kilgoretrout

sorry, i couldn't let this one go. americanized? is that now a euphemism for trashy? in any case it's the wrong word to use. american apparel is owned by a montrealer and all of their canadian operations are based here. besides, what does this have to do with food? st-laurent below pine is following the path of many other once-trendy streets. soon it will join the ranks of crescent street and st-denis in the latin quarter. all the good stuff will migrate north.

i've already seen many new sidewalk cafés around town. it's something that, until now, has really been missing from montreal. le dépanneur café on bernard near esplanade has a good terrasse. there's a row of tables along the sidewalk out front, but in the back there is a garden with some tables and chairs strewn about. thick foliage, lots of plants. perfect on a hot summer day -- it's like the santropol terrasse with ten times fewer people.

i don't think anybody has claimed (nor should they) that cocoa locale is "top flight." it's definitely, as the name suggests, a local, low-key kind of place.

it's in my neighbourhood, so i ended up popping in on the opening day. i tried a sample miniature cupcake. i'm not a huge fan of cupcakes, since normally i find them rather bland, but this one was pretty good. the cake was soft and moist while the icing was simple and subtly sweet. (cupcakes, after all, are all about the icing.) a few days later i stopped by to try a brownie. rather overpriced -- $3 including tax -- but interesting. definitely isn't a conventional brownie: it's gooey, triangular, spiced and spicy. the hot pepper was not really hot at all, but it gave it a very nice kick at the end. take this for what it's worth, though; i don't have a very sophisticated palate. the owner, reema singh, is really friendly, and it looks like she's doing all the baking herself, in her tiny kitchen. the space is small, sunny and very cute, but selection is relatively limited, with some cakes, cupcakes and a few sweets that change from day to day. cupcakes are $3 each or $20 (if i'm not mistaken) per dozen.

barry lazar, in 'taste of montreal,' notes that chinatown in ottawa has chinese cooking wine in abundance. he also mentions a grocery store here in montreal that will sell it to you wink-wink nudge-nudge.

i think milk and honey gets its baked goods from cheskie, actually.

huh? my guess is that the combined effect of PA and all of the little arab groceries that have opened up in the area helped drive plantation under. you also have to remember that the part of downtown west of guy is pretty saturated when it comes to fresh produce: the aformentioned PA and greengrocers, plus mourelato's, provigo and IGA.