Montreal Pool Room

It was time for lunch with ma Jer bear again and he suggested Montreal Pool Room, 'Montreal's classy greasy goodness'. I am not a HUGE fan of the whole pataterie craze, but as he said, they were the FIRST one in Montreal, opened since 1912! Dang! It was definitely worth the go then! I was convinced in 2.5 minutes.

Montreal Pool Room has how many pool tables, you ask? Zero. None. Nil. Apparently they used to have some in the good ol' days but those days are long gone and they kept the name. As soon as you enter, you KNOW they've been there for a while. And you KNOW you'll get a good dog. Yes, I'm so cool that I call a 'hot dog', a 'dog' now.

This place looks uber popular amongst everyone, of every age. Old guys that used to go there with their parents in 1945, teens that are hanging out near that corner, middle-aged adults, and I'm sure you'll see some prostitutes and strippers at some point during the day/night! It has lovely pastel walls with frames that have been there for a long while, maybe since forever even. Maybe since the dawn of time, who knows.

I think the coolest thing there was THE CLAW!!! You know, like in Toy Story! What? I like a good kids' movie, ok?

I had one hot dog steamé because I damn had to, and also because when I told Jer I was gonna have two grilled and he judged me with his eyes first and then he judged me verbally. SO, I had one grilled, one steamé and some French fries. Well, they were the best hot dogs I've had in a long time. The grilled one was nice and crunchy and the steamé one, dare I say it, was nice and steamy. The fries were really perfect, especially when we added paprika (didn't know that was a thing!) and a bit of vinegar! The onion rings that Jer bear had were crunchy and onion-ring-perfection but there weren't enough, I found. We saw some men that were obviously regulars that would put a fry or two right ON their hot dog. Hum. Obviously, we had to try it. And I think this should be on the menu. Or, you know, you can just take a fry, add a fry :p

Service was grumpy, but I expected nothing less. Just crack a little smile, will ya? No? Oh, okay.

And now, the scores!

Food: 8
Service: 5.5

I've tried it and now we can move on to another restaurant :)

Dirty Dogs

Another day, another lunch date with Jer bear. This time, we decided to go non-Asian. I know, I know, it's suuuuper surprising! We wanted to go to the Just For Laughs restaurant on St-Laurent BUT it was closed. We have such luck with restaurants: some are closed for private events, some... are just closed.

Dirty dogs is a new-ish sort of cantine/pataterie. It has vibrant red chairs, a chill ambiance and Bob Marley playing. My kind of place. The only thing missing was the wacky tobacky (yes, I can call it that because I'm OLD).

One of the best thing was a wall filled with celebrities eating hotdogs and hamburgers, including our beloved little Canadian megastar (I think it's safe to call him that), Justin Bieber. We obviously had to take a pic.

The menu is quite extensive, offering up lots of burgers, hot dogs, fries, onion rings, etc. Staples with a twist. I had Le Boss: Dr Pepper chili, chopped onions, orange cheddar, coleslaw, sausage, and Dirty Dogs mustard. Because what good pataterie doesn't make their own condiment? The fries were nearly perfect: hot and crunchy!! The coleslaw was a tad too sweet for me (and for Jer bear) and the mustard was great and not too hot, although I do appreciate a hot mustard from time to time. Yes, I like it HOT. The chili was on the awesome side of things: the Dr Pepper made it a bit sweet and the meat was very well seasoned. The pork sausage was very moist and not dry at all (hello, opposites!). I just hate a dry sausage. Wait, this sh*t just got sexual. I retrieve my last comment. I thought that the bread could have been grilled; it would've made the whole thing much better. I mean, who likes eating soggy bread? WHO? I demand to know! With all the juices in there, it started falling apart quite quickly.

Service was meh. We were seated right away, but let's face it... not too hard to do when there's only one occupied table. We didn't get our water refilled and the service was quite slow when it came to getting our food. Did I mention only 2 tables (including ours) were occupied? Yes, yes I did.

And now, the scores!

Food: 7.5
Service: 6.5


 

J'm la frite

Sometimes, I just need some good fries. And where else to go but J'M la Frite? OK, that's a stupid question... there are a LOT of places to hit up some good fries in Montreal. In Verdun and Pointe St-Charles only, there are about 12. I am not even kidding.

As soon as I entered the resto, I somewhat regretted it. Everything was soooo old. And dusty. AND old. The décor is really lovely though. OK, I'm clearly kidding. Everything should be changed. Everything. Ugh. I'm sorry, but those fake flowers have been there fore roughly 10 to 20 years. They have accumulated so much dust that the dust has become an extension of said flower. The peach walls hurt my eyes, and the frames on the walls were so damaged by the sun and time that the pictures had almost disappeared. True story. Everything is rickety and the whole place would need a hell of a makeover. Example: when the guy sitting in the booth in front of me moved, I moved. Yish!

I was there to eat the fries of course. I tried to order merguez sausages but they didn't have em'. You know when you want to order something and you're excited about it and they're out? Sucks.

So, I had le burger and les fries. The potatoes were perfect. Crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside! The meat was a bit dry and it was a basic, really basic, uber basic burger. Oh and to top it off, a nice little Kraft Single in there. Aaaand I was 5 years old again. Needless to say the burg (ya, I'm using 'burg' now) was a letdown.

Service was ok. I guess. The guy clearly did not belong there. I would have seen him more as a bell boy for the Ritz. He was forty ish and French and, well, I don't know why, but it was whhheird. He was not very present and seemed to spend most of his time either in the kitchen or seated in a booth at the entrance.

And now, the scores!

Food: 6 Fries save the day again!
Service: 5.5

I can tell you I shant go back. I don't even need to think about it.

Greenspot

Who should be your best friend when you're hungover? Well, the fastest, most greasiest food, of course! And if you think McDonald's is your only option (it IS a good option), think again.

Greenspot must be close to 70 years old. Iz old. And it LOOKS old. And a tad dingy. They have done some small renos but the seats and tables are screaming out for more. Screaming. Out. "Heeeelp me!" Anyway, they should totes do something. The noise from dishes being cleaned and polished and put away was loud enough to a: make me wonder if there was any music playing at all and b: feed my headache.

I got in and waited at least 2 or 3 minutes before one of the 5 or 6 waitresses noticed me and sent me to a table that was only to be cleaned about 5 minutes after that. And by cleaned I mean she got to my table, took the paper placemat and gave me the 'unused' one that was in front with those utensils. Guys, it's possible I ate with used cutlery. Bah.

I finally got the menu from the unsmiling waitress. She actually looked a bit mean. Maybe it was a bad day. Oh, and the menu was right next to me. Hahaha! The whole time, I was fuming because she wasn't giving me a menu and then BAM: proof that my hungover self ain't the smartest cat in the world.

I ordered what every hungover-in-need-of-grease person would: fries and hotdogs! The fries were really awesome and big and hand cut. Ah, hand cut fries, a lost art. They were near perfect: only lacking a bit of salt. I obviously didn't eat half of them because if I had, well, I would have gained a good 12 pounds. Totes serious. I had the grilled hot dog and not the steamed one: I prefer my bread grilled. The bread was great and crunchy, the wiener (hehe, wiener!) was not the best but not the worse I've had, the sauerkraut tasted a tad old and over fermented at first but became better as I ate more of it.

Service was no good. I'm serious, eating in a diner should be akin to the Asian dining experience: quick and efficient. Instead, I got no water, no smile, and there was a possibility I was eating with dirty cutlery. Yuk.

And now, the scores!!

Food:6.5
Service:5

I tried it, I won't be going back. I'll go to McDonald's instead! 

Moe's diner

Isa and I wanted to find a breakfast spot to eat at before going to an early movie at the Forum. Well, Moe's was an easy (and cheap) choice! This place is located about 3 steps away from the cinema and 10 steps away from Concordia (oh and 20 steps away from McGill).... I MAY be exaggerating :)

I'd safe to say this place is more like a good dive. At first glance, it seems run down and dirty. Hopefully, it's not all that dirty.  This restaurant is in a basement, with many hockey related posters on the wall, broken jukeboxes and around 30 seats. But the important part is that it's opened 24/7, since, like, forever.

The waitress came to give us some water and the menus in between chats with regulars sitting at the bar area. We both had the same thing, except I, as per usual, had to make my breakfast bigger. So I added sausages and an egg :p

I don't order milkshakes often but I can tell you this one was good! It was thick chocolaty goodness. It was ice cream in a glass!!! Isa thought it was fine but that the ice cream stayed at the bottom and there was nothing left but foam and bubbles on top.

I had 2 eggs, bacon, sausages and potatoes. No fuss, no veggies, no fruits. The sausages were regular breakfast sausages: they were very nice and moist (mooooiiiissst, I HATE that word). The eggs could have been seasoned but other than that, they were fine. The bacon was tasty and crispy, just the way one should like their bacon. The potatoes were a tad too mushy for me. It was nothing special but it was good.

Service was very fast. The food came fast, the milshakes came fast. It was appreciated. It even came TOO fast because Isa was out trying to find an ATM while the food arrived: they only take cash. And yes, we then stupidly made the obvious discovery that there was a machine right behind us.

And now, the scores!

Food: 6,5
Service: 7 Efficient but a smile would have been nice!

Great place to go to for a cheap breakfast or a late late night after-you're-done-studying eat!

Deville Dinerbar

It took lots of convincing to get me to go to Deville's. Why? Well I had just eaten lunch and I was full. But you know what, I decided to go and take a couple bites off of Isa's and my bro's gf's meal. And am I ever happy I did!

Deville Dinerbar is located on Stanley a tad north of Ste-Catherine. It's funny because as we were eating on their terrasse, I turned around I noticed we were in my friend Cat's old OLD apartment's  courtyard (from about 13 years ago!). Funny. Anyhoot, this place is quite large, for downtown at least, with at least 40 seats on the terrasse and at least 100 and then some inside. 

Now, this place looks like a fancy diner, I loves it: marble tables, fancy lamps and cool banquettes. It has a very nice feel to it. It's very chic and fancy yet feels homy. I still felt underdressed as I usually do...

This restaurant serves lunch between 11 and 4. They have a HUGE menu. A tad too huge but hey, they have good stuff on there so I don't mind so much. They also have a lunch only menu on a separate sheet.

Marshmallow milkshake

Let's talk food! Ah, food. Isa started off with her fave thang: milkshake. But this time, she had a toasted marshmallow milkshake with whipped cream. WHAAATTT? Wow! The whole thing wasn't heavy at all, the marshmallows were well charred and sticky and the milkshake itself was tasty and oh-so-good.

Peach mojito

Since it was Havana Night Drinks on Thursday (they have themes everyday!), I could have either a rum and coke OR a mojito. And the mojito of the day was a peach mojito! WHAT? It was great. Tasted like peach, maybe a bit like peach iced tea at some point but as someone that never drinks iced tea, it was still A-MA-ZING! It tasted smooth. You know what I mean?

Ahi tuna tacos

Sorry, got sidetracked there.... NOW let,s talk actual food, not drinks. Isa had the ahi tuna tacos. The first words out of my mouth were 'holy bejesus'. So this was supposed to be an appetizer. On se calme. It was a full meal. Whatever, I could have eaten 10 of those babies. Fried wonton shells with asian slaw, ahi tuna (sushi grade no less) and a little wasabi lime aioli to top it off. It can get messy with those crunchy wonton shells but it's freaking worth it! There's 3 pieces of tuna per taco... and this for about 15$ (ish) for the whole plate. I thought that was well worth it. The aioli added a great flavour to the whole thang but without it, it was pretty much just as good. Man was it ever good! Sorry, having somewhat of a foodgasm here.

Chicken, avocado, corn and goat cheese salad

Well I have to say that after eating those absolutely wonderful tacos, this salad didn't really compare. It was still good though: the goat cheese felt nice and silky, the chicken was moist and well seasoned with the great addition of corn and some crunchy almonds.

As for the service, it was great and steady throughout our meal. She managed to sell us drinks that we hadn't set out to buy at first. She answered our questions and was smiling every time she came to see us. She also came to check if everything was fine mid-meal, which is very important in my book! Oh she also gave us quite some time to look at the menu (as mentioned, it was quite extensive).

And now, the scores!

Service: 9,5 She was very attentive to our needs
Food: This is a 3 parter. Drinks: 9,5   Salad: 8   Tuna tacos: 9,7 :p

Loved my first experience there! I will go back and have 3 orders of those tacos please :)

ps: You can order one of their 'fishbowls' for 15 $ and 7 shots of booze in there :p

Les Tontons Flingueurs

After a loooong day at school last week, I got home to ze wife who said 'we're going out'. I was MORE than happy to oblige! We decided to go to a new restaurant (about 6 months) in Côte-des-Neiges, Les Tontons Flingueurs. In the hot summer days, there was always a bunch of people on the terasse, on Côte-des-Neiges and it seemed quite 'happenin'. Therefore, Tontons Flingueurs it was!!

The atmosphere itself was chill, with a nice vibe with jazz music playing. The actual place seems really big for the seats: there are about 70 seats and there should be more like 100. Hello profit? Mirors adorned the walls and there were a few chalk boards amongst the wooden panneling. Don't get me wrong, usually, I dson't like panneling, but it gave the place somewhat of a charm and kind of a cottage feel. Oh, also, the banquettes were church benches, which I found cool.

We got seated right away and our funky waiter (man, the afro on that guy was spectacular!) brought us paper menus (the menus were getting a makeover apparently). He told us about the specials that day. There were three and all seemed fancy and way more expansive than what was on the actual menu. On the menu, you could have believed that you were in somewhat of a somewhat fancy snack bar.

We ordered a bottle of Pinot grigio for 25$. As the waiter was bringing it to our table, I could see it was Barefoot, the 9,90$ wine at the SAQ. Man it really fizzles my dizzle (yes, it's an expression!) when restaurateurs sell a cheap SAQ wine for 2.5 its price! grrrrr! Nevertheless, it was served well, selon les standards de l'ITHQ, so that made me happy ;p

Ze wife ordered l'agneau et j'ai commandé la surlonge. We had the vegetable soup: somewhat of a puree of veggies, nicely seasoned, very comforting. La soupe était servie avec des croutons et du beurre. Twas quite nice.

About 15 minutes later, the waiter comes back and announces to ze wife that there is no more lamb. Hum, il est 6:30 et déjà, tu raye un plat de ta table d'hôte? She said she would take the surlonge instead and guess what? 10 minutes later, he was back telling her that was out too! Il lui a dit qu'ils allaient lui donner de la bavette à la place ('qui coûte plus cher en passant'). Fun. So now they've changed her options TWICE. BEFORE 7. By the way, we weren't even 10 in the restaurant. What the hell?

The food turned out to be just OK, nothing special, too many peppercorns on the meat. On a cold plate :( Grrrrr! The waiter could have asked us how we wanted our meat because it turned out to be a tad overcooked, which just added to all the shiz. Anyway, for 22$, not worth it! En plus, dans notre petite salade, il y avait des betteraves à la cuisson douteuse... elles étaient trop dures. Yet another dissapointment.

To add to all of this, the waiter took Isa's plate when she was done and I wasn't. I really hate it when waiters don't follow the protocole!

SO, next time, we won't pick 'the new place'... we'll just go back to Olivieri, right in front, which we are 100% that it will be worth our money.

Scores:

Food:5.5
Service: 6

And I'm being nice. If you want to try a new place, try another one.