When I dropped by at a lunch hour to meet Dranias, Chef Armeni greeted us with a basket of bread, an appetizer of Fritto Misto – deep-fried calamari, shrimp and smelt- and delicious bowls of busiate pasta, with a braised rabbit in fresh tomato sauce.
MTL Resto Rap
At the Île-Perrot location, manager Costa Soilis aims to please. He has been at this spot since it opened six years ago, having started off as a chef and then taking charge. Throughout the pandemic he kept the place running with take-out and delivery orders. Now he is overseeing the return to in-person dining. The terrasse season has regrettably ended for their patio can accommodate 90 people. He and wonderful server Sophie, who has also been on staff since the start (in between becoming a mom three times), told me how these days they also must play the role of COVID-19 vaccine passport copies. Regularly they have to prevent unwanted customers from coming through the front door.
Greenspot is right out of a movie set. There are a few counter stools and enough vinyl booths to accommodate as many as 140 diners. Each table has a jukebox. While the machines no longer function, some people still try to feed coins inside for some old songs. Music now is piped in via a Bell satellite.
Notable Quebec race car driver Alex Tagliani recently opened his new $18 million TAG E-Karting and Amusement Center at Plaza St. Thérèse... The Center features nine activities including a combination of the multi-level layout of three electric karting tracks, a laser tag game arena, six ax-throwing lanes, six bowling lanes, a Triotech 7D interactive cinema, a multi-sensory virtual reality experience, numerous modern arcades, and an interactive children’s floor—all under one roof. And it was all founded by Tagliani, the owner of TAG Autosport and a large partnership with a number of entrepreneurs well-known in the business sphere.
Since Pizzeria Bros debuted on Côte des Neiges a year ago I have driven and walked by umpteen times. I finally stopped by to sample the food and thanks to team leader Jared Maraj and his co-workers Mikael Loyat and Harjot Singh I came away with an excellent first impression. This chain can best be compared to the Subways of pizza. However in this case Pizzeria Bros provides a fresh thin crust pizza with quality ingredients in a quick-service setting. The dough, sauces and dressings are all homemade and pizzas cooked in high heat ovens in only 90 seconds.
A beloved coffee franchise from British Columbia makes its way to Montreal. The 49th Parallel opened its doors in Old Montreal this summer with delicious and sustainably sourced coffee along with to-die-for doughnuts.
The 49th Parallel serves a diverse coffee menu using beans from their own cutting-edge roastery. Not only is this spot a no-brainer for a good cup of coffee but it is the scene for some premiere gourmet doughnuts made fresh throughout the day. These doughnuts are hand-crafted culinary delights from Vancouver-based Lucky’s Doughnuts.
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.
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.
Benny & Co. is the triumph of generations of hard-working Quebecers. The seeds of this local franchise were first planted back in the 1940s where the Benny family would raise chicken on their family farm where they began making their renowned rotisserie chicken. Using their own family recipe, their delectable chicken was then shared with the public when they opened their first restaurant in 1960. Since then, generations of Benny’s have taken up the helm and now have expanded the farm into a 68-branch franchise, with the newest location in Montreal’s Old Port.