The 411 – The Old Port has, over the years, brought the city a resurgence in good food. Historically known as a tourist trap, it has shaped its own identity among locals who have moved into the area drawn by new restaurants. When one looks back a couple years ago, one would not see that many fine dining spots but now things have changed for the better. There are finally new, hip and unique spots opening up and they offer food you will enjoy. So, when my friend told me that a new place opened up nearby, I was excited.

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Le vieux Vélo

The 411

Le vieux Vélo, has been on my list of spots for a while and there has been talk about it on various sites and forums. The reviews have always seemed positive. It is situated in the meeting point of little Italy and Rosemont/Petite Patrie (well technically it’s in Petite Patrie), which are two spots with a need for more quality brunch places. To date, everything I had heard had mentioned good eggs Benedict. As you may know, that is my favourite dish. I will often try other dishes and try to get as many different ones as possible but I keep coming back to eggs Benedict so when people tell me I need to check out the eggs Benedict at a new brunch locale, I get curious and hungry.

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Bistro Lustucru – A rare treat

The 411

Over the years, I have reviewed 175 brunches and I have likely eaten at over 200 different spots. In fact, my blood hollandaise levels would likely put fear in the hearts of any doctor. I find that, at some point, my pace of reviews will exceed the available amount of decent brunches. So, in a hope of offering you something a little newer and fun, I will try to review some pop up brunches. Pop up brunches are brunches that are not offered regularly that can be special events or rarely occurring events. The hope is to offer you something very new and interesting that you may want to try. I initially had something like this when I did the brunches at festival de lumieres back in 2011. I realized that there are some spots that I was curious to see how they handle brunch. When one of my friends told me about Caroussel events , I looked into it and saw that there was a brunch at Lustucru, which is a spot that I had eaten dinner at a while ago and was curious on what sort of brunch would appear on their menu.

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NO LONGER SERVES BRUNCH

La Bêtise – No lies on a solid meal

The 411

VillerayRosemont/petite Patrie is an area that has been expanding recently. It’s an old neighbourhood, which, only as of recently, has started changing – new bars, restaurants popping up, and a slew of condos. With the Jean Talon market nearby and metro access, I’m sure you can understand why people are making the move here. If you had asked me when I started this site years ago what there is to eat for brunch, I would have said almost nothing. But now, it’s a whole new scene. Betise is one of these recent additions to the brunch scene. Situated on St Hubert it, as well as other spots, breathe new life into a previously dying street.

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Delta Tour De Ville – Brunch with a 360 degree view

The 411

All-you-can-eat Brunch Buffets, those few words can bring joy and pain to different people. Joy, because it’s all you can eat as much as you want, and you get value on food; pain because the quality of the food can take a back seat depending where you go. Delta’s has been offering brunch for as long as I can remember but I never had a chance to try it out since I generally needed a reason to go to an all you can eat brunch on account of the price being more than a normal brunch at a regular restaurant.

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Le Jurancon – A Marseille inspired brunch

The 411

Fine French dining meets brunch – often a pairing you don’t see on a regular basis. Interestingly, brunch is not native to France and although there are more and more spots that offer brunch nowadays you would not associate it with a small little French bistro. So, when I heard that Le Jurancon was offering brunch, I was quite curious. How would it pair French dining with brunch? What ingredients and what surprises would we be in store for, and how is it that a French restaurant finds itself in the eastern part of the city? This and many more we hope to answer as well give you some idea of what Le Jurancon has to offer.

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Vic Market- A great post workout brunch

The 411

Every once and a while we hear of a spot in Westmount that offers brunch. This is a treat because Westmount is so small and has limited areas where there are restaurants, since the rest is primarily residential. In this case, it helps that our editor extraordinaire Kara takes works at the gym in Victoria Park and told me that they opened a café downstairs that does brunch. I had stopped in for a snack at the café before and liked its décor as well as the food so I was curious to see how a café tied to a gym would handle brunch since it’s generally not the healthiest meal of the day.

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Chez Gauthier – A gem hidding in plain sight

The 411

Hidden in the McGill ghetto Chez Gauthier has been around since the 70’s yet few people would know that it serves up brunch. In fact, while I was at McGill most people living in the ghetto would go to the same spots and likely walk by this place countless times. Little did I know then that there was brunch to be had here, and not only is it a good deal, it is a very enjoyable experience both for food and dining.

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Sheraton Laval – Restaurant La Piazza

The 411

All-you-can-eat buffets are something you won’t find much of on this site. It’s mainly because of two things: firstly they cost way more (remember I pay for all my meals and my guests meal as well) and secondly, I find that quality takes a back seat when you try to feed so many people. I have been going to brunch at the Sheraton for years, usually Mother’s day and or Father’s day is spent here and my family has liked it for quite some time so I know the meals there in quite detail.

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Pastis – Culinary Excellence in NYC

The 411

On a recent trip to New York we ran into some weather issues, and by weather issues we mean Hurricane Irene. We had some ambitious brunch exploration plans but the day before the hurricane was scheduled to make landfall, we had to make the tough decision of heading home, but not before we went for brunch on the way out. I LOVE brunch in New York especially when I get a chance to check out a spot that is well regarded in New York food circles. New York has so many options for food and there are always new spots popping up everyday so doing a foodie brunch at least once was necessary.

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