Hoping everyone had a great holiday. Spent mine the same as every year, breaking resolutions in world record time and eating my weight in things cooked with butter. Reconnecting with friends and family during the holidays is also fun; classic discussion topics, Kardashians, politics, how fast someone filled up gas at the first sight of a price increase and most importantly recent restart discoveries. I’ve discovered that far above a game of Monopoly, or sliding into the DMs of a common crush, what will really test the relationship between you and a loved one are your restaurant opinions. Little did I know that this local brunch hot spot in the plateau (with now a location in Saint-Henri) would be the epicentre of a recent discussion blowout – Restaurant L’Avenue.
Photo ©L’avenue
A Plateau favorite, L’Avenue, recently opened up their second location on Notre-Dame in the heart of Saint-Henri. A favorite spot for Montréalers for copping a boozy brunch on lazy Sunday morning has now set up shop in the southwest slinging eggs benny, kétaine named breakfast dishes, smoothies and their famous refreshing fruit water.
Pancakes with Captain Morgan caramelized bananas, topped with English cream, Nutella and roasted coconut shavings. Insanely huge pancakes, drowning in half melted hazelnut spread.
The pancakes were nice and fluffy and the portion was extremely generous. Generous is actually an understatement. Five pancakes, three cups of creme anglaise, four bananas, and what seemed to be 65 litres of Nutella. Ok, maybe this is an exaggeration, but you can see for yourself, they didn’t mess around when it came to the Nutella. Great dish if penicillin is already a part of your “New Year, New Me” regime. Sweet and sweet on sweet. We knew this going in and a side of bacon was ordered as a precautionary measure to break up the cloying sweet bites after bites.
The appropriately named “BON BEN MOI JE PRENDS TOUTE!”- which roughly translates to, “Well, fuck it, I’ll take everything” was two eggs, bacon, homemade creton, homemade sausage, baked beans, beer braised pulled pork, french toast, pancakes, served with skillet potatoes. This was everything you can expect with a fully loaded breakfast plate and it lived up to its name.
I normally order scrambled eggs for two reasons; 1) I can’t digest raw egg yolks, 2) Unless you break the yolk on a sunny-side-up egg, you can’t really mess it up – the thing is 50% raw anyways. I’d much rather challenge the kitchen and and have my eggs scrambled, prepared moist and fluffy. Test, passed. The eggs were perfectly undercooked, pillowy and soft.
Like the pancakes, the “Bon ben moi je preds toute” was completely over the top, generous in portion and everything you could ever want for breakfast served to you on one plate. The sausage had a hint of rosemary, the bacon and creton were salty which always compliments french toast and pancakes… or anything doused in real maple syrup for that matter.
So going back to what I said in the beginning about how L’Avenue was the centre of attention and controversy that tested the relationships amongst my loved ones. How? We were split down the middle, being a favourite place for brunch for some, and mediocre plan b for others. On any given weekend, expect lineups out the door at L’Avenue. I’ve dined at their original Mont-Royal location several times and several times the food was decent, but did not knock my socks off. So what is the allure? Fun names to their decent brunch dishes mixed with a whacky decor that features large graffiti murals and art installations? Food here is on par with big box chains, with a cozier neighbourhood feel. Boutique bunch perhaps?
Restaurant L’Avenue
3612 Notre-Dame St W.
http://restaurantlavenue.ca/
1 comment
how much is it in here?