus for students in need, similar to the People’s Potato initiative but for the Loyola campus.
The café’s work thus far this session has been impressive for such a young organization, but their work is far from over. On Sept. 29 at 10 a.m., The Hive will open the doors of its second location, on the second floor of the Student Center at the Loyola Campus, which is in the SC building.
With a location open on each campus The Hive will offer the Concordia community the unique opportunity to celebrate what we can do as a group, to watch a café grow and blossom, and to be a part of it every step of the way.
Grand opening of The Hive Solidarity Cooperative is on Sept. 29 2014, 10 a.m. For more information, go to:
A varied mix of student biologists, designers, artists and the occasional performative gastronomists showcased unique research last Wednesday at the first-ever Individualized Program research exposition (INDI).
Six master’s students and 11 PhD students were selected to present their work to the Concordia community, with such titles as “The Performative Cocktail: Food Making as Representation Methodology.”
“I couldn’t be more thrilled with how it turned out,” Dr. Ketra Schmitt, director of the INDI program, said. “We were able to get support from all over the university.”
The program, which has existed for over 20 years, supports graduate students working towards earning a master’s or PhD via unusual interdisciplinary research.
“The majority of students who come to us have an idea that is just so weird that it won’t fit anywhere else,” Schmitt said.
Take Adam van Sertima’s PhD work, which uses the Microsoft Kinect technology of motion-sensors on determining whether there is an actual person on the other side of a contest of tug-of-war.
“I spent a lot of my life pulling stumps out of the ground,” van Sertima said. “You try pulling a stump out and you say, ‘Oh, I got it,’ and then the stump pulls back! We anthropomorphize everything.”
Van Sertima hopes to develop a toolkit for game developers to use to address these kinds of problems, but that they aren’t necessarily the point behind the project. “The interesting stuff that I’m doing is not just the end product, but the methodology, because nobody is doing this,” he said.
The ability to work outside of disciplinary borders is exactly why Shea Wood applied to the program. Wood, a drama therapist and PhD student, is researching how performance art married with focus groups can help viewers understand different family life experiences.
Her performances are based on real experiences, which she believes may influence how viewers perceive performances.
“When I applied, I was having a hard time finding a place where my research fit because it’s not in a box,” she said. “I needed somewhere to go that I actually would feel like I actually fit in, and INDI is that place.”
It is also a place for students who want to do research in an area that Concordia does not yet offer, and may just lead to a new branch of inquiry. Concordia’s PhD programs in biology and math are the results of the INDI program, according to INDI program coordinator Darlene Dubiel.
There’s even a home for linguistics here. Ivanna Richardson is currently doing her master’s degree in the INDI program with a Farsi linguistics project when it came to certain grammatical constructs.
Richardson hopes her work will show that existing parameters in syntactic theory are not specific enough to account for Farsi’s flexibility.
“INDI can only exist with incredible institutional support,” Schmitt said of the challenges behind the triumphs. The Faculties of Engineering and Computer Science, Arts and Science, and Fine Arts all contributed to the research exposition, as well as the Office of the Vice President, Research and Graduate Studies and several research centres. Schmitt also underscored the ‘incredible’ staff support needed to make things happen.
Students in the INDI program have also received support and grants from external organizations such as the Canada Council for the Arts.
Five prizes were awarded during the exposition – two each for the master’s and PhD students and one for the People’s Choice.
Qian Qian Zhou won first place for the master’s students for a presentation focusing on how a difficult childhood can modify oxytocin receptor genes, while Nikolaos Chandolias was the master’s runner-up for his project on orbital resonance.
The first place prize for PhD students was given to Morgan Raucher, who researches how machines influence the way we work with and interact with materials while creating sculptures. The runner-up prize was awarded to Erin O’Loughlin who studied how young adults use exercise-oriented video games.
For more information on INDI, visit concordia.ca/offices/sgs/individualized.html.
New specialty bacon restaurant on Beaubien Street is better in theory than in practice
Ah, bacon: the food that transcends simple culinary appreciation. Bacon has become an internet and cultural phenomenon, with bacon bookmarks, bacon t-shirts and – at long last – bacon bars.
In theory, Bar Brutus’s local beer, good cocktails and bacon as far as the eye can see sound like a dream come true. Decorated as it is with a vibe devoted to old barber shops, and having a monopoly over Quebec’s bacon vodka supply, you’d think it would be hard to dislike Brutus.
But somehow, they managed to make it possible.
Walking in, the bar is absolutely beautiful. The ceiling is covered in stylized tin tiles, with exposed brick along one wall, hardwood floors and beautiful antique lamps hanging from the ceiling. The exposed vents give a touch of that modern, industrial look. Topped off with warm lighting and purple accents, Bar Brutus is a gorgeous establishment.
Unfortunately, that is where my appreciation ended.
If the first thing you notice is the stunning décor, then the second is the noise. I’m no amateur when it comes to bars, but last time I checked, blaring music was typically reserved for clubs. I don’t think I would have been so bothered if the music fit the bar’s gentlemanly vibe – Classical? Jazz? 1960s crooners? – but what I got instead was pop and club music. After we were seated, my companion and I each had to lean halfway over the thin table to hear each other – and even then, it was touch and go.
Know what made it even worse? Screaming. Apparently, Bar Brutus has private rooms in the back. I don’t know what was happening back there, but every couple of minutes a chorus of women would start to holler. Imagine what a drunken bachelorette party must sound like, and you have a reasonable approximation. In a small bar like that, the sound was impossible to escape. Why the management didn’t ask them to be quiet, I will never know.
Still, with bacon waiting for us, we were not to be deterred. We ordered three main courses for the two of us: the KD balls, the bacon sushi and their famous Jaegermeister poutine.
Unfortunately, I felt that all three could be summed up in a single word: average. The KD balls (made of deep fried macaroni and cheese) was simply what was advertised. The quality of the mac ‘n cheese wasn’t great, and made me wish they had used actual Kraft Dinner.
The bacon sushi was the dish I was particularly excited for, but I was disappointed to find the bacon was pink and nearly raw. In addition, none of the ingredients inside the sushi had been changed to complement the bacon: shockingly, raw bacon and traditional Japanese ingredients don’t go well together.
As for the poutine – well, I can think of many places in Montreal where you can get a better one. The sauce tasted a little too strongly of Jaegermeister for me, and the cheese curds were too sparse. I couldn’t even taste the bacon that was supposedly inside.
Each main course was $10, tax included, and the drinks were affordable (although a Coke will run you $5). With the exception of my waitress, the wait staff seemed extremely competent, and I often relied on them, flagging them down to take my order. I only met my waitress when she brought me the bill, and then she was surly and rude.
All in all, I was happy to stumble back outside onto Beaubien. I don’t think I will ever return to Bar Brutus – they, simply put, did not bring home the bacon.
Buffalo Bill won’t blow you away
by Robin Stanford
Frites Alors! – Buffalo Bill $12
Photo by Robin Stanford
The Buffalo Bill burger from Frites Alors!, made with a beef and bison patty, has potential but unfortunately it falls short.
The first thing you notice is the sauce and toppings. It tastes fresh and creamy without being overpowering. After the second or third bite, the taste of bison starts to poke through, similar to beef but slightly gamy. Although quite pleasant in itself, the meat falls short as the patty itself is rather dry. When paired with the overpowering sauce, it lacks the balance of a great burger.
All the elements to make an exquisite burger are there but simply don’t come together to make something special. Hopefully the next time the Buffalo Bill is placed on the menu, it will be revamped so as to let the meat shine.
6/10
Sometimes you eat the burger, and sometimes the burger eats you
by Sara Baron-Goodman
Burger Bar – The Dude, $14
Photo by Sara Baron-Goodman
Last year, Burger Bar on Crescent Street won the People’s Choice Award for their Burger Week delicacy, The Hangover Burger. This year, I was anxious to see if The Dude burger, inspired by The Big Lebowski’s titular character, would live up to the restaurant’s former glory.
The Dude’s patty was a triple threat ̶ made with AAA beef, pork, AND veal, it was a carnivore’s wet dream. The meat was tender and flavourful, and was the shining component of the dish (as it should be).
The burger was topped with Burger Bar’s homemade ketchup, Monterey Jack and Mozzarella cheeses, and crispy fried onions.
The texture of the crunchy onions was a nice contrast to the juicy, melt-in-your-mouth cheeseburger, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The Dude was a great take on a classic burger, made gourmet by the three-meat patty and house ketchup. However, it did lack creativity, especially compared to Burger Bar’s winning burger last year, which was topped with a fried egg, truffle oil, caramelized onions, bacon, and a mini poutine. Fortunately, the Hangover burger is still on the menu.
8/10
Return of the Mac is not your average burger
by Robin Stanford
Lucky’s Truck – Return of the Mac, $10.00:
Photo by Robin Stanford
Return of the Mac is the ultimate comfort food. It starts with a patty, consisting of homemade macaroni and cheese, encased within a crispy coating. Although not what one would typically think of as a burger, the addition of coleslaw, tomatoes, bacon, and spicy mayo certainly make it feel like one. This is not due to the fact that such toppings are typically found on a hamburger, but rather the overall blend these elements bring.
What makes Lucky’s offering the perfect burger is its texture. At once the Mac is both soft to bite into yet still retains a satisfying crunchiness. The mixture of sensations provides the illusion of a juicy burger without any meat patty being present.
Currently it is unknown if the Return of the Mac will be a permanent feature on Lucky Truck’s menu. All that we know is that this is one of the most creative burgers out there. Whoever the mad genius that thought it up is, hopefully we will get to see even more creative food combinations from Lucky’s soon!
9/10
Le Majestique BB is burger royalty
by Nicole Yeba
Hinnawi Bros Bagel & Café – Le Majestique BB, $9.99
Photo by Nicole Yeba
This majestic dish known as the Bagel Burger offers a spin on the classic burger with the buns replaced with a sesame bagel.
The sandwich is a triple decker, with two slices of Swiss cheese, a homemade patty, confit onions, roasted tomatoes, lettuce, and spicy garlic mayonnaise, accompanied by a little plastic cup filled with their secret maple meat house sauce placed between three bagel halves. Their secret house sauce impressed me — it was a nice little touch for those of us with a sweet tooth. The burger is served with chips and small pickles.
The best thing about this burger is that it was not too heavy, even though the buns were replaced by bagels. You can also add extras to the burger for an additional cost.
The burger was available at Hinnawi Bros Bagel & Café located at 372 Sherbrooke East in the middle of Quartier Latin.
This burger was inspired by the Greek dish moussaka. Moussaka is traditionally made with layers of meat, eggplant and tomato. Zoe’s version has minced beef meat, fried “saganaki” (a Greek fried appetizer) cheese, grilled eggplant and slow-roasted cherry tomatoes. The bottom of the burger has oregano garlic fries and is topped with a cheesy “Mythos” beer beignet.
This humongous burger is not easy to eat as a whole. Most of the fries fell out as I was taking bites so I ended up eating them before and leaving some aside. The flavours of the burger worked well with the fried cheese, meat and vegetables. Some fine herbs garnished the burger over the cherry tomatoes, adding a hint of spice.
I put the beer beignet aside to savour as a dessert. The beignet was light, contrary to appearances. You can taste a bit of the beer flavour and more melted cheesiness. It was a good way to end the meal.
I really enjoyed this burger, which was different from typical American style burgers. I love Greek food so I knew I was going to enjoy this Greek version of a burger.
The burger was available at La Sandwicherie Zoe’s located at 8855 ave du Parc and at Zoe’s Food Truck, which travels around the city.
Let’s give them something to taco about by Michelle Gamage
Students searching for authentic and affordable Mexican food near campus rejoice; Tacos is here.
Photo by Michelle Gamage
Serving up a small homemade menu packed full of fresh ingredients is husband and wife Roberto and Karla Ocampo, owners and chefs of Tacos, a nook-in-the-wall restaurant on Westminster Ave. North, located five minutes from Loyola on foot. “In Mexico, you don’t go to school to learn how to cook. It’s just something you know since you’re small,” said Mexican-born Karla. The skills she’s honed since she was a little bambina show. Get one softshell taco with cilantro, melt-in-your-mouth marinated meat and guacamole for $3, or three for $8.
Vegetarian options are available too. Bring some change with you because it’s cash only. The duo has been in the restaurant industry most of their lives, but decided to open a small taco shop this past February. “Tacos are a good idea for a snack,” said Roberto. And snack you should. The marinated pork and fresh sausage tacos are the top sellers, but students should sample the entire menu before declaring their favourite. “We keep a small menu because we want to keep things fresh,” said Karla, so it won’t take you long to sample the works. Three tacos is a decent lunch, and six would be a sizable dinner. For their fresh, tasty, and affordable menu Tacos receives five stars.
Open daily for lunch and dinner. 30 Westminster Ave. North.
Café X will exceed your expectations by Robin Stanford
Café X is one of the SGW campus’ best kept secrets, beloved for the $1 coffee (when you bring your own mug) and earl grey cake. This student-run, non-profit business is devoted to providing friendly service and delicious food at a good price.
Photo by Robin Stanford
The Café can be found at two locations on the SGW campus, one in the Visual Arts building (VA-229), the other in the EV building (EV 7.750). The Visual Arts location features a small serving counter and a large sitting area. The cozy lounge boasts comfortable seating and lots of natural light—ideal for getting some work done or relaxing with friends—not to mention there is also an art gallery next door where you can take in the latest exhibit. The EV location is a little out of the way and is better suited as a take-out counter than a café. The Café is usually filled with a steady stream of regulars who make this homeyspot their own. In addition to coffee, Café Xoffers an ever-changing variety of baked goods and hot plates. Over 14 local businesses and Concordia students cater for the café, giving it a selection you won’t soon bore of. All items on sale are vegetarian, with many vegan and gluten free options as well.
Visit Café X at EV 7.750 or VA-229. Opening hours: Monday to Thursday 8:45am to 8:00pm, Friday 8:45am to 5:00pm (EV) ; Monday 8:45am-7pm/Friday 8:45am-4pm (VA).
*note: Café X will be under progressive return hours for the first two weeks of session. They will close at 4 and 5 pm the first week, 5 and 6 pm the second week. Full hours will take effect the week of Sept 15th*
Let Totem Tea and Spice spice up your life by Sara Baron-Goodman
Photo by Sara Baron-Goodman
Just a short walk away from the Loyola Campus, Totem Tea and Spice is an inviting and scrumptious lunch spot.
With a selection of over 65 loose-leaf teas, all of which are completely organic, there’s a hot cuppa to suit just about anybody’s palate. Of course, if you prefer your tea served on the rocks or as a latte, that can also be done. Lunch offerings and desserts change daily, all of which are prepared with ingredients from local Canadian suppliers. When the weather starts to turn cold, Totem’s hearty soups are the perfect way to warm up (accompanied by tea and a scone, of course). Until then, you can’t go wrong with their burritos, salads, or sinfully sweet desserts. With its eclectic décor and no shortage of delicious snacks, Totem is the perfect spot to unwind, study, or just to chat. Like it’s written on their blackboard on the wall, “love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea.”
Totem Tea and Spice is open Monday to Saturday from 10:30am to 5pm. 51 Westminster Ave. North.
Burritoville brings it with veggie-friendly mexican grub by Steph Ullman
The downtown core is not known for its wide selection of freshly-prepared, fast meals that can easily be purchased on the go between classes. Amidst a sea of grease, sodium, and broken dreams, Burritoville is an oasis for those who love real food.
Photo by Steph Ullman
This homey joint offers its patrons much-loved comfort food like burritos, quesadillas, and tacos —all of which are made almost exclusively with locally-sourced organic ingredients, totally homemade, and sure to satiate a hungry student’s shameless appetite. Completely vegetarian and very vegan-friendly, you can make any of the above-mentioned options into a trio for less than 15 bucks—just over 10 if you’re feeling like a combo.
Expect a rainbow of beans, pico de gallo, guacamole, and sweet potatoes, bundled inside whichever mexican wrap is your favourite. In the evenings, Burritoville lends the floor to a host of different shows and exposés that unfold in the restaurant’s dining room, from poetry readings to live music shows and more, giving your mealtime some additional local zest.
Burritoville is open daily from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. 2055 Bishop.
Café Myriade serves up a myriad of coffee choices by Frédéric T. Muckle
Just next to Concordia’s downtown campus on Mackay Street is one little gem of a coffee place. Café Myriade is a small and relaxed café very much appreciated by Concordia’s students and the neighbourhood at large.
Cafe Myriade offers to its clientele an excellent selection of coffees, including an always-changing coffee and espresso of the day, and a small selection of food available for take-out.
Photo by Frédéric T. Muckle
A mix of old-school hits, indie music and hip-hop gives Café Myriade the laid back ambiance that we all love in a coffee place. Also, for those few cherished months without snow, the place has its own terrace – pretty convenient for the average sun-loving student typing up a last minute assignment. One odd thing about the café is that it does not have its own Wi-Fi; instead, people will have to try and connect with the weak signal coming from the university. Still, the smiling employees, the cool-looking prizes decorating the place and the delicious lattes will convince most people coming to Café Myriade to return for another cup.
In this district filled with generic syrup-filled-coffee producing places, it is nice to have a café where you can get a quality allongé.
Café Myriade is open Monday to Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., and on weekends from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. 1432 Mackay Street.
Italian fare like your nonna makes it by Sara Baron-Goodman
Photo by Sara Baron-Goodman
Trattoria Micco’s is the cozy, mom-and-pop shop that provides the answer to your cravings for traditional Italian comfort food.
Their menu is classic Italian fare—all their pastas and sauces are homemade and prepared daily. The meat lasagna is especially mouth-watering for the carnivores out there (the vegetarian counterpart is just as good too, not to fret). Other menu items include empanadas, pizzas, sandwiches, and baked goods (try the brownie!).
Their specialty coffees will be sure to put a kick in your step—as we all know, Italians take their espresso seriously.
Everything on the menu is available to eat in or take out, but if you do choose to eat in, beware of the onslaught of high school kids from Royal West Academy who usually show up around 12:30 p.m. and take over the place.
Trattoria Micco’s is open Monday to Friday from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. (perfect to grab an espresso before your early morning class) and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. 48 Westminster Ave. North, Côte-Saint-Luc.
Check out the locations of these awesome places right here :
Some food trucks have refused to let winter get in the way of their new relationship with Montreal. While you can catch some trucks parked in and around the city, food truck owners Pascal Salzman, Jared Dunawa, and Ketan Patel of Le Cheese decided to put a different spin on their tasty wheels during the colder months.
Press photo
Le Cheese has opened a pop-up restaurant at Cosmos in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. A pop-up restaurant is a temporary solution for food trucks where they get permission from restaurant owners to rent some space and serve up their dishes.
“[We] approached a few breakfast restaurants with the proposal to rent their space in the evenings and use their equipment and to cook our food,” explained Salzman.
Cosmos is open for breakfast during the day, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., after that, the space is ready for Le Cheese to do business.
The concept of a pop-up restaurant came from Montreal food truck, Grumman 78, who had their own pop up at Nouveau Palais. After its success, “we figured we’d give it a shot,” said Salzman. Even in the winter, party-goers are looking for a late night food option. That, along with the familiarity of the NDG area, helped Le Cheese move indoors.
“Having a pop-up restaurant gives us a chance to offer customers a sit down experience,” said operations/marketing manager, Benjamin Carter.
After the great response they received this past summer, the team wanted to keep that same momentum without having clients wait in the cold, explains Carter.
Dunawa and Salzman have been regulars at Cosmos, and couldn’t think of a better place to call home for the winter.
“We were extremely fortunate our favorite neighborhood spot agreed to our proposal almost immediately,” said Salzman.
Owning a food truck comes with its challenges, specifically a business whose main vein runs through the summer season. For Le Cheese, one of the challenges was keeping up the energy to allow for a smooth transition come winter.
To suit the season, some winter-inspired dishes have been added to the menu. Montrealers can warm up to a parmesan-infused tomato soup, or beef chili with cheese curds. However, it was important for the owners that the menu stay more or less the same as their summer one.
“We wanted to create as many parallels as possible between the food truck and our pop-up,” said Salzman. “So only a few modifications were necessary.”
Despite the cold weather and buckets of snow, Le Cheese is among the many who understand that the life of a food truck in Montreal means adapting to the seasons. If you get hungry for food truck eats, keep an eye out for Das Food Truck and Gargantua parked around the Loyola Campus.
The Le Cheese pop-up restaurant is open at Cosmos on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m., located at 5843 Rue Sherbrooke W. Montreal.
It’s dark, it’s cool and it smells like heaven. Le Bremner, with Top Chef Canada runner-up, Danny Smiles, as the chef de cuisine and being one half of Chuck Hughes’ Crown Salts restaurant, already knows that it’s cool.
Photo by Liana Di Iorio
This place is so cool that it doesn’t carry any juice or Clamato in house, but if desired, will make some for you. For my visit, I went with a glass of Captain Morgan and the house-made cola which was so delicious I almost didn’t mind the $9 hole it burnt in the pocket of my $40 jeans.
When it comes to the menu, it’s set up in a way that you start with cold appetizers, move on to warm entrées and end with hot desserts. The signature dishes of both Crown Salts restaurants, a Chuck Hughes brand, involve fresh oysters, but the stars of the menu for this meat lover were the fried quail and the lamb neck cavatelli.
Quail is an incredibly versatile protein that is delicious any way you cook it, especially when battered, fried and served with homemade ranch dipping sauce.
While some are scared of meat that comes from anywhere that isn’t a breast, leg or butt, I embraced the palette less travelled by and was rewarded with the tenderest of tender shredded lamb neck atop my cavatelli (small, ridged pasta shells) which still has me singing its praises.
As the plates are made to share, I didn’t find myself stuffed, nor did I have to loosen my belt (a major achievement for me), which left plenty of room for what I really wanted: dessert.
When a stack of mini pancakes surrounded by a kiddie pool of sucre à la crème is served to you on a plate of china, you eat it up like it’s the Sunday before you start your new diet.
In all fairness, I am quite partial to things served on floral print plates, but those pancakes had me thinking of how I could raise funds to buy an engagement ring for whoever made them. They were pillowy, light and contrasted well with the delectable though cavity-causing sugar fudge syrup and pim’s butter.
Now, Le Bremner is not your mother’s upscale dining room. With ambient music consisting of Arcade Fire, No Doubt and The Kinks, a wait staff that I could have looked at all night, and the super-chatty Danny Smiles charming the tables with his sweetheart charisma in a baseball cap and tattoos, there is no doubt that Le Bremner is geared toward people who appreciate flavour as well as style.
La Poutine Week was a week-long festival that ran from Feb. 1 until Feb. 7 where participating restaurants created an original poutine for people to try.
Photo by Nicole Yeba
“We wanted to take a staple dish and bring it up a notch around Quebec and Canada. It sounded delicious and fun,” said Na’eem Adam, co-founder of La Poutine Week.
The second edition went well, with the extension to three cities: Québec city, Ottawa/Gatineau and Toronto. It also garnered ten times more visibility with Adam appearing on numerous television shows and with the buzz created on online media.
Adam and his team are thinking of extending the festival across Canada and eventually into the States.
“We want to make La Poutine Week and Le Burger Week perfect and strong, then we might start with pop-up festivals around things like dessert, pizza, cocktails and maybe even salad.”
Adam and his team tried all the poutines months before the festival to qualify them.
“They were all amazing, but I love it when people do something crazy like Imadake or Chez Boris,” said Adam.
Montreal had 32 restaurants participating this year. There were poutines for every taste from refined poutines to heavier ones. Some highlights include: Régine Café, which offered a breakfast poutine that featured scotch eggs. Fabergé produced an Italian poutine called La Famiglia that consisted of fries, cheese curds, italian sausage, veal meatballs and marinara sauce from Drogheria Fine. Royal Phoenix Bar had a pulled pork with green apple coleslaw poutine and Au Cinquième Péché offered a seal poutine which was made up of gnocchi, cheese curds, seal merguez, brussel sprouts and full-bodied juice. Lola Rosa Park’s poutine Lola was a combination of sweet potato fries with black beans and mushroom sauce.
Other than food, the locale also was a factor in the poutine eating experience. Poutine Centrale is a serious contender to other famous poutine places such as la Banquise and Poutineville. A rustic atmosphere reigns in the Saint-Laurent restaurant. There are large tables and small individual benches made of wood. Large sacks with the Poutine Centrale logo of 50 pounds of potatoes decorate the place. Natural light comes from the front. In the back, you can see graffiti on a wall outside through the doors that lead to a terrace.
Poutine Centrale, with two locations in the city, offered a butter chicken poutine. You can get a small one for $7.99 or a big one for $10.99. The poutine is a mix of French fries, cheese curds, butter chicken, Indian spices and cilantro. The chicken tastes creamy and buttery. The mix with the fries and poutine was interesting. Who knew an Indian poutine could exist? If you are not a fan of spices or Indian food, you will not enjoy this one. A piece of naan on the side would have been an interesting touch. Butter chicken and naan are the best combination.
La Poutine Week was an intense time for poutine lovers. I have tried ten different poutines over a week. I tried one to two per day and reviewed them. You can read my complete reviews on my blog: favetastes.wordpress.com.
