Once in a while my sisters and I go for dinner; for simple reasons, like them getting away from their husbands and children or to gossip about our mother without the fear of being digitally monitored and out of the three-mile radius of her all-hearing “momdar”. So basically a girls night out where I watch them pound a trough of pinot grigio and I do all the ordering. We recently went to a local Greek spot in NDG that has been a part of the neighbourhood for the longest time. Perched on top of Mount Monkland, Lezvos is the poorman’s Santorini; replacing the picturesque white sovas houses overlooking the deep indigo Agean sea, the vantage point from Lezvos is of the rolling red tail lights of north-bound Decarie traffic and the laughter of children being taxed at Villa-Marie Metro.
If you follow my super awesome Shut Up and Eat Instagram feed, you’d know that it’s a great source of all things Montreal food porn. You will also be subject to my pontification of dim sum – one of my favourite things in life besides kneading my six year old nephew’s stomach like bread dough. I once read a “best of” list of places to go for dim sum which listed Qing Hua, Yi Pin Xiang and Jiu Xiang amongst other places for best dim sum in Montreal. Wrong. There’s a big difference between dumplings and dim sum – dim sum is the meal, the experience; dumplings are what you eat at dim sum. I took that article with a grain of MSG and decided to right the wrong that has been published under the veil of click-bait.
It’s that time of year again, where guilty heathens who went full yolo during the holidays crowd local cardio classes and fill their gym bags full of lies and self deceit. Working off holiday cheer is something I’m very used to, but logging distance on a treadmill isn’t my style. I burn my calories going through the past year’s *41* published Montreal restaurant reviews to find the ones that stood out the most, then compiling an extensive list of pros and cons to see which ones I found to be the best of 2014. So in no particular order, here are Shut Up and Eat’s Best of 2014.
There are certain areas in Montreal where restaurants are abundant, then there are neighbourhoods that are virtual wastelands for decent food (I’m looking at you West island.) One of the more popular areas in the city is Griffintown and as the people are moving in and the gentrification tightens it grasp, restaurants are are one of those establishments that are as badly needed as grocery stores, boutiques and antique shops. I’ve said all along that one of the things Griffintown is missing is an Asian restaurant representation and recently a place has stepped up to plate.
As I mentioned earlier last week, a popular Montreal Steakhouse – Vieux-Port Steakhouse recently marked their 31 years in the Montreal restaurant scene with a big bash. Not only to celebrate this notable milestone, but to unveiling their newly renovated space that went through a significant facelift in the recent months. To mark this momentous occasion, the great team at Vieux-Port Steakhouse partnered with the awesome dude at Shut Up and Eat to turn up and to kick off the night and usher in the next 30+ years of business
Montreal has always been an eater’s city; a destination for people who like to eat. Montreal boasts the largest number of restaurants per capita in all of North America. It goes without saying that when you’re in the mood for something in particular, not only will your options be readily available, but most often than not, you’ll have a choice – a variable buffet of places that you can chose from to satiate your current craving. Recently a spot opened up in St. Henri that went out of its way to bring the cuisine of the middle-east to the people of the south-west; introducing it to some and then being an accessible option to others.
There are a handful of great steakhouses in the city and most of them are elite members of the Montreal’s culinary landscape that has spanned decades in the restaurant scene; one of these institutions is the Vieux-Port Steakhouse. Located in the historic Old-Port of Montreal, this establishment has been severing and satiating the palates of carnivores for over 30 years. Today, marks the re-launch of the recently revamped Vieux-Port Steakhouse space and identity.
In case you missed it, we are currently in the thick of Montreal’s restaurant week – MTL à Table – an autumn staple where the over 140 restaurants offer special table d’hôte menus at either $19, $29 or $39. An awesome way to discover some of Montreal’s culinary talent at extremely friendly prices. Featuring some of the city’s finest tables, MTL à Table gives everyone from foodies to occasional restaurant diners a great opportunity to visit some of Montreal’s best establishments where they probably usually wouldn’t go, all the while being wallet friendly. I was a guest of Tourism Montreal and had the opportunity to check out one of Montreal’s newest restaurants in Old Montreal, Ikanos.
I’m not Italian, but I feel as though I could be considered a small percentage Italian purely based on osmosis. I can’t tell you (and I probably wouldn’t want to try and figure out) how much pasta and Italian food I’ve eaten in my life. Despite the fact that I already talk with my hands and pronounce the silent “G” in sandwich, the next step towards Italia would be cooking like an Italian. There are cooking classes around the Montreal that offer various cooking and culinary classes, from baking and bread making, to desserts (like the one I attended at the Lincoln Apartment Bakery,) savoury dishes and even workshops. Recently the Leonardo DaVinci Centre in St. Leonard officially launched their culinary class program this month and I was there to check it out.
There’s been something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, something that I’ve wanted to cross off my food list of Montreal; to eat at every single BBQ restaurant in Montreal. When I say BBQ, I’m talking about American, southern BBQ and I don’t mean restaurants that just so happen to serve a random rack of ribs or a maple bacon smoked something or other. We’ve got a Places that specialize in the cuisine and craft like the award-winning and standard setting Blackstrap BBQ in the city, but to complete my list, my goblet of sauce had to be topped off with a small road trip north of the city; the place was far, and by far I’m talking I had to pack a snack for the car.