St Viateur Bagel Cafe - A Montreal legend since 1957

The 411

After a grueling 18k morning run followed by 90 minutes of trying to survive 52 degrees of a hot yoga session, we made our way to NDG for some much needed refueling. I had not eaten a single thing since the night before and was physically exhausted which usually make for a bad combo. There are only a few places in NDG left that I have not reviewed and St Viateur Bagels & Cafe is one of them. You may know St Viateur as the same people who make Montreal’s best bagels, but did you know they opened up a two cafes? One on 127 Mont. Royal East and this one at 5629 Monkland Avenue.

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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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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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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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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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Chocola - More than just cupcakes

The 411

With my friend having recently moved to NDG I realized that I had neglected the west end of the city in regards to the various places I have reviewed, so we decided to take a nice sunny Saturday and walk around Monkland village in NDG. The advantage of getting out of you car and exploring is that you can find those little gems you would not find driving around and focusing mainly on finding a parking spot. So with our minds set on a brunch adventure, we walked around looking for something well priced, tasty, different and preferably with a terrace. Then that’s where we found it - kind of like the last cookie in the cookie box when you are really hungry - Cho Cola called out to us.

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New Look Same site

So after a little more than 1 year of reviewing I felt it was time to change things up and upgrade the site. Over the last few weeks you may have noticed new functionality such as categories listed by rating as well as by location and price. I also included two maps of brunch places sorted by area (one of greater Montreal, the other for the Plateau and Mile end)

As of Sunday evening May 10 2009 I pushed the button and version 2 went online. There are some improvements that will help you navigate the site with more ease and find what you need. I listed the most popular links under the header, added a contact sheet so that people who are not on Twitter or in the Facebook group and  don’t find their question relevant to the site posts can email me their questions. You will also note a coffee cup rating section above the “post a comment” section which allows you to chime in and give your own rating as well as comment (this section will get expanded with time).

Aesthetic changes were something else I wanted to improve on. I tried to keep the nice yellow & orange “brunchy” theme from the old page yet I wanted something that looked nicer and displayed more info so people could find it more easily. New additions to this included the “quick summary overview” where you can see the last few posts. They are displayed by showing a quick snap shot of the text and image so you can click to see the (more…)

As sweet as its name

The 411

One of the better known brunch places in the West End, Orange Cafe has made a name for itself not only in NDG but across the city. Now having heard many good reviews of this place I had never actually been so you can imagine my excitement when two of my friend suggested that we go
there. What came after was quite the culinary experience.

At 1st glance

Once you walk up to Orange Cafe you wonder what is so special about this place since the front is not that assuming nor is the area in general. The inside is a simple setup of banquet seats and some tables, nothing fancy, although they do have wheelchair access which is a nice touch. (more…)

Home of the legendary Mish Mash

The 411

Cosmos is a place that you will likely have heard of as a Montreal Legend, a small 11 stool greasy spoon that serves up some really well priced egg dishes and their famous Mish Mash.

At 1st glance

As you pass by Comos you have to look carefully as the sign is faded. There’s Christmas decorations in the window and the interior looks like a textbook greasy spoon. So why go in, you ask yourself? Well, put your doubts aside and get in line, you are about to experience Montreal Breakfast history. In the summer there are a couple tables outside and during the winter there’s a line-up. This is not your typical go eat, get comfy and read a newspaper place; this is a get in, place your order, sit, eat, pay and leave kind of place. The turnover is quite fast and the line-up is usually 20 minutes.

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UPDATE Feb 11 2009

Serre Picasso has closed it door more information on this check out a special post on it here.

Kicking it old skool

The 411

All the way in NDG on St Jacques street, surrounded by motels and next to a strip joint, Picasso’s is one place you would never consider walking into; unless you are using one of the other 2 fine establishments previously mentioned, or you are familiar with the legend that is Picasso’s. Any Montrealer at one point or another has heard of Picasso’s with its 24 hours, 7 days a week breakfast for a fair price. It is a veritable landmark where people will come in at all hours to eat and it’s one of the few places in the city where you can eat breakfast at 3 A.M.

At 1st glance

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