CHATEAU ONCLE JAMAL - PERSIAN

 STUB REVIEW:  CHATEAU ONCLE JAMAL

ULTRA-GOOD PERSIAN FOOD

No website yet!
1620A Sherbrooke St. W.

Phone: 514-933-8866

Open: Mon. 5-10 p.m., Tues.-Sun. 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m.

Price range:  $15 or much less per person including one drink, meal, tax, and tip 

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Favorite dish (to date!): Tahchin Gosht

Mouthwatering summary:  Inexpensive, exquisite Persian food in Downtown Montreal
Meal to try:  Tahchin Gosht!

Man alive, I LOVE it when someone of a particular ethnic origin tells me that there's a restaurant that reminds him/her of food from home. Because I will run, NOT walk, to that place in a heartbeat. Such was the case with this awesome, recessed little place called Chateau Oncle Jamal, introduced to me by an Iranian classmate. Basically, I went with him to this restaurant and just asked him to order his favorite dishes here. Now I'm no expert in Iranian cuisine (hell, I'm not even passably competent. I'm downright ignorant when it comes to Persian cooking), but I'm going to come right out and loudly declare that this place is a Persian restaurant if ever there was one.

Because, y'know, my pronouncements on things of which I'm ignorant carry great weight somehow. :p

C THAI - THAI FOOD (KINDA SELF-EXPLANATORY, RIGHT?)

 

STUB REVIEW: C THAI -

GREAT THAI FOOD IN LITTLE ITALY?! 

Their website: http://cthai.ca/ 

7112 St Laurent Blvd, Montréal, QC H2S 3E2
Telephone: (514) 508-3792

Price Range:  $15 or less per person including one drink, meal, tax, and tip  

 
 

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I don't understand the "C".

My favorite dish here: Chicken phad thai!

Mouthwatering summary:  Inexpensive, very tasty Thai food in Little Italy
Meal to try:  The chicken phad thai, with Golden bags as appetizers!

Oh, Montreal. City of culinary wonders. And incongruity. Did I mention the incongruity? Readers of this blog, if any, will remember that my very first individual review was on a French restaurant named Mrs. Amigos that is operated by Chinese staff (see post here:   http://mouthwateringmontreal.blogspot.ca/2013/07/mrs-amigos-delightful-french-restaurant.html ). Well, I believe I've found another. In Montreal's Little Italy, home of Italian cafes, Italian trattorias, and a huge honking soccer store, we have... a LOVELY Thai restaurant named C Thai. 

EN CACHETTE SPEAKEASY - COCKTAIL LOUNGE

  EN CACHETTE SPEAKEASY - 

GREAT DRINKS AND A BURGER TO KILL FOR

Their webpage (not as yet finished):  http://www.encachette.ca/final/

Their Facebook page:  
https://www.facebook.com/pages/En-Cachette/236973259707378

1765 St Denis St, Montreal, QC H2X 3K4    Telephone:  (514) 419-1986

Price Range:  ~$20-30 per person including one drink, meal, tax, and tip

On the approach...

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Past the sign, and on the way down into the speakeasy...

And the burger to KILL for!

Speakeasies have come a pretty long way. Historically, this was a type of bar that illegally sold alcohol during Prohibition. No matter  how many speakeasies were raided by cops, these bars were simply too profitable for their owners to shut down. So, what does this say about human nature? Basically, nothing is going to stop us from having our fun :). Okay. Pseudo-sociologically-valid commentary is now out of my system.

Speakeasies are now (obviously) perfectly legal, and are now fairly synonymous with retro-style, swanky places. And that's pretty much what we have with the En Cachette Speakeasy on St-Denis Street:  Swanky bar, swanky food, and swanky drinks. Now, I have to say, En Cachette is pretty accurately named - it is VERY well hidden. The first time I went was to meet up with ten people, and we ALL walked past the place by accident. But, as we discovered, En Cachette is well worth finding! They have interesting, flavorful drinks and even more flavorful food.

CAFE LOCAL - BURGERS, SANDWICHES, BRUNCH, AND HEARTY FARE

STUB REVIEW: CAFE LOCAL - 

THEIR PULLED PORK MAKES EVERYTHING BETTER

 

Their website:  http://cafelocal.wordpress.com/

200 Rue Saint Viateur Ouest, Montreal, QC H2T 2L4  Telephone:(514) 274-3651

Their menu:  http://cafelocal.wordpress.com/menu-3/

 

Price Range:  ~$15-30 per person including one drink, meal, tax, and tip

 


*This restaurant is a Mouthwatering favorite! 

Two of my fave sandwiches! Black N'Blue and pulled pork!

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Café Local is just lovely. Its staff, decor, and overall ambiance is warm and inviting, and the inclusion of a fireplace makes Café Local a great place for date night in winters. Some years back, I was introduced to this place by a friend who was (and is) a very enthusiastic fan of Café Local. And I have become a big fan ever since myself.

Why? Well, the two words that best describe my first visit are "flavor explosion".  Hell, I came back twice the following week just to have more! Friends, the foods that caused this initial flavor explosion were the pulled pork yam-frie poutine and the pulled pork sandwich served by Café Local.

To illustrate, on a recent trip I got a yam-frie poutine ($8.50) (no pulled pork in this case - I was just recovering from a heavy weekend of celebratory eating - having pulled pork twice in the same meal was just a bit too much) (and for the uninitiated, poutine is a dish of fries topped with gravy and cheese curds or shredded cheese):

Yam frie poutine. Heavenly...

DIABLOS - BBQ SMOKEHOUSE AND COCKTAIL BAR

  SINFULLY DELICIOUS BBQ AND DRINKS:

DIABLOS SMOKEHOUSE AND COCKTAIL BAR

Their Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/DiablosBbq

1693A St-Denis, Montréal QC   Telephone:  514-283-4666

Price Range:  ~$15-30+ per person including one drink, meal, tax, and tip (drinks and meals have a fairly wide range in price).  CASH ONLY!!!

*This restaurant is a Mouthwatering Favorite!
 

Diablos: Meaty, drinky goodness!

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Oh man, where do I even begin...

Let's just start simply and build from there, shall we?

Point the first:  I love this place.

Point the second:  I. LOVE. THIS. PLACE.

Readers of this blog (if any) will have noticed that I loves me some serious meat. There's something just so awesomely satisfying about ripping into a rare t-bone steak or whole bbq chicken. ESPECIALLY if I do it caveman style - no utensils, just my hands and teeth, wrenching and gnawing away! I like finding my inner neanderthal from time to time, y'know? And one of the best places to explore this more primal version of my being is Diablos BBQ Smokehouse and Cocktail Bar.

Rather than jumping into the meat dishes here, I am going to begin by describing the drinks. Specifically, I am starting with a little something called Grace's Apple:

Tastes like liquid apple pie.

PIZZERIA GEPPETTO - PIZZA

STUB REVIEW - PIZZERIA GEPPETTO:

GREAT PIZZA, AND SOMEHOW THEY MADE SALAD TASTE GOOD(!)

Their website:  http://www.geppettopizza.com/

2504 Notre Dame St W, Montreal, QC H3J 1N5    
Telephone:(514) 903-3737

Their menu:  http://www.geppettopizza.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/menu-geppetto-pizza.pdf 

Price Range:  ~$15-$30 per person including one drink, meal, tax, and tip

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Ah... The joys of new discoveries. So, recently I was scheduled to catch up with a former classmate at one of her favorite places. Given the fact that she's had her own foodblog and an award-winning webshow on food, I was inclined to at the very least be intrigued by her recommendation. And so, off I went to Pizzeria Geppetto in Little Burgundy.

One of the first things I noticed (and for which I kicked myself) upon parking in front of the restaurant was that I'd passed this place by like, a MILLION times without ever having gone in. The thing is, there are tons of other places in this neck of the woods that I frequent - two pubs (which I'll blog about later), a brunch place (ditto), a coffee shop, the mother-lovin' Atwater Market, and so on. In fact, after taking a quick little jaunt up and down the street, I realized that Pizzeria Geppetto was the ONLY food/drink place I hadn't visited in the six years that I've been regularly coming to the area. Hm. Always something hiding in plain sight, huh? Well, I certainly had to rectify that mistake!

And so, I walked into the warm and inviting Italian restaurant and sat down. Supper began with appetizers. For me (the carnivore), I ordered the meatballs. I mean, of course I ordered the meatballs ($10). 

The meatballs. Also called "polpettes". Look Ma, I can speak Italian! (... no, no, I really can't)

LE RESERVOIR - MICROBREWERY

 

LE RESERVOIR - 

MICROBREWS, TONS OF PEOPLE, GOOD TIMES

Their website (in French only):  http://brasseriereservoir.ca/
9 Avenue Duluth Est, Montreal, QC H2W 1G6 
Telephone:(514) 849-7779
Price Range:  
Meal - $30+ per person including one drink, meal, tax, and tip
Drinks only - Before 8pm:  $3.50 for a glass of beer, $5.50 for a pint
                     After 8pm:  $4 for a glass of beer, $6 for a pint

 

Exterior, nighttime. Have I EVER been here during daytime?

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Here's a place that hearkens right back to my university days - i.e., a HEAVY drinking period. Just what is it about university life that incites such high volumes of alcohol consumption? Is it the movies, the beer commercials starring schlubby guys and hot women, the WB dramas? Who knows - it just happens, and I got swept along with the massive drinking. I am currently well past those days, and if a pub managed to stay with me till now, it's only because I love the taste of their food or the taste of their beers.With the microbrewery Le Reservoir, it's because I loooooove their beer, especially the cream ale.

Now, one of my buddies is convinced that I still love this place just because it's dark and gloomy. LORDY, the boy don't know me none (I am well aware that the previous sentence was grammatically incorrect. Grammar sticklers:  Down! Down I say!)! Yes, the place is thoroughly dark at night, with candles seemingly purposefully chosen to be poorly illuminating. And, come to think of it, most bars and restaurants that I like and frequent are, coincidentally, dimly-lit. But man alive, I come for here for the beer! The lovely, wonderful microbrewed beer! Drinking microbrews nearly exclusively IS part of my low-rent food snobbery, after all! The darkness is just something I live with to get access to the delicious beer nectar! So, with that in mind, here are my thoughts and impressions of the beers on tap at this place. One of the first things you'll notice coming here is the fact that the place is PACKED and that you might not get a table right away. On a recent trip, me and my drinking companion were crammed into a corner underneath the stairs. That's fine though - still a good view of the action in the place, and besides, I came for the beer. And so, I present their beer menu:

We begin with my absolute favorite here, a glass of cream ale ($4):

Right after serving.

One minute, twenty seconds after serving (yes, I timed it).

VAN HORNE PIZZERIA - PIZZA (WELL, DUH!)

STUB REVIEW:

VAN HORNE PIZZERIA - 

THICK, DELICIOUS, FILLING PIZZA

Their Urbanspoon page:  http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/67/723262/restaurant/Montreal/Outremont/Van-Horne-Pizzeria-Montreal

1505 Van Horne Ave, Outremont, QC H2V 1L4   
Telephone:(514) 277-5555

Their menu:  http://www.urbanspoon.com/cities/67/restaurants/723262/menu_photos/125234 

Price Range:  $15 or less per person including one drink, meal, tax, and tip  
 
*This restaurant is a Mouthwatering Favorite!  

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Ah, pizza. One of the manifold joys in life. I still remember the first pizza I ever ate. It's actually a vivid flashbulb memory. Yes, I know, most people have flashbulb memories about where they were when John F. Kennedy was shot or when Princess Diana died. Me? I have flashbulb memories for food.   ...I really do march to the beat of a different drummer, don't I?:P.  

Anyhow,  I was all of six years old, and Dad had brought home a greasy, topping-heavy all-dressed pizza with a very thick and chewy crust. In one bite, I became a demon possessed. I couldn't stop eating it, and I licked the plate so clean it glistened in the afternoon sun. I've been a pizza believer ever since (did I just make pizza sound vaguely spiritual?!). I keep on trying new pizza places - well, most pizza places. Not chain pizzerias (I'm slightly mildly snobbish about food, I know). I've come to appreciate both thick greasy pizzas and the more delicate thin-crust pizzas cooked in "authentic" ovens. Van Horne Pizzeria is an unassuming, sparsely-appointed restaurant that serves the thick greasy type of pizza. And it is GLORIOUS, and it is inexpensive, which makes it even more glorious!

On a recent visit, me and an eating companion got a 10" Sicilian pizza and a 10" Special Van Horne to share. Here are the pizzas!

Sicilian ($10.95):

Whoever came up with the idea of putting anchovies on pizza is a genius, I tell you!