Summer in Montreal: Week Two

This is the 2nd in what will be a five-part series of posts from our summer in Montreal.  If you want to see the first post click here: Summer in Montreal: Week One.

This morning we woke to a clear blue sky and lots of sun. In the last 30 minutes clouds have rolled in and we are expecting thunderstorms. That pretty much sums up the changeable weather of the last week. Mostly sunny with a day or two of sometimes rain.  We had one day of Florida weather: really hot, humid, ending in a thunderstorm. But mostly it's been in the 70s and low 80s. Perfect weather for walking. And that's what we do a lot of...walk.

Favorite Walks of the Week. On our one day of hot and humid Florida weather we took to the "Underground City."  Underneath downtown Montreal is a rabbit warren of climate-controlled passageways that connect office buildings, metro stations, food courts, the main train station, shopping malls, and public spaces.  In the winter, this Underground City is well used to escape the frigid winter winds.  In the summer, it isn't as busy...but we find it a great place to still get in an explore while not sweating like we were home in Florida. 

Jerry in the Underground City

On a milder day, we walked along a portion of the Lachine Canal from Old Montreal to the up and coming (former working class neighborhood) Griffintown. 

Stadning at Lock 2 on the Lachine Canal looking back towards the Old Port of Montreal

The Story of the Lachine Canal. Montreal sits on the St. Lawrence River which drains the Great Lakes (Lake Ontario) and flows northeast to the Atlantic Ocean. 

Before the Lachine canal (built in the mid 1800s) the great Lachine Rapids was a major hazard to boats on the river. It was simply impossible for large boats to get through safely on a regular basis. 

 So in the mid 1800s, industrious Montrealers dug an 11-mile long canal from the Port in Old Montreal to Lachine (a former fur trading town.)  Over the next century the canal (and it's lock system) was enlarged and improved a number of times.

By the 1920s Montreal was the 5th largest inland port in the world and was the largest grain shipping port in the world.  All that wheat grown across the heartland of Canada was shipped by train to ports along the St Lawrence. It was put on canal barges in Lachine and taken down the canal to Montreal where it was loaded onto large ships for transport to cities all over the world. 

The building that our apartment is in was built around 1850 arond the time the Lachine Canal opened and Montreal was rapidly growing as a port city. The building would have had shops on the first floor to serve the shipping trade and warehousing on the upper floors. This engraving is of Montreal in 1889. Our building is in the center directly facing on the port. 

Ships got bigger and eventually the Lachine Canal was too narrow and the locks too short and shallow for the big "lakers" that hauled grain and other goods to and from the Great Lakes. So in the 1950, the St Lawrence Seaway (built on the other side of the river from MOntreal) was built.  The Lachine Canal closed and decayed over a number of decades.  In the late 1990s/early 2000, an effort was made to restore a portion of the locks and canal to be used for pleasure boaters.  It was very successful and once again, the Lachine Canal lives. (Along with a walking and biking path that runs the entire length of the canal).

We Love Montreal's Nature Parks. Our two favorite parks in Montreal are the Parc-des-Rapides (which sits on on of the many "legs" of the Lachine Rapids) and the Parc Bois-des-i'lle-Bizard. We visited both last week.  The Parc-des-Rapides was filled with blooming day lilies, red-winged black birds, terns fishing along the shore, herons and egrets standing amidst the reeds, and a wonderful cool breeze coming in off the river. 

Look closely and you can see a tern hovering and fishing over the rapids. 

At Parc Bois Bizard we love the long boardwalk across the wetlands filled with painted turtles, frogs, ducks, herons, rails, swallows, dragonflies, little fish, and egrets. Sometimes we'll spy a beaver dam but not this visit. 

After Walking Comes the Eating. All the walking built up an appetite.  This week's highlights were Montreal's famous smoked meat, fresh oysters and mussels, crepes, pie, and, of course, more ice cream. 

Montreal is famous for their style of smoked meat (like what we call pastrami south of the border).  The most famous spot is Schwartz's on St Laurent which we've been to many times. But this time of year (festival season) the lines out front are huge. All. Day. Long. So we slipped across the street to Le Main which has really good smoked meat sandwiches as well (and no line). 

(For a great discussion of the "war between the meats" or "what the heck is the difference between smoke meats and pastrami" check out this great blog post by Ben Jay on SeriousEats.com What's the Difference Between Smoked Meat and Pastrami?)

I love Oysters, Jerry loves mussels.  So Maestro SVP on St Laurent is the perfect ticket for us.  They will usually have about 20 different types of oysters on offer (most from the Canadian maritimes and a few from the U.S. Northeast and Canada's British Columbia.)  On Mondays, they have "all you can eat" mussels and "happy hour" Beausoleil oysters for a great price.  So that's where we headed last Monday. I tried 9 different kinds of oysters. All were great, but I once again confirmed that I'm a Northwest Oyster gal at heart...the Kuushi and Valentine oysters from British Columbia were spectacular! Yum!

And let's not forget the sweets. We made a pilgrimage to Bilboquet 
ice cream shop in the Outremont neighborhood of Montreal. FANTASTIC caramel and dark chocolate scoops.  But they didn't have strawberry that day to taste test.  Will just have to return. Darn! 

And then there was pie.  You knew I'd have to eventually get around to pie, didn't you? My favorite pie place in Montreal is Rustique Pie Kitchen in the St-Henri neigborhood. The specialize in "tiny" pies (although they offer full size pies, cookies, bar cookies, and meringues as well).  I had the meringue citron (lemon meringue), cerises (cherry), and banana split pies.  Delish!

Murals, Murals, Murals.  We've taken to getting on a bus and taking it about 2 to 3 miles away from our flat and then getting off and walking back home. Trying different routes or revisiting old favorites. What they all have in common are murals.  Big ones, little ones.  Old ones, new ones.  "Official" ones and really great graffiti. Here are some of this weeks finds: 

A Little Shopping. We continue our search for cool bookstores. Will update on the next blog.  This week we found THE COOLEST STORE for pencil, pen, and paper junkies like me.  It's called Papeterie Nota Bene on Avenue du Parc.  We found it on one of our walks after dinner.  It is one of the coolest, retro paper stores ever.  I was practically hyperventilating over the pencil, pencil sharpener, and eraser offerings (yes, I'm a bit of nerd.) Of course they had the collection of quality pens and fountain pens, but the collection of hundreds of different notebooks of all sizes, types, and colors left me almost speechless.  And don't get me going on the brightly colored portable typewriters...yes you heard me...TYPEWRITERS. Love. This. Store. 

Old and New.  Montreal is a living, breathing, modern City built on the bedrock of over almost 375 years of history.  Next year will be the City's 375th birthday and the City has got projects going everywhere to be ready to celebrate (so NEXT year's blogposts will be full of all that fun!) But it is the mix of old and new that we like so much on our walks. 

The Old Walls. In the early days of Montreal (375 years ago), the original city/fort had a wooden blockade built around it for protection.  Later that wooden wall was replaced by a stone wall that enclosed a much larger town.  It got taller and bigger as the town grew into City. Eventually the City grew far past the old walls and was no longer needed.  So the walls were torn down or built on. There are only two places you can see remnants of the wall. One is underground at the nearby Pointe -a- Calliere Museum and the other is in the grassy park of Champ-de-Mars. This photo shows what would have been the foundations of the stone walls in the early 1700s.

(side note: when they were renovating our building and enlarging the subterranean area for more parking spaces, they came across the remains of the early wall.  So we sit right on top of where the wall once was) 

More recently there was a major new hospital built not too far from us.  It was a much needed hospital associated with the University of Montreal.  There was an old church that had been vacant for many years. The Eglise St Saveur was originally built in 1865. It was demolished for the hospital construction but the portion of the church that had served as the entranced (topped by a steeple) was carefully "deconstructed" and then rebuilt on the corner of Rue St Denis and Viger. 

Whew...what a great week. Tomorrow we're off to the Eastern Townships (a rural, lake-filled countryside between Montreal and Vermont).  We're going to spend a couple of days at Lake Wassiwippi...or is that Wissiwappi?... Will come back with photos of Quebec countryside for next week's blog. 

A Bientot!

Summer in Montreal: Week One

Rue St Paul in Old Montreal 

As much as we love our home in St Pete, the heat of a Florida summer can be a bit overwhelming. So every year around the end of June, we fly north to our apartment in Montreal to escape the excessive heat and humidity. We call ourselves "reverse snowbirds." This year we're up for 6 weeks.  We have all sorts of plans most of which involve long walks and eating. We're checking out all the English Language bookstores, trying to find the best falafel, taste-testing ice cream for the best strawberry, visiting farmers markets, and exploring neighborhoods on foot. We also plan to spend 3 days in the Eastern Townships (an area between Montreal and the Vermont/NH/Maine border) in a small hotel on a lake. 

So how's it gone so far? RELAXING and delicious! First, it's a delight to be in weather that is an average 10 to 20 degrees cooler than at home.  Weather has been mostly sunny with one day of humid weather and a couple days of rain. I love to sit in my reading chair and look out my window to watch the changing sky above the St Lawrence. And I REALLY love, love, love being able to have the windows open with no screens.  The occasional fly comes in for a visit...but NO MOSQUITOS!!!

So...our favorites from our first week. 

In Search of Falafels.  We've hit three falafel places. Two we really liked. One we didn't.  Falafel Avenue on Robert Bourassa Street near McGill University was a brightly lit spot that offered four different kinds of falafel either as a plate or sandwich. They were fresh, not greasy, and quite tasty. Sumac Restaurant is our favorite so far. It's in Little Burgundy around the corner from Atwater Market. The falafel was fantastic and the pita was plump and fresh.  What set this spot apart from the pack so far was the variety of salads and side dishes. The next time I'll try the shish tawouk which looked equally as yummy. The third spot we tried was a small storefront in Old Montreal on rue Notre Dame near St Denis.  The falafels were like little hockey pucks. I forgot the name of the place as I'd like to forget that lunch all together. 

Falafel Plate at Sumac Restaurant 

Books and Books. We're primarily looking for used bookshops but have found that English bookstores tend to be a hybrid in Montreal. With the demise of the Chapters bookstore chain, all the English bookshops are independents and by necessity serve a wide variety of needs. Our favorite so far was the first we visited,  The Word Bookstore on rue Milton just off the McGill U campus.  It was a small used bookstore with fantastic values and wide selection although it's oriented primarily to literature and philosophy. The shop has operated in it's small two story building for 41 years. I laughed when a went to the desk to buy our treasures.  The desk looked as it must have looked on opening day 41 years ago. Crammed with books, a pen and paper ledger, a rotary dial phone, no computer, no credit card reader. Needless to say, it's a cash-only store. We bought 7 books for 17 dollars.  We were almost giddy with our carryall stuffed with new books to read. 

The Word Bookstore

A few days later we stopped at the Argo Bookshop on St-Catherine. The shop is about the size of a shoe box.  But we found a few treasures there as well.  The store sells new and "old" new (meaning discounted older printings) books. There is a comfy chair in the middle of the small box room perfect for browsing. They had a great shelf of travel related books, mainly memoirs, which I really liked. Jerry found a Dennis Lehane book he hadn't read yet. 

The third store we stopped at was S.W. Welch Books on St-Viateur West (just about a block from St-Viateur Bagels). This used bookstore was a little lacking on travel books but had a really good children's books section, an interesting couple of shelves on Canadiana, quite a large mystery and sci-fi collection, good literature offerings, and a great cart of "dollar" books...where Jerry found his next purchase. 

Tasting Ice Cream Thank heavens for Lactaid! My summer goal is to hit all the "must-go" ice cream shops in Montreal and maybe discover a few not yet on the map. We picked a flavor to comparison test across the board when possible. We decided on strawberry as this is strawberry season in Quebec. It there was ever a time to produce really good strawberry ice cream, this would be the time. Our fall back flavors in absence of fraise/strawberry is maple or chocolate. 

My favorite so far is La Diperie although it isn't comparable to the rest as it's style is an incredibly thick and creamy soft serve vanilla that is then dipped into one of many dipping sauces and then covered in your choice of topping(s).  The dark chocolate dipping sauce is really thick and doesn't melt too fast. I like it with crushed almonds and caramel sauce swirl on it. It's heaven. 

Ripples Ice Cream Shop on St-Laurent

We've also tried Ripples on St Laurent (across from Schwartz's smoked meat). Very good strawberry and excellent maple nut. Delices Erables on rue St Paul in Old Montreal had a decent but not stellar strawberry.  They used to have fantastic selection of gelato.  Their offerings are now more limited and more traditional ice cream than gelato style. A new spot on Place d'Armes is Xavier Artisan which offers coffee, soups/salads, pastries, and ice cream. It's a comfortable airy space and they had a good strawberry ice cream on a really nicely crispy cone. 

Good Eats.  We've eaten at home quite a bit with fresh produce, cheeses, and pates from Atwater Market and Jean Talon Market.  We also stopped by Schwartz's and picked up some smoke meat to go (as the line outside was probably an hour long) and Coco Rico's for Portuguese Rotisserie Chicken. 

Chinatown (which is really Asiatown now) is about 1/2 mile from our apartment. We really like the tiny Nouilles de Lan Zhou restaurant where they make the long delicious noodles in a storefront window and serve them in a delicious been broth with lots of vegies. Yum. 

Braised Beef Noodles at Lan Zhou in Chinatown

The MUVBOX Homard is a short walk from our apartment along the waterfront in Old Montreal.  They serve excellent lobster roll (or lobster salad roll is you are a pursuit because there IS celery in the roll) and clam chowder. Muvbox is located in a converted shipping container near Locks 1 and 2 of the Lachine Canal.  If you can't make it to Cape Cod for a lobster roll, this is a pretty excellent second choice.

Yesterday it rained all day.  We slept in and read in bed much of the day.  But finally hunger (and the need to stretch our legs) got the better of us. So we pulled out our McGill University and Cirque du Soleil umbrellas and wandered off down rue St Paul.  We were not the only people who thought sitting in a cozy restaurant on a rainy day was a good idea.  But we managed to find a quiet corner table at Les Pyrenees and enjoyed a fabulous late afternoon lunch/dinner. Jerry had mussels and I had the fish soup. DELICIOUS.  This is one of our favorite local restaurant.  They have a really excellent selection of Catalan inspired dishes.  There are a number of vegetarian items that we've tried in the past, but mainly we seem to gravitate towards the fish selections. 

FUN! Most years in late spring/early summer, the Cirque du Soleil raises their Gran Chapeau (Big Top) on one of the quays in the Old Port of Montreal.  Whenever the Cirque produces a new show, it premiers here.  Like this year.  We had the good fortune to see "Luzia" a magical show inspired by the folklore and music of Mexico. 

The Magic of Luzia

Shops.  We found a great shop, Swell Fellow on rue Notre Dame which has a great selection of  neckties, bowties, cufflinks, and purses. Some are conservative, some quite quirky, all are very well made.  Neckties are made at a sewing station in the front window and designed by one of the owners. (Reminds me of the cigar stores in Tampa where you can watch someone roll cigars in the front windows)  Almost made me wish that Jerry and Jason were wearing ties these days. 

Handmade neckties at Swell Fellow in Old Montreal 

Cats. As always, we miss our little furpals when we travel.  Fortunately in Montreal there is a cat cafe where we can get our feline fix. Cafe Chat l'Heureaux on rue Duluth is a wonderful spot to grab a bit to eat, drink a cup of coffee, read a book and play with KITTIES!  The Cafe is run in cooperation with a cat rescue organization and besides the "resident" senior cats they socialize kittens and young cats for adoption. There were four very energetic kittens the afternoon we visited. It was so much fun. 

Walking. So far we've walked all around Old Montreal, along much of Boul St Laurent, down St Catherine, on St-Viateur and Parc.  We wandered through the high energy of the Place d'Artes during the Jazz Festival and though the Gay Village during MTLenArt. We've got ourselves a Metro/STM pass, so we take the subway or a bus to distant spot and then walk back to our apartment picking different streets. St Laurent is one of our favorite streets partially for the great group of murals that are found along the route.  The street is also home to an eclectic mix of shops and restaurants. 

After 13 years of coming to Montreal we finally walked around the Mont Royal Park . The park was designed by Olmsted (of Central Park fame) and is a fix of natural areas/trails and large landscaped parkland.  It was a delight.  And we walked to the Kondiaronk Belvedere (overlook) which looks out over downtown Montreal. Frankly, I'm not sure how we never knew about this spot until a few months ago. It was a beautiful day and the belvedere was filled with happy people. 

Sunny Day at Mont Royal Park on the Kondiaronk Belvedere

The Best of the Bests for 2013

     Before 2014 gets going with a whoosh and a bang, I want to to reflect on the many traveling "bests" we enjoyed this year whether it was far afield in Montreal, along the Mississippi River, in a wintry New York City or closer to home in St Pete. Jerry and I know how fortunate we are to have the time, good health, and resources to travel the way we do and we make the most of it. But isn't just places or meals or sunset views that bring us happiness. Our travels are filled with opportunities to meet people, moments to reflect on history and culture, time to enjoy the bounty of nature, and space for reflection. It is the richness of experience that calls us to travel. 

     Here are a few "snapshots" of what we loved in our travels this past year.

Best Breakfast: We love a good breakfast to start the day whether at home or traveling. These three spots tied for honors in 2013: 

      Voula's Offshore Cafe, Seattle, WA

      Beauty's Lunchonette (since 1972), Montreal, QC

      Slim Goodies, New Orleans, LA

Best Birthday Celebration: Celebrating Canada Day (July 1) with thousands of Canadians in the Old Port of Montreal, complete with cake, bagpipers, and the swearing in of new Canadian citizens.

Best Scenic Drive: Highway 1 on the Oregon Coast on a misty day.

Best Animal Kiss: Giraffe at San Diego Safari Park (they have reeaally long tongues)

Best Oddball Museum: The Seattle Pinball Museum. For just $13 we played for hours on 50 well-maintained machines dating from the late 50s to present day. 

Best Farmers Market: Hands down:  Marche Jean Talon in Montreal. Jerry's favorite farmers market anywhere in the world. It's our first "pilgrimage" stop every time we arrive in Montreal. 

Best Pie Shop: Rustique Pie Kitchen in St. Henri neighborhood of Montreal. Delicious mini pies and all sorts of other goodies. My favorite? lemon meringue...no...apple...wait...the pecan...maybe the s'more pie? 

Best Donuts: A tie between The Donut Den in Nashville and Randy's Donuts in Inglewood (right near  LAX airport). Both places have the fantastic maple donuts. Randy's rocks the french cruellers. Although Tim Horton's in Quebec has the fantastic french cruellers, too.  Does anyone still wonder why I'm not a size 8?

Best Foodie Adventure: A May weekend in Montreal with my mid-twenties son and his friend Louise. We ate and walked and ate some more. Restaurants? Au Pied de Cochon, Garde Manger, Toque!, Beauty's Luncheonette, the Creperie at Marche Jean Talon, and Rustique Pies.

Best Winter Meal: Any meal at Hearth in New York is a great meal, but our meal with our son on a cold day in the middle of winter was spectacular. Hearty food, delicate gnocchi, great service, and long talks over wine. Perfection. 

Best Oysters: For west coast oysters: Taylor Shellfish Farms Melrose Market in Seattle. For east coast oysters: Maestro S.V.P in Montreal. 

Best Opportunity to Eat Lots of Pie: Judging at the National Pie Championships in Orlando. Nothing quite like sharing a weekend with a couple hundred pie-loving judges and 400 contestants from all over the U.S. 

Best Way to Work off some of that Pie: Three afternoon/evenings at Walk Disney World: EPCOT, The Magic Kingdom, and the Animal Kingdom.

Best Ride on Public Transit: The Charles Street Trolley in New Orleans on a warm summer night.  Close second? Sausalito ferry on a sunny day (love that view of the Golden Gate bridge).

Best Meal in San Francisco: Spruce.  The meal was excellent, inventive without being unnecessarily over the top. Fresh, quality ingredients. And, a young man who we've known since he was 8 works in the kitchen. It was really something to look through the viewing window to see him do his stuff. It was just yesterday we were fishing on Lake Bonaparte and roasting marshmallows over a campfire. 

Best Bookstore: Elliot Bay Books on 10th Avenue in Seattle (Capitol Hill). I could move in and stay.

Best Bookstore Celebrating It's 80th Birthday: Haslam's New and Used Books, St Petersburg, FL. An integral part of the St Pete community for 80 years, they threw a great party! 

Best Luxury Hotel: The Hermitage in Nashville. Jerry's favorite anywhere, any year. An oasis in the middle of the wonderful madness of Nashville during the CMA Music Fest every June. Love the "cookie hour" in late afternoon.

Best Bed & Breakfast (with a talented piano playing owner): J.N. Stone House and Musicale, Natchez, MS. 

Best Lodging with a Twist: The Shack Up Inn, Clarksdale, MS: A motel made up of  resurrected share cropper cabins and cotton gins on the old Hopson Plantation located in the cradle of Delta blues music.

Best Fruit Stand: Dickey's Peaches in Musella, GA. Late May to early August is peach picking time and they always have fresh peaches for sale. We love to sit and watch the sorting and packing operations while wiping the peach juice from our chins. A third generation tradition in central Georgia.

Best BBQ on the road:   Blackstrap BBQ in Verdun, Montreal. 

Best BBQ close to home: Fred Fleming's on 4th Street North in St Pete, FL

Best Cemetery: Cote des Neiges, Montreal. Beautiful and monumental headstones and crypts that tell stories covering 150 years in the lives (and deaths) of Montrealers. 

Best Botanical Garden Display: Montreal Botanical Gardens with this year's astonishingly imaginative and artful Mosaiculture International Competition and the always delightful Butterflies Go Free Display.

Best Bridge: The art deco  bridge in Florence, Oregon (Hwy 101) 

Best Scenic Drive: Highway 101 in Oregon from Coos Bay to Lincoln City.

Best Piggy Bank: The big bronze pig, Rachel, at the Pike Place Market in Seattle. 

Best Place to Buy Flowers: Pike Place Market in August...dahlias are in full bloom. 

Best Concert:  Thursday Night (first of 4 nights) at the CMA Music Fest in Nashville. (Luke Bryan, Taylor Swift, Tim McGraw, Miranda Lambert, Zac Brown Band.

Best Concert While Freezing our Fannies Off: Alan Jackson at the Plant City Strawberry Festival (yes it was cold in Florida, in the 40s cold)

Best Snoball: Rootbeer flavored snoball from the guy in the French Market in New Orleans.

Best Snoball outside New Orleans: the Snoball shack in Treasure Island, FL 

Best High Tea: Queen Mary Tea Room in Seattle (ask to sit by the doves)

Best Baseball Game: Any day the Tampa Bay Rays are playing at home at the Tropicana Dome. But especially Opening Day when I got to help unfurl the ginormous American Flag on the field before the game. 

Best Lonely Lighthouse: The lighthouse standing guard over the Louisbourg Harbor in Cape Breton. Just us and a few seagulls and the Atlantic Ocean stretching out to Ireland.

Best Lobster Roll: Thirsty Whale in Bar Harbor, Maine. Had a great game of dominoes in between bites of oh so fresh from the seas lobster.

Best Pilates Session while Traveling: Simply Balanced in Nashville, TN. Our classes there have become a tradition helping to unkink our muscles after boot scootin' at the nightly concerts at the CMA Music Fest. 

Best Cruise: Holland America's autumn cruise from Boston to Montreal through the Canadian Maritimes on the Maasdam.

Best Fireworks: Montreal's Annual International Firework Competition held for two months each summer. Weekly fireworks set to music created by the best talent in the pyrotechnic world. 

Best Temporary Exhibit at a Museum: The Beatles retrospective at the Musee Pointe-a-Calliere in Montreal. 

Best Cat: The gray mouser that hung out on the porch of our sharecropper cabin at Shack Up Inn in Clarksdale, MS.

Best Author's Reading: A tie: Jeff Klinkenburg at the Inkwood Bookstore in Tampa and Khalid Housseini at Tampa Theatre.

Best College Campus for Birding:  Eckerd College in St Petersburg, FL. Roseate spoonbills, nesting osprey, white ibis, egrets, and herons. 

Best Bird Sighting of the Year: Sandhill Crane families with little chicks just east of Sarasota, FL. Close second: nesting owls in Fort de Soto Park, St Pete, FL.

Best Koi Pond: Marie Selby Gardens, Sarasota, FL

Best Banana Cream Pie (my husband's favorite): Yoder's Amish restaurant in Sarasota, FL (yes there are Amish in Florida too...they drive three wheeled bikes instead of horse drawn buggys.)

Best Cabins at a State Park: Spacious well maintained log cabins (made from cabbage palm trunks) built in the 30s by WPA work crews at Myaaka State Park in Florida (just east of Sarasota).


Best Sunset: The view across the Mississippi River from Natchez Under the Hill, MS. 

Best Place to Spot Gators: Myaaka State Park (especially on Lake Myaaka...take the boat ride).

Best Shelling: Sanibel Island, Fl

Best New Find in Tampa: The Oxford Exchange: bookstore, coffee/tea bar, gift store, and bistro. A place to pause and reflect in comfort.

Best Local Festival/Fair: The Plant City Strawberry Festival in Plant City, FL. I dream all year about their strawberry shortcake, chocolate dipped bacon, and concerts. 

Best Local Market: Mazzarro's Italian Market in St Petersburg. From cannoli to fresh bread, excellent meats to fine cheeses, house made pasta to salame, coffee bar to lunch counter, this is THE place to go.

Best Way to Start a New Year: Watching the first sunset of the year with picnic and champagne on the beach in Pass-a-Grille (St Pete Beach), Florida with our grown son. Watching he and his Dad walk along the surf line deep in conversation is great way to start a New Year.

Best Time with Our Grown Son: Our two week drive from So Cal to Seattle. 

Best Friday Night Date: Shuffleboard with my husband at the St Petersburg Shuffleboard Club celebrating 100 years of operation. (And shuffleboard isn't just for old folks anymore, lots of "younguns" on dates and families with kids...great fun).

Best Family Meal: Christmas Day Dinner at the Olympic Fairmont Hotel in Seattle. 

Best Time with Old Friends: This is a hard pick as we had many fun visits this year. But for sheer volume and amount of laughter, the winner this year would be my 40th high school reunion (El Rancho High School, Pico Rivera, CA).  There is something about discovering that we may have more wrinkles but we don't have less fun.  

Eating Our Way Through Montreal, So What's New?

It is summer and we are in Montreal, escaping for a few weeks the heat and muggies of St Pete, FL. There are many things we love about Montreal: the weather, the charm of the city's streets, the musicality of the French language, and the walkability of the many diverse neighborhoods. But the thing we love the most about Montreal is its love affair with food.  From the bounty of fresh products at the City's many farmers markets to the incredible diversity of offerings at restaurants, we love to eat in Montreal.  We've been in Montreal for just shy of 3 days now and already we've tried out some of the new food trucks that have hit the street scene in Montreal this summer, perused new fine food boutiques, and revisited some of our favorite markets. Here is a quick review of our favorites...so far.

Communion

 

We arrived in Montreal on a cool, drizzly night. Hungry, we parked our car, and set off for a light dinner before unloading and settling into our flat. 

 

A block away is Communion which is set in the corner of a 150-year-old stone building facing onto Rue de La Commune. We had a light dinner of a mesclun salad with candied walnuts and a delicate balsamic vinegarette. Jerry thought it too plain, I thought it just right. We shared a charcuterie plate of slices of chorizo, blood sausage salami, liver pate salami, cornichons, bits of lardon, and a fresh baguette.

 

There was a pleasant, friendly hum to the place.  Light jazz mingled with happy conversations. The glass of Clockspring Zinfandel was the perfect companion for the evening's meal. 

 

Happily fed, we walked to our flat hand in hand in a soft rain.  Montreal had once again welcomed us with good food and safe haven.  

 

Satay Brothers,  Atwater Market, and Rustique Pies

 

We slept in late after the previous day's long journey.  After a cup of coffee and the Montreal Gazette, we set off for the market.

 

Marche Atwater is located along the historic Lachine Canal in an art deco building built in 1933 for the market. Open year round, the market is at its most beautiful in the summer.  Plant nurseries set up shop with hundreds of blooming plants for gardens and terrasses.  Quebec berries are at their best and stalls are laden with tiny strawberries, plump raspberries, and firm blueberries, freshly picked and trucked to market.

 

 

 

Under brightly colored tarps, the outdoor food stalls serve up sausages, freshly squeezed juices, nuts, pastries and at Satay Brothers...satay. Our first experience at Satay Brothers was in their "winter" brick and morter shop on Rue St Jacques.  But come fair weather, Satay Brothers move their operation back to Marche Atwater where it all started.

 

We had 6 skewers of the Satay du Jour (chicken) and their pork bun sandwiches.  Refreshing and tasty.  Good as we had remembered. We'll be back. 

 

 

 

After a walk through the market buying tomatoes and a basket of berries we were off to the St-Henri neighborhood of Montreal to my favorite pie shop, Rustique Pies. For my previous post on Rustique, click here.

 

We sat in the sun at a small round table set just inside the big storefront window and ate three small round delights: Banana cream, lemon meringue, and peach cobbler pies. As good as I had remembered.  We bought six to-go, with plans to return for more on the weekend.

 

 

 

No, I never lose weight when visiting Montreal.  Its a good thing we walk a lot when we visit.

 

The Best of Italy in Montreal's Little Italy

Nicola Travaglini opened his fine food boutique last fall hoping to share the delicious bounty of Italy with the food lovers of Montreal. He has succeeded and then some. Travaglini and his business partner Domenico Armeni have created an inviting corner shop located near Marche Jean Talon in Montreal's Little Italy.

Shelves are stocked with the best pastas, sauces, tomatoes, and spices. Delicious breads and pastries are made on the premises. An excellent selection of salumi and speciality cheeses decorate well-lit cases. Two large communal tables in the center of the store hum with the chat of contented lunch-goers as they enjoy pastas, soups, or sandwiches. 
We had the chance to chat with the effervescent Domenico Armeni, born in Calabria Italy but a long-time resident of Montreal. Armeni was chef-owner of Lucca's in Little Italy until he sold it a few years back. He was in his element as he strolled through the shop chatting with customers. He is clearly proud of what they have created at Nicola Travaglini.
I asked him about a delicious looking "something" in the pastry case. Armeni explained it was a Crostata e Noci, a thick crusted Crostata filled with a concoction made of caramel, hazelnuts, almonds, pistaccios and raisins. He leaned forward and almost in a whisper said, "even better than the filling? the crust...I love the crust." Sold...one crostata to go!
And we'll be back.

The Food Truck Army has landed in Montreal

Dim sum, gourmet hot dogs, pad thai noodles, meatballs, sausages, grilled cheese sandwiches, Vietnamese spring rolls, flaky pastry treats...all this and more will be served via food trucks this summer in Montreal.

After a 50 year ban on street food, the City of Montreal has joined the latest culinary trend. Twenty seven trucks have been approved by the City and will be allowed to serve from 7am to 10pm in nine pre-determined spots around the City. The food trucks will rotate on a selected schedule available at the website listed below if you want to know who is serving what and where.

This year, the food truck "season" will be from June 20th to September 29th.

We arrived in Montreal for a two week visit and made a beeline straight to the small group of trucks located at Mill and Rue de La Commune along the Lachine Canal in the Old Port of Montreal. First up, was Le TukTuk serving delicious Thai fare. We tried the Pad Thai poulet (chicken) and the Green Papaya salad. Both were delicious.

We ate on a picnic table conveniently nestled under a group of trees near the trucks. While eating, we watched hungry eaters line up at the Montreal Dim Sum truck. After polishing off the generous portion of Pahd Thai, I couldn't resist. The "trio" of dim sums were fresh, hot, and scrumptious. 
 
So, we're two down and only 25 to go. We've got our work cut out for us on this trip.

Jerry's Favorite Treat: Fresh Sausage on a Stick

Whenever we visit Montreal, we always visit Marche Jean Talon within the first day or two of our trip. Why? Because Jerry needs his sausage-on-a-stick fix. 
 
We also go for the eggs, the berries, fresh asparagus, crepes, coffee, mushrooms, and more. But that is another story. This story is about sausage.

We have two favorite spots in the market that are conveniently within a couple stalls from each other.  
 
La Volailler du Marche offers 100% natural sausages made from boar, beef, pork, chicken, duck, deer, and lamb. The sausage can be purchased as single 2-inch lengths on a stick or as a "kebab" with 8 different types of sausage on the stick. We opted for the 8-on-a-stick which was a good way to sample all the different types of sausage they sell.

Balkani's serves large "hot dog" sized grilled sausage. They are served either on a bun or on a stick. Varieties vary. Today's offering were "spicy" or "sweet". Jerry opted for spicy. The sausage was juicy and full of flavor. Just the right meal for a cold, rainy day in Montreal.

 

 

Small Pies with the Perfect Crust, Betcha Can't Eat Just One!

    

Who needs cupcakes or doughnuts when there is pie? Especially when the pie comes in four-bite-sized portions.  The tiny pies come a variety of ways: double crust, cream, and meringue and in a variety of flavors: fruit, pecan, key lime, lemon meringue, coconut cream, chocolate cream and more. 

Advertised as a "A Country Pie Stand...in the City", Rustique Pie Kitchen opened in the St-Henri neighborhood of Montreal in February. Through a fortuitous heads-up from @ToulasTake on Twitter, we were there opening day. The winter sun streamed in through large store-front windows. The smell of butter, baking pies, fruit, and espresso wafted through the air. We sat at a small wooden table, drank good espresso, and ate six of the small pastry jewels. Our two favorites that day were the lemon meringue and pecan pielets with apple a very close third.

Two days later we headed for the airport to fly home to Florida. We asked our taxi driver to stop at Rustique where I got a box of six small pies for the flight (they were consumed long before I walked through Gate 82). We tipped him with a bit of cash and a pie. He took a bite, his eyes popped open wide, and he said "I'm taking the kids there tomorrow".

Rustique also sells full-sized pies, cookies, bars, cakes, marshmallows, barks and brittles. Everything is made on the premises. Locally grown/produced ingredients are preferred when available.

They are happy to cater events with as many teeny, delicious pies as can fit on a platter. Wedding Pie anyone?

photo by Jason Baesel

For more information, store hours, and directions please click here: Rustique Pie Kitchen 

Montreal: An exploration of food: Part Two: Toque!

Wednesday was snowy in Montreal.  Thursday was rainy.  Friday was gray and drizzly. The weatherman had promised a warm-up and a glimpse of spring and we were impatient. So we were glad that we had long ago made lunch reservations for Toque! (900 Jean-Paul-Riopelle Place, Montreal) located across the street and small park from the Montreal Convention Center (Palais des Congres).

As we walked through drizzle and gray we were greeted by the welcoming beacon of the Toque! sign which seemed to promise felicity and spring.

Restaurant Toque!

The restaurant has tall ceilings, light colored woods, blues and earthtone colors and simple clean lines.  Floor to ceiling windows brought in delicious light from the outside and well modulated interior lighting provided complementary soft and warm light. The room is elegant without being stuffy.  Distance between tables is generous and interior noise levels were perfect.  As much as we love the hustle and bustle of a place like Joe Beef or Pied de Cochon, the fact is that Jerry doesn't hear that well (blame it on working around Navy aircraft long ago) and we often can't really hold a conversation at that type of restaurant.  So here we sat in a light-filled room with the pleasant hum of happy eaters and looking forward to a long chat and good food.

The Bar at Toque!

Toque! is owned by Christine Lamarche and Normand Laprise. The current chef is Charles-Antoine Crete. Much has been written about this team of "artists" as the Toque! website refers to them.  There have been many awards and stars.  Now it was our turn to see what all the fuss is about. 
Fortunately for us, the  food and service did not disappoint.  The flavors were...well...spring like.  Fresh, light and yet somehow complex, and perfectly seasoned. Our waiter and wait staff were very helpful.  For the first course (of the 2-course lunch): I had the cauliflower soup, a slightly richer version than we had at Joe Beef the night before).  I liked it very much.  Jerry had a lemon cream with salt cod on toast...see the picture below...it was really, really good.  A delight to the eye and palate.

Lemon Cream and Salt Cod with radish and green magic (my words not Toque!)

For the main course, I had the skate fish which was perfectly done...it was the first time I've eaten skate (a type of ray) and I love the firm texture and delicate taste.  Jerry had the flank steak...also perfectly prepared.

Flank Steak

Skate

Finally for dessert we shared a plate of "made just two minute ago" churros with chocolate dip and Illy coffee.   I'll never eat another churro in my life without comparing them to these (and I'm sure they will never match up).

Fresh, FRESH, Churros and chocolate

 

 

 

 

 

 

All in all, it was a well-priced two course meal delivering fresh flavors on a cold gray day in a comfortable, light filled space.  What more could we ask for on a late winter day...except maybe that promised sun.

Restaurat Toque!
900 Place Jean Paul Riopelle, Montreal, QC H2Y 3X7 T:514-499-2084
http://www.restaurant-toque.com