Wienstein & Gavinos - A Crescent street legend tries out Brunch

The 411

I find often that many places flirt with the idea of adding brunch to the menu. As you know, I am a huge fan of this since I like the fact that the more places that are offering brunch the more choice we get. It is better for everyone with a morning hankering. Now, my friend let me know that Wienstein & Gavino’s had begun offering a brunch of sorts - well - it’s actually a Frittata menu. Normally I am not a huge omelette fan but, I did want to check this and see how Wienstein and Gavino’s would pull of brunch.

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Mesquite - Down South Cooking in the West End

The 411

On the outskirts of NDG bordering Westmount, you will find Mesquite which it can be best described as Southern BBQ with a jazz motif. I am sure you are asking yourself how does one combine down south BBQ and brunch? While both seem to have quite different flavours yet quite tasty in their own way, the idea of them sharing a plate is quite odd. As a result, with this culinary question in my mind, it felt like a good idea to check it out.

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Ben and Florentine - New addition to the West Island

The 411

A recent addition to the West Island, Ben and Florentine is a restaurant with three locations and a half dozen on the way. The West Island is an interesting spot for Brunch because you have a large population and a relatively small amount of breakfast places in relation to that population. So, when Ben and Florentine opened up it added some variety and choice for lots of hungry West Islanders.

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B&M - NDG Brunch here we come

The 411

B&M is well known in NDG as a good place to get some morning food. It has a reputation of having good price and taste, and to be honest NDG does have some decent breakfast/brunch places but it could always use a few more. In my mission to check out all brunch places in each part of the city, B&M seemed like a logical choice. Take caution because there are two B&M locations: one at 5800 Sherbrooke original one at take out/delivery (with seating) and the restaurant 6200 Somerled. We initially went to the Sherbrooke location then 2 weeks later went to the Somerled location. Interestingly, the experience at both places was night and day so this will be an odd review for me. With that said, bear with me as I go over the good and not so good. Needless to say one location is better than the other but which one is it? Only one way to find out: keep reading.

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Universel - A Universe of Brunch on St Denis

The 411

For the longest time I have heard about Universel, a breakfast place on St Denis that seems to have quite a loyal following, similar to some of the popular Mount Royal or Bernard street places. I felt it was only fair to give it a try and see what keeps people coming back to it. I originally found out about this place on some food forums that I follow; it seems to be popular in certain circles but still off of other peoples radars so checking this place out and sharing it with others may be a tasty idea. You may have likely walked or driven by this place tons of times, it’s near the Square St Louis park as well as steps away from the Sherbrooke metro.

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Ye Old Orchard - More than just a morning pint

The 411

Once upon a time on drunken St Patrick’s Day a bunch of my friends and I got up bright and early and had an Irish breakfast, at Ye Olde Orchard Pub. I had never eaten Irish breakfast before and was very curious about it. We all ordered different dishes but none of us were brave enough for the green eggs and ham. Since then I have a feeling that I failed at something and I needed to step back onstage and show that I could eat it no matter how weird and Dr Seuss-esque it sounds like. So on one of my previous forays into NDG, I saw that the Ye Old Orchard pub served breakfast on the weekends, and since I was meeting up with one of my friends from NDG and we both wanted something new for brunch , the choice seemed obvious.

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Dupond and Dupont - At TMR Brunch experience

The 411

The town of Mount Royal is not an usually associated with brunch In fact, it’s seen as a suburb with limited shops and a mall nearby; one would assume that if you lived in TMR and wanted a decent breakfast/brunch you would have do go to the Plateau to get some food. Although just recently two of my friends told me they had lunch at this amazing place called Dupond & Dupont and they saw that there was a weekend brunch menu. So armed with the fact that lunch was a success in addition to the fact that I always wanted to find a brunch place in TMR, we planned to take a trip and check it out.

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Benedicts - An NDG Brunch Champion

The 411

In following with an attempt to give more geographically balanced brunch reviews across Montreal, I returned to NDG with a mission, to review one of the most talked about places in the western end of the Island and seeing if this NDG sensation can compare to some of the better breakfast and brunch places Montreal has to offer. Benedict’s has some good feedback both online and from people who live in the area and a while ago when I was passing through NDG I was in this area and was curious by what I saw. A visit was definitely in order..

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Crescendo - Waterfront fun in Verdun

The 411

I often get challenging requests to find particular brunch places with various menu items, budgets, times of day, all you can eat buffet, and geographic areas. Now, I must say that I’m pretty good with most of these and especially when it comes to various boroughs in Montreal EXCEPT for when it comes to Verdun. Verdun is like a black hole where maps are wrong, addresses are messed up and street signs are flat out missing. While visiting a friend in Verdun, I was able to show her a couple of brunch places and trust me, there weren’t many. I had recently came across this web site called shoestring Montreal that showcases inexpensive and tasty places to go to around Montreal (BTW - check it out). On that site we saw a posting for this place in Verdun that did brunch by the water. We were so curious and excited about this that we decided to check it out.

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Miami Deli - 24 hour breakfast here we come.

The 411

Since the closing of Picasso’s there has been a gap in the 24 hour breakfast department. Some places will offer an all-day breakfast option but few do a true 24/7 breakfast - you know the kind that is willing to serve up eggs at 3 A.M after you’ve had a long night of drinking because nothing helps sober you up like late night eggs and sausage. These places are usually inexpensive, quick, and convenient which is usually associated with being “OK” in the food department although at 3 AM you are usually not really that picky. So, when I heard that Miami Deli is one of those places that can fill that late night breakfast necessity, I felt that it needed to be checked out and see how it stacked up. This time, I was fortunate enough to go with a large group of people since we also used the location to have a meeting for a fundraiser my friend was organizing, it’s a fundraiser run to New York for Canadian Athletes in the 2010 Olympics, the event is called Running for Athletes (check it out it’s a good cause).

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