Mont-Royal Hot Dog

Date Visited: Late night meal on Saturday Aug 3, 2013
Company: Group of 6 after Osheaga

After a long, second day at Osheaga, a group of us met up at Mont Royal subway station to grab some food late into the night. As most of us spent the last hours of the night dancing away to Porter Robinson, so we weren't in the mood for walking or standing in a line-up to get into one of the more popular restaurants in Montreal. We had spotted Mont Royal Hot Dog from an earlier night and decided to walk by to see how it was and luckily for us, it wasn't busy at all.

We entered Mont Royal and we could see the menu immediately right on top of the kitchen area. They had a large variety of foods to choose from such as the famous Montreal hot dogs, breakfast, burgers, and pitas. It was a cross between fast food and a diner, with an open kitchen and many booths for sitting. We grabbed a table so I could check out the options further as there were menus on the table also while the others went up to order. A waitress meanwhile came to serve us some waters.

After I had decided what I wanted and +Will went up to order as the rest of the group did, the chef told him to order at the table. We found this a bit odd but waited for the waitress to come as she served one of the dishes our friends ordered. The food came to each individual as it was finished being prepared by the cook and left on the counter for the waitress. I was pretty impressed on how speedy they were. I ordered the Mont-Royal Poutine after seeing +Elliott's order come. I ordered the small, and I couldn't believe they had two sizes above that! The poutine was topped with hot dog, bacon, pepperoni, onions, green peppers, and mushrooms (with cheese and gravy of course). Mine had a smaller plate on the bottom for the normal poutine part, while +Elliott ordered the medium and his was just on the big plate. In terms of the toppings though, I think I still had as much as him on my overflowing plates. It was a beautiful and colourful sight of delicious fried up vegetables and meats. The vegetables were cooked perfectly with lots of flavour from the other components. I even enjoyed the bacon as they used large pieces rather than bits. There was a lot of hot dog in there, at least two whole ones but the pepperoni was my favourite part. Only complaint I had was that the cheese was cold underneath all the toppings still, it hardly melted at all. Despite that, the fries were good even though it was lost underneath the mound of everything else that will be clogging my arteries. 

Food: 3.5/5 - Hard to go wrong when the poutine was topped with all that.
Decor: 2/5 - A little run down looking but standard diner appearance.
Service: 3.5/5 - Waitress and wait time was great. Cooks didn't seem like they were fans of us though, maybe because of the language barrier.
Willingness to come back: 3.5/5 - Lots to try here and pretty good prices!
Overall: 3/5
Website: none

Mamie Clafoutis

Date Visited: Lunch on Saturday Aug 3, 2013
Company: Getting a quick meal for a group of 4 before Osheaga

It was our first full day of Osheaga and +Elliott wanted to take us to a nice breakfast place for brunch. We Bixied over to this restaurant on St Denis but was met with disappointment seeing the large line of people waiting outside. Instead ,we went to the Boulangerie next door to grab some French baked goods and enjoy it outside in the park nearby.

The bakery was very spacious and modern, but still had an authentic feeling to it. Upon entering, we had to grab numbers to get our orders taken. All the foods were on display for our choosing and there were tons of options to satisfy what kind of food you wanted: pastries, desserts, breads, they had it all! I decided on a Chicken Curry Sandwich for lunch and a Raisin Roll for some sweetness. The servers were very patient and didn't rush your orders, they even toast the sandwich for you to have it warm. They had an upstairs with a bathroom and I assumed a sitting area but I didn't get to see it. It looked like a large area though so it was probably a nice and comfy cafe area.

We all got our orders and walked over to St Louis Square and sat on the benches to eat our meals. One noticeable thing was that all the breads were extremely fresh. The loaf was delicious, I loved the hardness as it was still chewable but not soft and soggy. The chicken curry in the sandwich was very mild but had nice flavour. The sandwich was actually very large once you start eating it, they put a lot in there! I couldn't finish it all when I still had my Raisin Roll to go. The roll was a pastry dessert coiled up with fillings of raisins and custard between the layers. It was a delicate, but fun roll indeed! The pastry was flakey but the custard added moisture so it didn't fall apart. The taste wasn't overbearing or sweet and had an excellent balance between all elements. I was extremely happy with my lunch choices that day and that we got to go to an authentic french bakery!

Food: 5/5 - I don't know what could've been better!
Decor: 4/5 - Great lighting, space and look.
Service: 3.5/5 - Took some time but mostly from waiting for them to toast the sandwiches, good system of serving people.
Willingness to come back: 3.5/5 - I would eat the same thing again too.
Overall: 4/5
Website: http://mamieclafoutis.com

Buns Hamburger House

Date Visited: Lunch on Sunday Aug 4, 2013
Company: Group of 4, before heading to Osheaga

Right before our last day of Osheaga, we ventured to Sainte-Catherine for lunch and were faced with a slew of different restaurants on the busy street. Of all the options that were proposed by +Elliott, our local expert, we decided on good, cheap burgers. When I checked in on Foursquare for the location, I discovered that Buns has received a lot of praise and according to some, have the best burgers in Montreal. We did notice that it was pretty cheap, $8 for a burger, fries, and drink. But their menu basically started and ended there. I decided to go for a Burger Combo with a Vanilla Milkshake instead which was $11. Also, they don't charge taxes here!

We were in a bit of a rush to catch Frightened Rabbit's set so I felt like the time dragged on while waiting for our burgers to cook. There was only one worker there doing everything and even though it wasn't very busy, we waited about 15 minutes for our orders. We sat at 1 out of the 2 tables at the restaurant, it wasn't big but with only two tables it was pretty spacey, mostly for people to wait for their orders. Even the kitchen area seemed a bit cramped but perfect for only 1 worker. The place is a whole in the wall otherwise, there was nothing appealing about it and it's very drab. The bathroom was also a disaster with no toilet paper. I heard it's open late so I feel like they just didn't clean after the drunk people came in the previous night.

Anyways, back to the food. I had my burger with everything on it and cheese is included in all the burgers. The bun looked very firm and dense which was nice because it didn't get soggy. The burger patty was very flavourful and well done. It's a simple burger but tastes amazing. It didn't look too big but really fills you. The fries were large-cut and the potatoes were so soft and fluffy inside. Some of mine were overcooked but others were perfect. They had a bit of spices on them which gave it a nice bit of flavour. It was hard to finish all of them since they gave you so much but they were really addictive fries. The milkshake was also a great addition, it was very thick and had lots of ice cream. It came in a Styrofoam cup though which was a bit weird.

Food: 4.5/5 - I really enjoyed the food, fries were a bit inconsistent.
Decor: .5/5 - Only plus was that it was roomy.
Service: 2.5/5 - Server was nice but took his sweet time.
Willingness to come back: 3/5 - It's a good eat but there's no other variety to get here other than what I had already.
Overall: 2.5/5
Website: http://bunshamburgers.blogspot.com/

St-Viateur Bagel

Date Visited: Lunch on Friday Aug 2, 2013

Company: Take-out for myself during my lunch work break

I'm a huge bagel fan and I was so excited to have Montreal bagels during my visit on the weekend. While working from +Elliott's on Friday, he recommended St-Viateur Bagel for my lunch and I was more than happy that it was a bagel shop. Nothing better then getting a food item straight from where it's named after, especially when it's hand-made, wood-fire baked, circles of bagel-y goodness. It was 10 minute walk from his place so I ventured down with my Google Maps to find it. Mount Royal is quite a happenin' street and there's a lot of food options all around, it was hard not to stop before I reached it. That's one great thing about Montreal, I find that in Toronto you get so many fast-food chains on the busy streets and less of the unique shops that you have to know where to go to get what you want, as there's less choices all around.

I passed it the first time I walked by because I read the sign as 'Bagel and Cafe', I happened to missed seeing the St Viateur at the top. Upon entering, there was a line to the door but not too many people in the line, so it's a pretty small cafe. The greeter explained to me that you can order bagels on one side and order sandwiches on the other. There's a small sit down area also which was full. I looked on the menu displayed and it was in french so I had to take quite some time to see what I wanted. I didn't think I wanted a sandwich because they looked very filling, I just wanted something simple like a bagel with cream cheese. But after seeing all the sandwiches they were making at the counter, I was definitely debating getting one, but it was hard to just stand there and try to translate what all the ingredients were. So when I ordered, there was some confusion here and there but I ended up getting an All-Dressed Bagel with Pineapple Cream Cheese. They use Philadelphia cream cheese here which is the best but it would be awesome if they had additional flavours because I love those crazy flavoured cream cheeses! I also ordered a side of Macaroni Salad because all the sides looked really fresh and somewhat healthy. These were separate orders so it came out to be a bit less than ordering a sandwich at just under $10. So once I got my order in its container, I headed back to enjoy my lunch while working.

Once I got back, everything had shifted in the large container and it definitely didn't look as good as the plates they were serving the people who were dining in. I put it all on a plate to take a nice pic and then I could finally eat! Though it wasn't as warm and fresh as it might have been if I didn't to have to walk that extra 15 minutes, it was still a delicious bagel. It was probably not the best decision to mix the sweet with the savoury on this one as it was a weird taste combination. Despite that, the bagel was very flavourful and just has that Montreal aroma that you can't get anywhere else. It was toasted nicely and had a mix of different seeds on it. The Macaroni Salad was simple and light, not too much mayo and fresh veggies were mixed in. I liked the shell macaroni pieces and how the onions, corn and carrots were a similar size. Overall, a nice lunch!

Food: 3.5/5 - Fresh salad and home-made bagel, wish I could've enjoyed it right when it was prepared though.

Decor: 4.5/5 - Cutest little cafe with awesome rustic decor, size was my only issue.

Service: 2/5 - A bit trouble with the language barrier but they're really good with moving people in and out of the store.

Willingness to come back: 4.5/5 - I need to try one of those sandwiches and I'm so sad I didn't grab a few bagels to bring home!

Overall: 3.5/5

Website: http://www.stviateurbagel.com/

Schwartz's

Date Visited: Late night meal on Friday Aug 1, 2013
Company: First stop after arriving Montreal with +Elliott

I had visited the infamous Schwartz's once before, about 3 years ago visiting Montreal from Ottawa with some friends I met on co-op. The line was huge to get in and a camera was filming two guys sitting at the counter in this small, packed deli. I just remember that it was the (first, I think, and) best smoked-meat sandwich I had ever had. It was so simple: rye bread, meat, and mustard, but it was so mind-blowingly delicious. Is this what all smoked meat tasted like and I've just been missing out on it all my life?

3 years later and since then, I had smoked meat once again from the Eaton Centre but it was the worst sandwich I'd ever had. So upon my arrival into Montreal on the VIA train on Thursday night for the Osheaga long weekend, +Elliott and I met up and he wanted to go to Schwartz's! He'd never been because of the line but hoped that there would be none this late. We walked there and saw a group standing outside of it. The owner quickly came out and seated them though and we were next. It was still busy, but a few seats were empty! 
The place is quite small and the right half of the store is completely for the kitchen where they prepare the food and you can see stacks of smoked beef on the counters. The other half is rows of tables and you'd usually end up sitting beside a stranger if you're in a small group. There's a menu on two sides of the walls but we also got ones to look at at the table where they came and took our order. We of course went for the Smoked Meat Sandwich and also got sides of Pickle and Coleslaw. Something new since I'd been there last is that the waiter asks you if you want Lean, Medium, or Fatty meat. I went for the lean trying to be healthy...

+Elliott and I both regretted our lean meat decisions because it very dry and not as flavourful. We tried to add more mustard to help it but it didn't really, the bread had more moisture than the beef. It was still excellent smoked meat but wasn't to my preference and I was pretty disappointed especially after my amazing first visit (hopefully it's not one of those 'never as good as the first time' cases). The Pickle, I find is something a lot of people order but I found it watery and wasn't as full of flavour as I'd expected. The Coleslaw on the other hand was some of the best I've had. The flavour was bold and it was so simply made. 

Food: 4/5 - Giving the benefit of the doubt here because my instinct is that my first meal here was excellent (not a pigment of my imagination) despite the downfalls of this last visit.
Decor: 2/5 - Awesome old school decor all around, but way too cramped!
Service: 4/5 - Fast service and owners just seem like awesome guys.
Willingness to come back: 3/5 - I don't think I'd wait in a line here but I'd definitely go again if I could just walk in.
Overall: 3/5
Website: http://www.schwartzsdeli.com/