When people say “March Madness”, they’re not talking about basketball, they’re talking about UNIBURGER WEEK. Starting today, until March 20th, Uniburger is celebrating their third anniversary with a bang. The huge success of last year’s “Uniburger Week” is back again with an allstar studded lineup of top Montreal chefs that will take over the Uniburger kitchen to bring their own signature spin on the classic Uniburger.
It’s that time of year again, the annual thaw; the roads get slushier, the tree sap starts to flow, and our bodies start to produce mass amounts of insulin to process the litres of maple syrup we will ingest in one last hurrah of packing it in unlocking a new level in winter weight gain. Our timely tradition of cabane à sucre comes but once a year and where you chose to celebrate this golden nectar of the woodland Gods is often a decision that’s hard to make. You can either drive outside the city to visit an authentic sugar shack with family-centric outdoor activities and classic dining hall dishes, or you can take a metro and and walk to the old port to experience the city’s finest upscale urban sugar shacks – Chef à l’érable at Scena.
Every neighbourhood likes to have things they call their own; the corner deep that’s run by a cute family, the big fat stray cat that everyone seems to feed and that guy who reserves parking spot on the street with a folding chair after digging his car out after a snowstorm. But none of these will ever measure up to the one thing that every neighbourhood loves to call their own, their “restaurant du quartier.” I visited Luciano Trattoria – located in Petit-Partie – one afternoon for lunch with a friend who was moving to China. She was back in town packing up the rest of her apartment before the big move and needed to fill an Italian meal void she’d been having ever since she went to China.
Dear West island,
I know we’ve had our differences in the past, and by differences, I mean me making fun of you for various reasons like, being a baron wasteland of decent food, or acting like the North Korean hermit borough of Montreal for living in a bubble being ruled under the greasy fist of the Sauce Boss and considering anything past Ikea as “downtown”. Ok, wait, I take that back, there are some good restaurants in the West island but those places are rarer than an episode of Late Night with Seth Meyers that’s worth watching. But today I’m reaching out to you with a congratulatory handshake of peace. Why? Because you’ve finally entered the pho game with a worthy contender and you probably don’t even know it.
There are particular dishes and meals that I crave at certain times of year; light ceviches and hearty salads in the summer and soul soothing bowls of soup noodles in winter. One of my favourite things to eat when the temperature dips low is hot pot or Asian fondue. A shallow pot filled with flavourful broth surrounded by a tableful of little dishes waiting to be cooked. Hot pot is a great meal for a group of people but what happens when you’re just one person? Sure you can still hot pot, but the ritual isn’t the same – plus it’s more expensive and with all the left over ingredients, you’ll probably be hot potting for the rest of the week. That’s why you need to try my recipe for Sukiyaki For One featuring konjac noodles from nuPasta.
Every culture has certain traditions and customs: taking off your shoes when you go into the house (or anyone else’s house,) being conscious of furniture placement in your home in accordance to the practice of feng shiu, the disappointment of failing to meet parental expectations of being a doctor or a lawyer and involuntary Chinese school on Saturdays. These are things that you learn when you grow up in a Chinese family. These customs are just rituals that groom you for the Super Bowl of days where all your training will come into play; Chinese New Years.
If you’ve never had Korean barbecue before, I’m sorry to tell you that we can’t be friends until you do. It’s not only a meal, it’s an experience you must have at least once in your life… or every other week. Imagine plates upon plates of different cuts of marinated meat, fresh seafood and vegetables piled high, banchan side dishes like kimchi, marinated cucumbers and pickled radishes all surrounding a fiery hot grill that sits recessed into the middle of the table waiting for your command. I recently had the chance to check out Montreal’s Kalbi BBQ, the newest go-to Korean BBQ joint where you do all your own cooking and you eat all that you can.
Get focused immediately because your strict salad regimen starts TODAY. Dust off your gym pass because you’re going to be upping your cardio in preparation for one of the most anticipated festivals of the year: La Poutine Week. Next week, February 1st to 7th, Montreal will be celebrating our unofficial-official national dish, the poutine. This fourth annual week-long festival will see over 40 restaurants in Montreal serving creative takes on the humble poutine!
About a year ago, Michele Forgione of the dynamic duo behind Impasto and GEMA started dropping cryptic Instagram posts eluding to homemade burgers and hot dogs and throwing around the idea of a throwback casse croute headed by Yann Tousignant. Leading his fans and followers on a year-long fast food foreplay session before it was finally announced that “Chez Tousignant” will finally be a real thing. Fast forward months of research and development and numerous social media posts and we have an authentic Quebecois casse croute in Little Italy.
Finally, an izakaya in the Plateau that does it right – a spot focused on drinks and awesome next level pub grub. I hit up Ichigo Ichie in the Plateau for some authentic Japanese tapas. I was aware that the team behind Ichigo Ichie is the same group that’s responsible for the wildly popular Imadake, so I had a pretty good idea of what I was in for. If it were anything like Imadake – a party atmosphere on any given evening – I was prepared to “sake-bomb” the night away, but I was wrong.