The 411 Over on Fairmount, you will find Arts Café. It’s been there for years. I’ve passed by it many times without ever having the time to try it out. One evening, I was cornered by 2 friends saying that I never went to brunch with them. I felt guilty and scared for my life a little so we decided to do brunch and one of them had heard about Art Café so I figured it was finally time to give it a try.

At 1st Glance In the summer you get drawn to the outdoor terrace on the corner of Fairmount and de L’esplanade. It holds a few tables and is a nice trip on a summer day. They have a menu painted on the exterior wall and the interior is large with lots of wood and a funky décor.

Food With prices between $10-$14, you can chose from a variety of classic brunch options with some twists. Coffee is $2.75 and does not come with free refills. The menu has a dozen items and also a dozen add-ons priced anywhere from $1-$3. The menu covers lots of items and gives many of them a twist with small little accents to differentiate them from the normal stuff you see. Other dishes are some that you really never see on a menu and looks the following:

We started with the grapefruit brullee ($5) which is exactly what it sounds like: a grapefruit, half done as a crème brûlée with a sugary top. This is always a fun way to dress up a grapefruit although, eating it was a tad challenging. Even with the serrated spoon, it took lots of time and effort to take pieces out.

We had the Eggs Benedict of the day ($14) which was an english muffin base, hollandaise sauce, hash browns, and baked beans. The hollandaise sauce had a touch of dill in it. The hash brown were not too thick, light and tasty and the presentation was lovely with even small flowers on them.

The buttermilk waffles ($12.50) were topped with whipped cream, roasted nuts and maple syrup. The waffles were perfectly done, striking the right balance between light yet, still having a somewhat firm consistency. This dish is as fun to look at as it is to eat.

We ended with the house classic with meat ($11). Normally, the house classic is $9 but if you want meat, expect to add an extra $2 for your choice of bacon, sausage patty or ham. My friend opted for the sausage patty which is something you usually get in a link form so that is nice to see it done a little differently. The dish itself is a straight up classic eggs and meat dish with some sides which allows for a rounding out a rather well balanced menu.

Service Our waitress was funny and great with water refills. She checked up on us and helped give some suggestions on the menu for those were torn between dishes.

Vegetarian Almost half of the dishes are vegetarian friendly and are rather creative. The spicy miso is a tempting dish to try which we will make sure to do so next time we visit.

Wrap up I liked Arts Café. It has creative dishes and all were tasty. The prices were fair and service was good. I would have liked the coffee to come with free refills, because I love my coffee, but other than that I was happy.

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Price	$$$	$15
Overall		4/5
Wheelchair Access	NO	0/3
Parking	Street, Meter	Medium
BUS	55,363,51,46	Get Directions
Metro	Laurier	9 minutes