Sunday, September 27, 2015

Le Bon Vivant

Val and I set out to have brunch a couple weeks back. This turned out to be QUITE the adventure, seeing as she had her dog with her and we wanted to find a terrasse to eat on. Turns out, not that many terrasses open for brunch. Where you can tie up your dog. Or where it's easy to park. Or on the island.

Anyhoot, we finally just dropped off Lola at home after pretty much driving around the city and went to a restaurant very close to our apartments: Le Bon Vivant. I'd been meaning to go there since it opened some months ago. Well, it was time.

It was surprisingly empty-ish when we got there at 10h30---prime brunch time---or is that later? I'm lost because I wake up uber early on weekends to take full advantage of my day. What? I'm old. We were very warmly welcomed by the waiter with a 100 Watt smile (seriously, it was blinding, almost). We were seated right away at the open window and felt like we were pretty much on the sidewalk. People walking by were literally brushing up against us. OK not really. Oldies were playing and then some great classics from the 90's. Basically, music that makes me want to say yay!

We were oh-so-hungry by then so we ordered... drinks! Morning drinks are almost AS good as evening drinks, you know.
I had the bacon caesar because, well, there's... well... there's the bacon and well, the bacon! Oh and the caesar part. The bacon was crunchy, perfect goodness. Yes, yes, YES! The rest... was so disappointing I felt like returning it (but Val gave me dem eyes) and telling them that tomato juice a caesar does not make. Seriously, it was thick, tomato-y, and straight up unpleasant. Val's mimosa looked about 100% better at that point. I ended up not even finishing my drink. ME!
Yes. Oh, AND yes! This was approximately 800% better than the dreaded drink. Val and I shared huevos rancheros and the 'bene' BLT. I mean, come on, look how amazing those dishes look!!! Damn amazing I tells ya! Lets start with the huevos:  fresh corn right off the cob (like, seriously, 2 minutes prior), yummy juicy sausage ,and perfect potatoes that were just a bit spicy (I loves me some spice). The guacamole was as soft as a baby's butt and the bean puree too. Rrrrrrrr, that's me drooling just thinking about it. The only thing was that the eggs were a tad dry. That's seriously the only damn bad thing I could find :) And also, please note how nice the presentation is. A+

The BLT. First off, let me just say that when I saw 'green salad' on the menu, I thought fosho I was gonna have some God forsaken mesclun on my plate. Would you believe that it wasn't? It was a mix, yes, but a good one. F*ck mesclun! Yes, that's how much I hate it. Alright so first off, the open face sandwich was on brioche bread. So already there, that's like 100 points! So soft and yummy. The mayo was nice and tangy, the egg was nice and thick and runny, the bacon was 'fou raide' as Val described it. And everything was hot. Which, as you and I know, is a must. The only thing I could possibly find that was wrong was that it was a bit too salty and the egg could have been cooked 10 seconds less.

Service started off awesome and got a bit less awesome but remained good. Water was ALMOST always in our glasses and service was quick in general.

And now, the scores!

Food: 8.5
Service: 7.5

This restaurant has such a variety of choices (from kimchi to steak to fish n' chips) that I'm just gonna have to go back 8 times. Yes, 8.

Le Bon Vivant Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato




Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Café Cantina

A couple weeks back, Val and I ate breakfast at Café Bloom. One of its neighbours is Café Cantina. So we obviously had to eat a late afternoon snack there. Duh. Two restaurants in one day? I say bring it!

This is another one of those places in a very bad spot: end of rue Centre, close to the tracks. I mean come on. Who in the holy hell goes there? Absolutely butt f*ck no one. Which is why it closes at 4 (YES, 4!) on weekdays! I don't even know how they make their money. I just don't.

Amazing thing for them is that they were voted last year as one of the best Mexican restos in MTL to warm up your [cold as hell] winter! (http://notable.ca/The-7-Best-Mexican-Restaurants-in-Montreal-to-Heat-Up-Your-Winter/).
The place itself is quite small, with about 20 seats on the ground floor and perhaps another 20 a couple steps higher.We were the only ones in there at 5 PM and we got a warm welcome but it was eerily quiet in there! Kinda good, kinda weird. We weren't looking for a full meal so we decided to share some guacamole (guac and I: a love story) and some quesadillas.
Simple, yet, delicioso! Wait a second, that ain't spanish at all! The guacamole was nice and soft and oh-so-DAMN-yummy. Oh and very limy-lemony, which is mucho importanto (here I go again!). The only thing that I would have added is a tad more salt. That's it. There was a lovely salsa roja (I got it!!! Spanish, finally!) that was quite spicy but never enough for me. Val kinda choked on the spiciness but I say BRING IT ON. These were devoured by us with homemade tortillas. Hello.
Cheesy quesadillas! This was a nice surprise. Very fresh, very tasty. The quesadillas were hot, crunchy and cheesy, but not too much... You know when you burn yourself because of an overload of melting cheese? Ya, it wasn't the case here. We had some salsa, guacamole and sour cream to put on top and basically bring us right smack to Mexicano heaven! Just the contrast of the cold sour cream and the hot cheese was awesome. We also had a little coarse coleslaw with, hold on to your hats, wait for it, cumin in it! Now THAT was a nice surprise! It brought Val aaaaall the way back to Morocco apparently. Who knew a Mexican dish could do that?

Service was good. Nothin' special. Our waitress was very quiet but very nice. Our food was there in 2.5 seconds. She answered all our questions and knew her shiz.

And now, the scores!

Food: 8.5
Service: 7.5

I'm fosho going back... just have to find a day that I'm not working passed FOUR! Sheesh.

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