I agree about it being a very successful marketing strategy but not so great at the end of the day for customers.
You would think the point is to expose more customers to your regular menu, but this whole affair just seems to be the opposite.
Last year, on the Vieux Port Steakhouse menu they had the "Manhattan" cut. They told us it was a smaller NY Cut (I assumed thinner). What we got was half a NY Strip. Literately cut down the middle.

I remember a few years ago, when Happening Gourmand first started, everyone seemed excited to take advantage and I did, probably every year since. Last year I recall having mediocre meals (Vieux port steakhouse, Taverne Gaspar). Vowed not to repeat.

This year, at the request of a friend, we went to Bevo (a new addition to their lineup I believe), and felt equally, if not more disappointed than I was last year (under seasoned food, pathetically tiny portions, and just an overall "meh" feeling). We did pay extra for prosciutto and after splitting a wine bottle, the price tag was 100$/couple.

We have reservation for Aix on Friday, and I am contemplating cancelling. But I am not sure if two upscale restaurants (Verses and Aix) are perhaps more interesting. Anyone have any feedback on Aix, during Happening Gourmand? Thanks

They had these at Supermarche PA last year (can't remember when).
I would suggest you check Sabor Latino/Andes on Belanger.

Schwartz's is walking distance from my office, so a few of the guys and I used to go there every couple of weeks (for the last 7 years or so). Over the last 6 months, we noticed the meat becoming more dry and crumbly (and we all order it medium).

Needless to say, it's no longer on our regular rotation. But will still go once in a while for old times' sake... But for some reason, the meat doesn't deem the same...

Agreed. What's the difference between a coffee shop that has limited hours on a Sunday and a restaurant that's closed 1 day a week?
These cafes are not large corporate chains so they can't operate like one. They are small, owner-run businesses. I've also noticed that they seem to have good labor conditions. Closing the cafes (or limiting hours) on holidays so that their employees can also enjoy a day off is great IMO.

Went there last night with 3 others and the general consensus was "meh". Would go back, but probably not soon.

We started with some shared appetizers (2 lbs of smoked wings and jalapeno poppers).

The wings were definitely smoky but lacked salt. They were quite bland. For 18$, we got about 18 wings.

The jalapeno popper plate (11$) consisted of 5 peppers stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped in bacon and fried. They were also smoked. Some of them were mild and other were so fiery hot that some of us were in tears for a good 15 minutes.

We also ordered the brisket, the St Louis pork ribs and the chicken leg.

The pork ribs and the brisket are definitely the highlights for us. Smoky, tender and very flavorful. The full rack of pork ribs is massive and certainly a good option if you want to have some for lunch the next day. The brisket plate was also very generous. Good bark and smoke penetration, as well as a good amount of fat.

The chicken thigh, surprisingly, was extremely dry and looked so sad on the plate with its sides compared to the other plates.

We tried various sides: smoked mac and cheese (good), smoked beans (good), smoked veggies (underdone), sweet potato and regular fried (very good).

With so many smoky flavors going on, I would have preferred that the mac and cheese and veggies didn't have a smoky flavor. Everything tasted the same (smoke) after a while. Maybe we should have gotten some coleslaw.

The Mexican Bulldog drinks (inverted corona into a margarita) was just ok. The waiter told us the margarita has 3 shots of tequila, which I did not detect. It tasted like a beer/lime slushie.

Cost around 85$ per couple before tip. I think the amount would have been justified if we were fully satisfied. But you get a lot of food, and the outdoor seating is nice, and the service was efficient as well.

So It's our first time visiting your city and we're making this a food/booze-centric trip! (the best kinds of trips, IMO)! We are staying in the CBD right on Lee Circle

We will be arriving very late on Thursday and leaving on Tuesday. Looked through the various threads and online menus, and came up with a tentative plan and would like some of your input on our choices.

Keep in mind we have never had cajun/creol food (just not available where we live) and would like to try some authentic staples of NOLA as well as some reinvented higher end places.

Friday Lunch: Cochon/Cochon Butcher
Friday Dinner: Muriel's

Saturday Lunch: Mr. B
Saturday Dinner: Gumbo Shop

Sunday Lunch: Nola
Sunday Dinner: Felix

Monday Lunch: Domenica (for their afternoon special)
Monday Dinner: Herbsaint

As for bars: Bar Tonique, Bar UnCommon, Loa Bar, French 75, Cure (quite far and not sure if it's worth the cab ride?)

Thanks!

Thank you all for your input. We are not really looking for wine or beer. What we are looking for are liquors not typically found up here in Montreal (Pimm's, st germain, absinth, herbsaint, etc).

I think we'll check our both Rousse's and Vieux Carre.

Thank you for the quick reply. We can get Angostura here because it has no alcohol content. What we are unable to get are alcohol based bitters such as Peychaud's. So I'm glad to hear we'll be able to find what we're looking for.

Coming from a place where alcohol prices are regulated (we never have to look for a bargain, because there are none), any suggestions as to where we can find the most reasonably priced liquor?

Will be visiting your city for the first time and especially looking forward to the trying out various cocktail bars (as suggested here on on the boards).

However, considering how strict our liquor laws are in Quebec, it is impossible to get Peychaud's Bitters, Bittermans, etc as well as many liquors such as St Germain, Herbsaint, etc. We have access to great wines but in terms of liquor and bitters, we're stuck.

Maybe it's a silly question, and such products are readily available, but would like to know where I can stock up on various bitters and some non-standard liquors near the business district or french quarter. Can you purchase liquor at the pharmacies? Or do you have designated liquor stores? Can bitters be found at grocery stores?

Thank you for your help.

Just a comment on the pre-made coffee. It's not unusual to have pre-made iced coffee, especially if they are cold-brewing it. In fact, cold-brew is 12-24 hour process if I'm not mistaken. It's quite popular now, with some roasters (like Stumptown), even bottling the stuff.

If you wanted freshly brewed, you could have ordered an Iced Americano?

Fingers crossed that this rumor turns out to be true.

"Marie-Claude Bacon, a spokesperson for Metro, confirmed that the retailer would be opening a supermarket on the ground floor of the three phase, 477-unit condo project, but wouldn’t say whether it would be an Adonis store. "

With an IGA, Provigo and SuperC within walking distance from this location, it wouldn't make sense to open a Metro.. The proximity to Westmount and the ethnically diverse neighborhood, an Adonis outlet would fit perfectly. Only issue I can see would be parking...

This would create some serious competition for PA and Mourilatos though.

http://blogs.montrealgazette.com/2012...

The are certainly available in Montreal. Been getting a tin/box every Christmas from my mother for the last 20 years.

They may be only widely available during Christmas (grocery stores and pharmacies). I would also recommend checking out Bramble House. They may carry QS year round.

Walked by this new place on bishop called Smoke's Poutinerie. Looks like a chain from Ontario. Did a quick search on the board and didn't come up with much.

Anyone been? Any comments?

Thank you. I will read over these specific threads.

Montreal hounder here. Will be visiting your city in June for 2 nights with husband and another foodie couple.

Been a couple of years since I've been to NYC. I tried to look through the threads, but got somewhat overwhelmed and figured I would start a new thread in hopes of getting some suggestions. I would appreciate any ideas you can offer up.

We will be staying around Midtown, so any venue below central park is fair game.
We do appreciate both casual and high end. We are open to all types of cuisine (except French... we have our fair share of French cuisine in Montreal). Preference for Italian, Japanese/Isakaya.

We are looking for lunch/brunch/dinner options.

Also looking for good coffee shops (along the lines of Stumptown, or Grumpy)

Also looking for casual bars/lounges where we can enjoy a well made cocktail.

Thanks!

Stopped by yesterday. Was told that some of their breads were from Le Pain Dans Les Voiles and some are not (the bags they use are in fact labeled pain dans les voiles). If there's a gold round sticker on the basket, then the bread is from Le pain dan les voiles. I don't know if the rest are baked on-site or off-site, but it seems that those breads were their own. Maybe I didn't understand his accent.

We picked up a baguette levain (just ok), an almond/chocolate croissant (very tasty, crispy) and a cheese loaf (so good we finished it all in 1 sitting). I believe the cheese loaf was not from Voiles, but the rest was.

Also picked up a couple of their "cakes". The pistachio and raspberry cake as well as the chocolate/peanut/salted caramel one. We liked them both, but were not necessarily wowed. I much prefer Le Paltoquet's pistachio/raspberry version.

That neighborhood doesn't offer much in terms of good bread. Not many options other than the Premierre Moisson breads carried at PA or Provigo (blah).

As a big fan of Guillaume and Mamie, I am happy to see a new addition to my neighborhood.

Lawrence is an excellent choice. They do take reservations for large groups - don't know if that changed recently - last time I was there was about a month ago (Fixed seatings for 10am, 12 and 2PM I believe). They have 2 larger communal tables. One suitable for a group of 10-12 or so and another suitable for a group of 6-8.

Oana, can you provide more info on Birri... one of the few reasons I go to JTM in the summer is them. What do you mean they sell of their elevator in the winter? thanks!

I believe you are referring to yuca starch? If so, then it's available at Sabor Latino on Belanger. My husband is Colombian and we buy yuca starch to make pan de yuca and pan de bono. The pan de yuca is made with a sour yuca starch. Both varieties are available at Sabor.

Navel oranges were 10 for 1.50 at PA last week. 220% price difference seems excessive to me. But that's just me. They are traveling the same distance presumably. Personally, I stopped buy any produce from Provigo/Maxi/Loblaws for quality reasons. And I stopped buying from IGA and Metro for price reasons.
I find the price and quality to be far superior PA. Granted some days I've seen sub-par produce at PA, but for the most part, it has been excellent.
And when I have time to take a communauto and make the trek to Adonis, I am never disappointed. I've purchased lettuce from Adonis, forgotten about it and found it 2 weeks later and it was still in good shape.

Hala, thank you for sharing! Can I ask you which basket and size you signed up for? They seem to have 4 options.

2 years ago I had baskets from Potager Andre Samson. It was not an ideal summer and the produce was alright, but not what we expected and that's why we didn't do it again last year.

Dubai Subs and Yogurt is papered up and a new sign reads: Ole Burgers and Yogurt.

I agree with your first sentence. Not with your second one. Montreal is full of people from all over the world. And spicy food is not exclusively enjoyed in Szechuan province. I don't think we are that rare! At least I hope not!

I think with time they will learn that some "westerners" as they put it do in fact enjoy this type of cuisine and they will find the right way to inform their customers that certain dishes are very hot.

I can't blame them for stating the obvious but as you said, there should be a middle ground. After they brought the dish in question, the same waitress came back and asked if it was too spicy for us.... enough already! She saw us enjoying it, so what's the problem!?!

What made the night even more awkward was when we were approached by a nice lady who seems to be a manager/owner. She asked us if we found the food too spicy. We said we liked spicy food. She then asked us if we were "immigration" (she meant immigrants).

My guess is that they are trying to understand their clientele. I guess my partner and I look "westerner" even though we are both immigrants (middle east/south America).

Love this place. Great addition to the neighborhood. The "beef in water" with sprouts was ridiculously hot (in a great way). The Mapo Tofu (listed on menu as "tofu in spicy sauce" or something along those lines) was perfectly balanced. Being huge fans of Cuisine Szechuan, we ordered the chicken with cumin. Definitely prefer Cuisine Szechuan 's version.

Only issue encountered was the waitress who insisted that we don't get the beef dish because it was too spicy for westerners. At first I brushed it off as nothing, but she kept insisting and repeating that it would be way too spicy for us... I got slightly annoyed but she finally moved on. We ordered the chicken with cumin and she said you know there's bones, westerners don't like bones. Another back and forth until she finally walked away with our order.

I wish they would stop assuming "westerners" don't like/can't handle spicy food. But I can imagine the complaints they may have gotten from some unaware "westerners. One warning is sufficient!

They must because we made no mention of the voucher until we went to pay downstairs. I saw 5 other "tours" and they were all identical to ours.

Honestly, I wouldn't. But again, I don't think "high tea" is really something I would enjoy to do more than once every few years. Just not my thing. I am just pointing out that the 32$/person price tag (pre-tax, pre-tip) is quite steep for what you get (some of the offerings were good, and others just ok). The scones were quite disappointing (I had an amazing scone at Lawrence yesterday and the LMC scone pales in comparison).

So perhaps someone else would see it being worth 60. It may be worth it if you plan to spend a couple of hours sipping tea and catching up with an old friend. We were in a bit of a rush and were done within 50 minutes.

As I said in my previous post I was hesitant to go and even considered gifting the coupon or just writing it off based on some comments above. But I was pleasantly surprised when I was told the tip was at my discretion and that the tax charged was on the 29$ amount paid for the voucher. I also found the service to be very pleasant and efficient.

Finally used the Living social coupon I purchased several months ago. Based on this thread I was somewhat hesitant and regretted purchasing the coupon to begin with.

The bottom line: If I had paid full price I would have been thoroughly pissed off.

We were served (per person)
- The equivalent of 1 slice of bread (2 cucumber triangles, 1 egg sandwich).
- A small cracker with foie gras and fig jam.
- A polenta square with goat cheese mouse.
- A cracker with smoked duck.
- 2 cranberry scones (dry and cold) with apricot jam and vanilla cream.
- 1 square of Venezuelan chocolate.
- 1 cream puff.
- Chocolate cookie with lemon cream
- mini-tart with mouse

The service was friendly and attentive. They refilled our tea regularly.

When it was time to pay, we were told the tip was at our discretion and that we would have to pay the tax which was calculated on the price of the coupon. So about 4$ for tax and then 9.50 for a 15% tip (based on the list price).

We enjoyed ourselves but both agreed we could never justify paying 40$ (reg price with tax and tip) for what we were served.

At the end of the day, we paid 29 (coupon) + 14 (tax and tip) = 43$

And Colombia, Venezuela and other south American countries.