Thanks. Only a 20 minute walk from us. Not bad, if we’re not lugging bags. I’ll probably try to drive there and see how it goes with street meters. Better than Sahadi’s?
By the way, not that anyone’s asking but I’ve confirmed that Montreal’s bagels are not for me. Hardly a revelation, as I thought that H&H bagels in NYC were too sweet and they werent made with honey in the water. Gave it a good try, with samples from St Viator and from Fairmount.What is/was surprising is that I think that Schwartz’s smoked meat sandwich is every bit as good as Katz’s (or 2nd Ave Deli’s or Mill Basin Deli’s) pastrami or corned beef. Would be nice to have this as a choice alongside the other 2, although I guess there is Mile End Deli in Brooklyn, where I havent gone in awhile and will when I return.
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Hahaha
A few Sahadi’s will fit inside it (think a city-sized patel brothers).
I wouldn’t make it a destination if you’re out of town or have other things to do - I always go because it’s not far from where I stay (and delicious, of course).
Same. The lack of salt especially kills me.
(I do like the thin-ness of them, though, as someone who has shamelessly scooped out New York bagel innards in the past for calorie purposes… there I said it.)
(The west side H&Hs have been gone for so long, I don’t remember sweet as a descriptor…)
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Schwartz smoked meat is so much better than my pastrami places mentioned
And St Viateur bagels are still the best to get. Anywhere.
Holy crap! Shopping at Adonis is like being in a major supermarket + Sahadi + hot food vendor +…. well, everything else. Living 3 blocks from Sahadi in Bklyn, I thought I would at least recognize most of the offerings. Nope. My wife got a hot dish to go that has chicken, beef, macaroni, carrots, cauliflower and spicing — never seen anything resembling it at any Lebanese or other Middle Eastern place in Bay Ridge or Sahadi. Really good too. Similarly, the cold chick pea salad I brought home to accompany my leftover chicken from Ma Poulle Mouille is both addictive and unrecognized by me. And, of course, we got potato chips, bread that is from Moison, Pellegrino sparkling water and other “necessities” while there. Why cant we have a branch in Brooklyn?
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Adonis really helped open everyone’s mind to the possibilities of levantine and middle eastern food products!
I’m just happy it caught on!
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Hahahahaha
Glad you enjoyed it
If you make it out to one of the fancier Patel brothers inn NJ (Windsor for eg) they’re rigged out like that. Fresh chapatis and other flatbreads rolling off a conveyor, hot food bar, chaat bar, and so on.
But back to Adonis. Now you know why I love it! I usually bring a pack of Lahmacun back with me, and load up on the kibbeh as well - there are so many types! And there’s the feta bar, and the olive bar, and the sweet counter (where I found jalebis). And all the pre-made kebab options!
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Another trip to Montreal, tried a couple more restaurants.
(1) Mon Lapin: fast paced, active, packed with patrons it feels like a place where cool people gather. Bistro style ambiance, a la carte menu. Friendly and helpful staff. Menu was all French and we asked the waiter for recommendations. No wow dishes, food was consistently good. The most unique dish that we and many others ordered (we sat at the bar and saw all dishes going out to the tables) was an appetizer that was basically scallop on toast (sorry forgot the french dish name). It was simple & delicious, must try.
(2) Monarque: Very large restaurant, looks like hundreds of seating. Modern very corporate-like, seems like a great place to take your clients during the pre-pandemic days. Food was bistro style, a la carte. My wife ordered the Bouillabaisse which she said was the best she ever had - a near wow dish. I ordered the lobster roll and it was very good.
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We went here my last trip (pre-pandemic) but my friend didn’t think there was enough on the menu she’d be happy to eat, so we had a drink and a snack iirc and went on to APC (which was great), but I was quite sad because the menu here looked very creative and quite different.
(The vibe reminded me of the bar room at The Spotted Pig in nyc, for anyone who has that reference.)
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Just spent five days in Montreal taking my son back to college, focusing on cheap eats, though all food can get pricey quickly in Montreal. I very much wanted to go for items not easily available in my area but should be interesting in Montreal. I went out of my way for Moroccan, Haitian, and Ivoirienne. And deli.
The single best item I had was the chopped liver at Chenoys Deli. In fact, I went back the next night for it. This is only the third time in my life I’ve done that. No amount of shmaltz was spared in creating this rich masterpiece. Plus it is topped with a generous portion of heavily caramelized onions. Served with some raw vegetables and sliced bread.
I also liked the matzoh ball here. It is an enormous ball, sliced in half, and covers the entire bowl of soup. The broth is nothing special, but the matzoh ball was very good. Don’t expect something light and fluffy. However, I get the idea that their large menu is filled with plenty of bad choices. I had the smoked meat served on top of spaghetti, and both the meat and the spaghetti sauce were flavorless.
For Moroccan we went to Maison Lahlou. The couscous with lamb was bland, and so was a special of stuffed artichoke. despite the kefta inside. The saving grace was the stuffed chicken which was a big hit. Spinach, kefta, and cheese inside, and covered with a load of mushrooms and a cream sauce. On the side, rice and a zesty red pepper sauce with a ton of green olives.
For Haitian, we went to Griot Plus because it promotes their use of charcoal grilling. Limited menu of steam table items. I am not certain it matters which Haitian place you choose. Griot is a dried pork that is very chewy and saved by a ridiculously rich sauce. The chicken was good, also helped by the sauce. Fried plaintains were dry and worthless, but the surprise was golden fritters that brought back memories of Trini poloughrie, usually made from chickpea flour. These were the utopian ideal. I could eat these all the time, and I think they are called madelienes (but not the cookie!). The savory version.
For Ivoirien we went to Le Platana in Mile End. They were out of most of the menu, and had shrimp beignets (actually just panko-crusted shrimp), yassa chicken, and sauce gombos with picali. Yassa chicken is always a good choice, as you can’t go wrong with mustard and onion. Nice flavor, but the chicken here is served shredded, not on the bone, which is too genteel for my taste. The sauce gombos is with beef, which was too plain and chewy, and the sauce was slimy, probably for molokhiya. The picali is in the same realm as foufou, a starchy blob. It was served quite hot, which makes it a pleasure going down the gullet.
Part of the Mile End is a huge Hasidic community. So it’s great for people watching. The bakery there, Cheskie, has all the Jewish classics and is open until 11pm. On the back counter they have chocolate filled pastries, like a cross between a rugelach and a babka. Nearby, Cafe Depanneur serves an excellent macchiato and musicians are playing there almost all day.
Just south of Mount Royal there is a collection of Asian restaurants. At Chicha, they make their own mille crepe cakes plus I had an earl grey cake that, upon ordering, the server covers with a thick layer of salty cream. It was awesome.
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Forgot to add my worst experience, the truly dreadful poutine at Greenpoint. This place is listed as Best of Cheap Eats in Montreal by seriouseats.com and Time Out online. Especially noted for the poutine, and despite a full menu of diner food, it seemed the only thing the kitchen was pumping out for the big crowd.
After a few bites, we threw the rest away. Salt overload, and the gravy drowned the already flabby fries into a wet gloppy mess. This is one of those historic crap food experiences that get touted because of the ambience of the place. So by all means pass by there and take a peek in but eat somewhere, anywhere, else.
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Just went to MTL again… adding my postings from above:
Cabaret L’Enfer: A new French/Italian restaurant that recently opened by Massimo Piedimonte, we were looking forward to this one since Massimo has roots with Le Mousso and Copenhagen’s Noma. It was a good beginning with the Charcuteries plate that was excellent. But that was the peak of the 7-course tasting, as none of the subsequent dishes topped it. Also, and you can check their website for menu but 2 of the 7 dishes were dessert - we would’ve preferred another savory dish instead. The grilled beef dish, presumably the “main,” was done to a perfect med-rare but it was just a small very thin slice of beef… a couple of bites and it was gone. We split a wine pairing, at $45pp, but the wines were uninteresting. Total cost of meal was $110 pp before wine, taxes & tip which is reasonable these days I guess, but I wish the dishes after the charcuterie would have been better.
Le Serpent: We’ve been to this Italian restaurant many times through the years and thought to return again and, once again, it was excellent. We’ve also recommended Le Serpent to many friends and they all loved it. Thus if there’s one thing you can say it’s they’re consistently excellent. Menu is à la carte and reasonably priced. We had a better meal here than at Cabaret L’Enfer, and would definitely return.
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I’m not a fan of high top tables, but when I go to PDC I like to sit at the counter overlooking the kitchen because I get to talk to the cooks, and get to enjoy small tastes of some stuff.
On one occasion I asked a chef what I was doing wrong in making an item on their menu, the recipe for which I got from a cookbook (not theirs). He set me straight - told me how they had modified the recipe.
The best thing I ever had there was a superb special they called “Lapin Royal”. It was a whole rabbit stuffed with foie gras, for two, and of course was too much for two people (standard generous Martin Picard). We were staying the night in Montreal, so couldn’t take home the leftovers, much to my great regret.
If you haven’t seen it, you should watch the video of Anthony Bourdain’s visit to PDC on YouTube.
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I’ve asked a hotel to move a mini-fridge into my room, when I’ve had leftovers. Haven’t done it in Mtl, but I’ve done it in NYC.
I also shared an AirBNB with 5 other Chowhounds for a weekend in Mtl 9 years ago.
We went to the APDC sugar shack, and took home a lot of leftovers. We had enough for brunch the following day, and then some. The portions are so big at APDC and at their sugar shack.
My most recent big meal in Mtl was at Maison Publique in Nov 2019.
We had a family style menu that included some foie gras. The meal plus wine- which was delicious- must have been too rich for my system. I will be treading carefully with rich foods and foie gras.
I know what you mean. I wish I could still eat as I did in my 30’s.
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Following up in 2023 and Mon Lapin made #1 in the “Canada’s 100 Best” list, citing the scallop on toast (Croque Pétoncle), that I mentioned previously as a must try dish, as one example.
Full list here: https://canadas100best.com/best-restaurants-2023-by-rank/
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