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...

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!

FAVORITE PUBS & BARS, PART 1

FAVORITES! 

PUBS AND BARS PART 1

Update August 9, 2013:  This list was originally part of a two-part favorites post, along with Japanese food. It now has its own page. The link is here:  http://mouthwateringmontreal.blogspot.ca/2013/07/favorites-part-2.html . Maps and more places have been added. Don't say I never do anything for you guys!

PUBS AND BARS

1)L'Amère à Boire - Microbrewery and Pub - Quartier Latin

Their website:

http://www.amereaboire.com/index.php?page=stout-imperial&hl=fr_FR 

2049 Rue Saint-Denis, Montréal, QC H2X 3K8   
Telephone:(514) 282-7448

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Oh, how I do love this place. They make a collection of their own beers (in fact, they don't serve anything they don't make, as far as I know), and they serve some pretty delectable food to go with it.  A perpetual favorite combo of mine there is the rabbit burger with a pint of Cerna or a pint of Imperial Stout. But really, try all the beers - they offer them all in convenient, inexpensive sampling sizes (but which are still fairly substantial for a sample). Or, go hog wild and order pitchers if you're with friends. My blog post on it: http://mouthwateringmontreal.blogspot.ca/2013/08/lamere-boire-microbrewery.html

FAVORITE HAMBURGER JOINTS!

FAVORITES:  HAMBURGERS (YOU WILL NOT FIND FAST FOOD CHAINS ON THIS LIST, LEMME TELL YA)

I have this friend who, by all appearances, cares a little too much about his appearance at times. His hair's pretty obviously very coiffed (with nary a single hair out of place or yielding to the blowing wind), he takes care to always dress in clothes that highlight his trim physique, and he maintains a pretty careful diet. I mean, seriously, at one point the boy knew the calorie count of orange juice, ferchrissake. Yeesh.

That said, he does have at least one weekly indulgence - hamburgers and french fries. The problem? He used to get this fix at McDonald's. UGH. I had to re-educate the boy, post-haste. The following list was basically what I threw at him, just before I started dragging him by the ear to get some real fast food (seriously, if you're going to indulge, why would you indulge in McDonald's of all things? The stuff's terrible. Are their french fries even organic anymore? Morgan Spurlock left his fries out for two and a half months and the stuff didn't even show a single speck of mold. There's something seriously wrong with food that refuses to decompose - if even mold, nature's eaters of the dead, won't touch your food, why in the HELL are YOU touching it, idiot? I mean, just look at this! http://youtu.be/4wmac-INoXg

*ahem* Sorry, that paragraph kinda ran away from me there.

So, with that out of my system, here are my favorite hamburger spots in the city.

L'Anecdote - Plateau Mont-Royal
Their Urbanspoon website: http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/67/722607/restaurant/Montreal/Plateau-Mont-Royal/Restaurant-LAnecdote-Montreal
801 Rue Rachel East, Montreal, QC H2J 2H6  Telephone: (514) 526-7967


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I've already done a review on this place (see http://mouthwateringmontreal.blogspot.ca/2013/07/stub-review-lanecdote-excellent.html ), but this definitely bears mentioning:  EAT THEIR HAMBURGERS AND DO IT NOW. Especially, their venison burger. This is a tiny diner with fantastic burgers and fries cooked in peanut oil. Their burgers are nice and thick and served in nice, chewy buns. They do have other food, but I can't comment on those items because I can never resist their burgers. So, uh, go. Now. Don't walk. Run!