Tommy Café made its debut about five years ago on Notre Dame Street in Old Montreal, serving mainly different coffees and teas. It has since expanded a few blocks away to St. Paul Street, on Mount Royal twinned with a Baccaro pizza spot and in Oakville, Ontario. Expansion is on the way to St. Bruno and Fairview Centre in Pointe-Claire.
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Q-ZN, as it is cleverly called, recently opened in the industrial sector of St. Laurent. When Dan and his partners, Jason Nishmas, Jason Martin and Steve Merling, were putting the concept together and approaching restaurants he began waxing nostalgic about Cattlemans. Before you could say “pepperoni,” a plan was in place. He approached the owners of Quebec Pizzeria in Laval (order.quebecpizzeria.ca) and with the blessing of the Blutman family, he gave them the Cattleman’s (now reborn without the apostrophe to please the language police and known as Cattlemans Retro) pizza recipe. The Papa family from Quebec Pizzeria nailed it.
Every so often I wind up at a culinary establishment where I ask myself the question, “How is it possible that I have never been here before?”
Such is precisely the case for the iconic Duc de Lorraine, located on Côte des Neiges Road just off Queen Mary. Since 1952, this truly magical spot has served French pastries, seasonal cakes, viennoiseries and macarons, using traditional recipes by great French pastry chefs. Victoria Sørensen became the owner 12 years ago and she clearly has the magic touch for this is a restaurant, catering service, dessert emporium and a pastry shop all rolled into one.
Back in 1966, Christos Kalogrias came to Canada, leaving his native Greek village of Arahova. He was only 26 years of age and had some family here. His first job was in manufacturing, earning 95 cents an hour. In order to build some savings, he relocated to Thompson, Manitoba to work in a nickel and mining company, returning to Montreal in 1971 with enough money to open his own restaurant on St. Viateur Street. In June, Arahova Souvlaki celebrated its 50th anniversary.
The story goes as follows. Dominic “Dick” Potenza was born in West Virginia and grew up in Utica, New York. He became well known in the Rochester - Buffalo area during the ’40s as a head-waiter in the supper-club-type restaurants of the era. It was at one of these supper clubs that he met his future wife, jazz accordionist Ann Collecchia, who performed using the stage name of Ann Russell. Together, they envisioned a fast food restaurant that would serve an original-style hamburger with their own special sauce. After much thought, this original style hamburger took the form of a toasted bun containing a thin patty that would cook quickly. After they modified and combined two recipes that they brought with them from Rochester, Dick and Ann developed their famous hot sauce.
The appropriately dubbed Notre Boeuf De Grâce (https://www.notreboeufdegrace.ca) was an instant success and expansion happened quickly today there are nine locations (NDG, Downtown, St. Laurent, Pointe-Claire, Laval, Terrebonne, Le Village, Le Plateau and Saint-Jérôme) and one more in Blainville on the way later this summer.
My family has been frequenting the Firegrill Restaurant ( https://firegrill.com) for a few years now, enjoying some of the best steaks in town at their downtown Stanley Street and St. Laurent Sphèretech 14 (next to Cinemas Guzzo) locations.
One of the truly growing pizza chains in Quebec is Pizzéria No. 900 Napolitaine. There are now 25 locales across the province and if you are making a pickup you will not have long to wait as the pizzas are cooked in their special ovens in a remarkable 90 seconds. The oven is at 900 degrees Fahrenheit, hence the name of the chain.
The team at MtlRestoRap is in mourning following the sudden passing of our sales coordinator Mel Leitman, on Monday, March 22, 2021.
Mel joined MtlRestoRap in the fall of 2019. He was a perfect fit given his endless array of contacts in the restaurant industry. He was the beloved soulmate of Connie Dorfman; cherished father of Allison Dorfman (Rob), Heidi Dorfman (Jason), Rob Leitman (Harriet), Jeff Leitman (Mia), Tracy Leitman (Craig); treasured Zaidie of Alexa and Chloe Hamou; Brooklyn and Jax Toledano; Jenny and Madelaine Leitman; Elizabeth Leitman; Hudson, Cooper and Delaney Coulls; devoted Brother of Jack (Lily), Larry (Marie) and Patti Leitman; and brother-in-law of Marilyn and the late Perry Silverman; son of the late Ruth and the late Al Leitman and son-in-law of the late Ben and the late Sylvia Silverstein.