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/

Kama

Date Visited: Late dinner on Thursday Jul 25, 2013
Company: Post-TIFF stuff meal with +Lilian

+Lilian and I were in the King West area looking for a place to eat after my TIFF volunteer session and her work shift. After a while of wandering and not stumbling upon any restaurants that gauged our interest, we settled on an Indian place on the corner of King and University. It was located on the lower level of the streets, a bit hidden amongst other restaurants. It advertised a buffet, but we weren't feeling hungry enough for AYCE. We still decided to check out the a-la-carte menu and since it wasn't out of our price range, we decided to grab a table. 

The restaurant was very big and stretched very far back. I didn't expect it to get as much traffic as it seems it does with its size, most restaurants in the area (even buffets) seem to be smaller. The place was pretty empty as it was an hour to closing so we got a roomy corner booth table. They didn't really have any outstanding decor and everything was pretty yellow but it was very nicely lit.
We decided on getting the Butter Chicken and Saag Paneer after a bit of discussion between us about what things were and what we were feeling. We asked the waiter if rice was included in the dishes but the he advised it wasn't. We then ordered Naan which comes with 6 pieces but he advised that we'd need more so we went with two orders of the plain. 

The wait wasn't too bad, but it's how long I'd expect to wait during prime hours. They brought out gas-light candles to keep the dishes warm just before they served them which was a nice indication the food was coming. The Butter Chicken was very different than any other butter chicken I had had before. It was quite sweet and had a strong tomato paste taste. It was tasty but reminded me of the Chef Boyardee beefaroni or ravioli sauce. The actual chicken was very juicy and tender with large pieces. The Saag Paneer had a good portion of cheese to sauce but we added some salt because it was lacking significantly. I enjoyed the thick texture though as it made it easier to dip. The Naan was warm when we got it but after sitting on the table during eating, it quickly got hard and cold. By the end of our meal, it was very hard to bite off pieces from it. We tried to finish the chicken but left the paneer to take home. 

Food: 1.5/5 - Our dishes weren't the best, there was something off about all of them.
Service: 2.5/5 - Service was decent, friendly waiters.
Decor: 2.5/5 - Extremely spacious, but lacking anything else.
Willingness to go back: 3.5/5 - I'd definitely try the buffet to see what that's like in comparison.
Overall: 2.5/5
Website: http://www.kamaindia.com/