Vous Etes Ici: Montreal

My favorite part of vacation is the drinking and eating! Here are some highlights from my trip to Montreal with G.


On our first day we came across this little gourmet candy and chocolate street fair. Score! It was coming to a close, so we hurried through and sampled as much as we could (and got stomach aches pretty quickly!) We picked up some chocolate maple fudge and black peppercorn fudge from La Confiserie Wakefield. Both were totally outstanding. I polished off the maple fudge last night and the black peppercorn continues to taunt me from the fridge.


Here's a little chocolate and fudge sampler (with vodka tonic!) I prepared for Kerry over the weekend. Besides the fudge, there's some "cinq epices" chocolate from Suite 88 and Fleur de Sel from Les Chocolates de Chloe, both totally delicious. Suite 88 was fun: we had chocolate shooters, mine full of Absolute Vanilla and G's full of tequila. A total explosion of liquor and chocolate - it was almost too much!


My lone shooter. I really loved Suite 88. The space and their packaging was beautiful, and the chocolate delicious.


An array of chocolate bars from Chloe. I had a hard time picking just one! So cute!


Chocolates from Chloe: fleur de sel flanked by fig and balsamic. The fig and balsamic were brilliant.


My first Croque Monsieur of the trip. Note the tiny mayo container provided with the fries. Delicious. G's veggie pizza is in the background. We also shared a carafe of wine...and we didn't even care that it came out of a box! Vacation has a way of relaxing one's palate a bit! This place was pretty forgettable. It was a last resort after being unable to find another restaurant we were looking for, but we cleaned our plates and polished off the wine nonetheless.


Fries and curry. G had these and a cider at an Irish pub in the horribly touristy area of downtown. We didn't care - we had beer and fries and U2 playing on the jukebox! I was so content, and have made a mental note to buy "Under a Blood Red Sky" as soon as possible.


Cheese plate from Pullman. This was a definite highlight of the trip. Look at those portions! Definitely the biggest portions I've ever had on a cheese plate. We ordered all Quebec cheeses, had delicious red wine, and the waitress gave us free glasses of ice cider for dessert. This place is a must-stop on any Montreal visit. I can't wait to go back!


What visit to Quebec is complete without sampling some poutine? We finally tried some at Cafe Local in the Mile End neighborhood, the sort-of Williamsburg of Montreal, complete with hipsters and orthodox Jewish folks. This is not real poutine, as we got the gravy on the side and they used shredded cheese instead of cheese curds, but we still got the general idea. I poured some gravy on my portion of sweet-potato fries - delicious. Cafe Local was very cute and friendly, and we whiled away nearly two hours with our carafe of wine as it poured rain outside and watched a dog show on TV with the staff.


Cute little shop in the Mile-End.


Show flyer. A sure sign of hipster country.


"Frommage Kraft." Ha!

We had a wonderful Italian meal at Da Emma, despite being soaked to the gills getting lost in the pouring rain trying to find it. It's hidden away, and the guy at the front desk did not give good directions and I forgot to bring my guide book. But it's worth seeking out. I would go back here in a blink.

We again found ourselves having to duck the rain, so we dashed into Gibbys for some wine. Despite being decorated like a 1970's cruise ship lounge, I had a delicious Quebecois wine and the waitresses were very nice and chatty.

My second and impossibly divine Croque Monsieur was at L'Express, a lovely French bistro. Again, good food, good wine, great ambiance. I had one of their house truffles for dessert, which was dusted in unsweetened chocolate and created a cloud of chocolate dust all over my face and hands. Totally mortifying, but worth the embarrassment, although I do hope I never look that ridiculous in front of G again.

Another memorable meal was had at Stash Cafe where we gorged on red wine, pierogies, and potato pancakes while being served by very cute, blond Polish boys that were making me giggle and G roll his eyes (although he was enjoying the view of the twin young ladies across the way from us). And the cute kid at the piano was playing songs from Kid A! Totally amazing.

So, this gastronomically incredible vacation has resulted in my gaining 6 pounds. I'm sure once I go back to my regular diet (that does not include red wine, french fries and chocolate each day) they will fall off. I would go back and do it all over in a heartbeat though, and I'm looking forward to the day that G and I do just that!