Saloon – So where do I park my horse?

The 411

Saloon was a name I had heard of on two occasions which made me somewhat curious. So when my friend mentioned it again to me recently I figured maybe we could all go out and check it out. The village is not an area I go too often; it’s kind of in between the east end spots I go to and the west end ones. Any chance I get to do a review a brunch spot here is always welcoming since I know there is a good amount of restaurants and each time I have gone, I have always had a good meal. During the summer they close off Ste. Catherine street to cars in the village. Normally, I would complain whenever they close streets in the summer; I mean, half the streets are under construction and now, those I can use are now closed. However, I must admit, closing this part of Saint Catherine is a good idea since there is still ample parking in surrounding areas and some of it is still free. Also, walking down Ste.Catherine on a sunny day is such a nice experience which makes easing into one’s morning brunch that much better.

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Cafe Melies – An unexpected treat on St-Laurent

The 411

On one of the first nice warm days of the spring we were lucky enough to be out for brunch. We needed somewhere new, somewhere decent somewhere that wasn’t our run-of-the-mill spot. As of recently I have been going to many new and unique places but there are lots of spots out there that have similar menus which sometimes puts me in a brunch rut and in need of inspiration. I went to my brunch map which has all the brunch places in Montreal including those that I have review and those that I need to review. As I analyzed it I saw Café Melies, a place that I read about on forums that got decent reviews. Café Melies is a restaurant next to the eXcentris theatre. You have likely passed by it dozens of times without ever going in. It’s situated north of Sherbrooke and south of Prince Arthur right before you get to all the clubs and bars but after all the supper clubs.

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Le Montrealais – A classy all you can eat buffet

The 411

All you can eat brunch buffets, often those few words can increase my anxiety more than hearing “we need to talk”. You may ask why would such a few tasty words cause so much grief? I will answer that with two words quality and quantity. Most buffets offer the latter quantity but when it comes to quality they are lacking. I have found that most all you can eat buffets have food that is too mass prepared and is not fresh enough let alone warm enough. Now le Montrealais has a reputation of excellence when it comes to brunch buffets I mean it is situated in the Queen Elizabeth hotel, which is a five star hotel so you can imagine what kind of food one would expect. So with the bar set nice and high lets see if we can take the edge off those six words.

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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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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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100 Secrets – A secret no more

**UPDATE – CLOSED**

The 411

In a continued attempt to expand the geographical area of brunch reviews, I headed to the gay village in hopes of showcasing some good brunch places that people may not know about. There are some nice little restaurants in the gay village many of which are tucked away on side streets that don’t get as much attention as those in the plateau. 100 secrets is an original selection from a friend of mine who had done some serious brunch research and provided some much welcomed new locations for future reviews.(You can check out my brunch map for all locations)

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La Fabrique – Where meal ideas are made daily

The 411

A while ago a friend of mine told me about this place called La Fabrique where the interior is almost as interesting as the food. With its constantly changing menu and interesting and funky approach to cooking combining different flavours and styles, I felt that this would be an interesting place to check out their brunch as well as the main courses. Now, brunch is only offered once a week on Sundays and this makes it difficult for me since I don’t always have time for brunch on Sunday but somehow it happened this week and I had an opening. Unfortunately, it came a day after an article in the gazette had appeared about the place (I knew I shouldn’t have waited all that time). Not to be deterred by not being one of the first ones to write about I was still committed to going and off I went in search of a culinary adventure.

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Burgers & Benedicts – Much more than just burgers

The 411

For almost one year I have had my co-worker ask me to review Burgers & Benedicts. Being one of her favourite places, I got to hear one of the best pitches for how good it was. Now, there’s two things in this world I can’t say no to; one is food; and the other is a new place to have brunch (technically they can be considered the same thing but who cares). So one day we got some co-workers together and went out check it out.

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Fruit Folie – Bursting with fruit

The 411

St-Denis is a street where all you need to do is walk a little bit and find a nice gem of a place to eat, and brunch is no exception to this rule. Fruits de Folie falls into this category by providing well priced food and tons of fruit on most of your plates (as the name implies). Although this is my first time coming to Fruits de Folie, I know a lot of people who have spoken about it for quite some time now, and the peer reviews all follow a similar theme of lots of fruit and very affordable. Now since I can’t disagree with those two ideals, off I went exploring.

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Breakfast on the go

The 411

Often we find ourselves rushing off to work in the morning without the time to eat a real breakfast. I myself value those extra few minutes of sleep, as opposed to sitting down and spending that time fueling up for the rest of the day, so the concept of a real breakfast on the go seemed like an interesting idea so I went off to see how it worked.

At 1st glance

Once you walk in you notice you are a half floor up from the street level, giving you an excellent vantage point for people watching if you wish to sit down and eat. Both the east and west wall have a mural of a black and white photograph of what De Maisoneuve would look like if there was no wall blocking the view. It’s pretty cool and if you look at the west wall you can see a photoshoped license plate with the resto’s name on it. Wrapcity is in essence both a sit down and a to go concept; they also have digital menu boards at the counter with the menu displayed on 3 LCD’s as well as 3 LCD’s on the east and west side showing TV programs. (more…)