MFS Part 3: Montreal-Style Bagel SHOWDOWN

Tuesday, August 14, 2012 0 comments Categories: , , , , , , , , ,


Fairmount Bagel
74 Fairmount West
Montreal, Quebec
(514) 272-0667
Website
Open 24 Hours!!
 VS.
St. Viateur Bagel
263 St. Viateur West
Montreal, Quebec
(514) 528-6361
Website
Open 24 Hours!!

Sigh.... Just not the same..
I tried getting back into the bagel vibe by eating one while writing this part of MFS, but clearly mass produced, Country Harvest Bagels just don't do it justice in comparison to the hand rolled gluten rings of awesome better known as Montreal-Style bagels.

To give you a little background on what makes a Montreal-Style bagel so distinctive in contrast to the more prominent New York style bagel (similar to the one I ate pictured above); Montreal-Style bagels are smaller, sweeter (boiled in honey-sweetened water before baking), more dense, have a larger center hole (because they are almost always handrolled), they do not contain salt but do contain eggs. To top it off, they are always, always, ALWAYS baked in a wood-fire oven which is fundamental to giving the bagels the crispy exterior and chewy core as well as the spotted light and dark surface colour from the irregular flame.

The Bagel Man...
with a master plan
The legacy of Montreal-Style bagels coming to North America dates back to around 1880 when Polish and Eastern European Jewish immigrants came to Montreal. Now there is some controversy about who brought this heavenly dough halo to the City of Saints first and it has been reportedly to have begun by Chaim (Hyman) Seligman. It was said that Seligman worked on St. Laurent Boulevard right by the iconic Schwartz's Delicatessen (MFS Part 4), selling dozens of strung up bagels originally by pushcart, then horse and wagon and eventually on a converted taxi. The two other big players involved included Myer Lewkowicz and Jack Shlafman. Historians say that Seligman had a falling out with both Lewkowicz and Shlafman. The first actual bagel storefront was opened by Shlafman who established Fairmount Bagel in 1919 and Seligman and Lewkowicz founded the St.Viateur Bagel Shop in 1957. 

Creeepy Bagel man....
Confused?? Me too, sounds like Seligman's pushcart/converted taxi was around for quite awhile before he opened St.Viateur Bagel giving Shlafman a 38 year headstart with an actual store front?? Anyways, to address another point, who's bagels are better?!?! There was only one way to find out: Taste test challenge!! 


Bagel bag... Say that 5 times fast!
Kristel and Kasia ventured out to bagel town to get some fresh out the wood fired oven bagels while I tried to find the car (and failed) to move and avoid a parking ticket (Montreal has some of the weirdest parking rules ever...). The girls returned returned with half a dozen, still warm bagels from both St. Viateur and Fairmount Bagel shops. 

 In the red corner, from Fairmount Bagel, comes a regular bagel and from the blue corner, representing St.Viateur bagel, we have a crowd favourite: sesame seed. Both bagels were consumed with delicious whipped cream cheese (that is only sold at St.Viateur and not Fairmount by the way). Immediately from the get go, St.Viateur had an upperhand as it was still warm due to the fact that sesame seed bagels are baked most frequently. Don't get me wrong, Fairmount's original was also tasty but its almost an unfair advantage since it was not as fresh as St.Viateur's (I think the girls went to Fairmount first). Still, both had exceptional flavour but it was St. Viateur's crispy exterior crust and warm, chewy interior that won my heart. These rings of goodness were so exceptional, you don't even have to cut them in half, just rip pieces off and dunk them in cream cheese...and that's exactly what we did.... the whole car ride home to Toronto!!

 Do I have you craving a bagel yet?? Don't take my word for it, next time you are in La Belle Province, do not pass up the opportunity to try both of these Bagel titans and decide yourself who's bagel reigns supreme!

    

MFS Part 2: Marché Jean-Talon

Friday, August 10, 2012 0 comments Categories: , , , , , , ,

We arrived a couple days early to Montreal before Osheaga for the purpose of being able to visit the beautiful city without being rushed since our full attention would be on music when Friday hit. (That and we wanted to beat long-weekend cottage traffic). After a very hot night (apartment had no A/C) , we ventured off to Marché Jean-Talon looking some fresh produce since none of us felt like eating anything hot.

one of the covered parts of this huge outdoor market
The Jean-Talon Market is 1 of 4 all year round markets in Montreal (Atwater, Maisonneuve, and de Lachine being the others). Inaugurated in 1933, what began as a small building , accessible by both north and south sides now encompasses an array of expansions with a series of long stalls and alleyways. Jean-Talon differs from the other markets is that the majority of the actual market is situated outside yet it is ingeniously hidden behind a urban residential neighborhood. I must say, when I first walked into the main entrance, I didn't think anything too grand of the place, but as we ventured further, and further, and further, this place was HUGE!


Everything tasted so fresh and amazing!
Housing enough spaces for over 450 vendors including fruits and vegetables, butchery, fish, cheese, bakeries, deli's, natural foods, flower, plants and trees, and specialty shops, I immediately fell in love with this market. After some pursuing up and down some aisles, there was one distinct feature that stood out above all the other markets I've been too, FREE SAMPLES!! We sampled a variety of fruits and vegetables, and it is great to be able to sample the produce before you purchase it. 
CORN
Some of the highlights included the several varieties of mango (there was a shop that sells 5 kinds including Haitian, Israel, and non fibrous), the tomatoes (sorry Leamington, these were some of the best tasting tomatoes I've had in a while) and being able to get fresh sweet corn boiled, buttered , salt and peppered to be eaten on the spot! 
Wonderful squeaky bundles of joy
Nom nom nom...
I swear, we kept telling eachother as we walked down the rows of produce that we could just have a whole meal by trying all the samples! I'm going to take the time now to showcase another product unique to Montreal: CHEESE CURDS!! Its the white chunks of gold that are what makes poutine so delicious! For those who don't know, cheese curds are solid parts of soured milk and are really only known in locations with cheese factories because they should be eaten within a few hours of manufacture. The flavour is mild and slightly salty but its the spongy and springy texture that gives cheese curds that defining squeak characteristic when you bite into them. Kasia always says, curds need to be kept at room temperature to preserve that squeakiness!


After a couple hours of walking around, sampling, browsing, drooling, we decided it was time to buy what we wanted to bring back to the apartment and chow down!! I'll let the picture speak for itself. Bon Appetit! 



MFS Part 1: Amelio's Pizza

Wednesday, August 8, 2012 0 comments Categories: , , , , , , ,

Amelio's Pizza
201 Rue Milton
Montreal, Quebec Canada
Phone: +1(504) 845 8396

This menu is bilingual friendly! (French on the reverse side)


TYPE OF RESTAURANT: Italian, Pizza/Pasta
ATTIRE: Casual
PRICES: $$/$$$
PAYMENT OPTIONS: Cash, Mastercard, Visa, Debit/POS

HOURS: Sunday-Monday CLOSED
               Tuesday-Friday 11:30AM-8:45PM
               Saturday 4:00PM-8:45PM
RESERVATIONS? Not at this location but at the Bernard
location yes
HANDICAP ACCESSIBLE? No
VEGETARIAN? Yes, it’s possible
Vegan? No
GLUTEN FREE? Highly doubtful

RATING:


Quality of Food: 5/5 
Service: 4/5 
Originality: 3/5
Atmosphere: 4/5

After a long morning drive from the GTA and settling in to our rented apartment on the plateau, the girls (Kasia, Evelyn and Kristel) and I were hot, tired and hungry. None of us being very good decision makers, we turned to Kasia who lived in Montreal during her undergrad co-op for some recommendations for some much needed nourishment. After deliberation, we finally decided on this cute little pizzeria, Amelio's. 

 What is considered a McGill "Ghetto" institution 25 years ago, Amelio's makes pizza the "old fashioned" way; hand-tossed and homemade. With a second location in the heart of Outremont, Amelio's is the perfect place for any kind of pizza lover with a plethora of simple and elegant pizzas like all-dressed (green pepper, mushroom and pepperoni), pepperoni and Italian sausage. This hidden gem also offers unique selections like the Reuben, BBQ chicken and Club pizzas. Finally, I can't forget Amelio's signature pizzas like the Florentine and cheese-loving white pizza which has not 3, not 4 but 5 cheeses!!

 When we arrived at the very lively and hoppin' pizzeria about an hour before closing time with no surprise of a lineup that was out the door. We managed to go at a very convenient time and got seated almost immediately despite the crowd by the entrance. Upon first glance, as soon as you walk in, you can see see a mini army of kitchen chefs,working away tossing dough and preparing pizza pies to be thrown into the oven through the pass window. I could immediately tell that this establishment was pretty tourist friendly as nearly all the customers sitting inside were speaking English. 

 Our waitress was pleasant and friendly and flipped between French and English without thinking twice. After a few minutes, I settled on the signature Florentine pizza. There are 3 different sizes including small, medium and large and we all opted for smalls as per Kasia's recommendation. Each pie comes with a complementary side salad that was served in these old school wooden salad bowls (reminding me of when my parents restaurant used to use these things)
this ain't no individual pan pizza from Pizza Hut
Salad is salad but when the pizzas came out, it got all of our attention. When these pizzas hit each of our plates, I understand why Kasia recommended to only get a small. These things were huge! Perhaps not in diameter but they were certainly thick and they were not shy on the fromage! My Florentine pizza (cheese pizza with Spinach and Artichoke sauce instead of marinara; I added Italian sausage) was litterally slided on and hanging over my plate from an aluminum pizza pan. When I cut into this oozing gluten disc, I was stunned to see the ratio of toppings to dough. Underneath the mounds of sauce and cheese, the dough below was literally millimeters thick!! Literally a 2:1 ratio of toppings to crust. To give you a better idea, I made sure to take cross section pictures.  
Cross Section of my Florentine Pizza

First bite verdict: appetizing and DEFINITELY rich. I've had white pizzas before but never any with literally spinach and artichoke dip as the pizza sauce. My decision to add Italian sausage was just icing on the cake. 

Cheese lovers, meet your maker!
The other pie worth mentioning was Kasia's favourite: the 5 cheese white pizza. As she's not a fan of marinara (or cooked tomatoes for that matter :P), this pizza is totally up her alley topping this perfectly tossed dough brushed with olive oil and topped with 5 delicious cheeses (Ricotta, Mozzarella, Brick, Parmigiano-Reggiano and oddly enough, Feta). This pizza is definately not for the faint of heart, or anyone who is lactose intolerant. I've also included a cross section of this pizza to show you how much cheese we are talking about.

This picture was not Photoshopped, thats literally like an inch of cheese on top of the bottom crust!!

I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves, these pizza pies definitely hit the spot. Not a single one of us finished our pizzas and we all went home with doggie bags. I will confirm though, that these pizzas are still wonderful cold ;) .

This sums up part one of my Montreal Food Series. If you ever travel to Montreal and happen to find yourself in the student "ghetto", do try your best and try and stop into this bustling, quaint pizzeria. Aside from the lineups, its hard to miss and you will regret it if you do! 

 


Amelio's on Urbanspoon

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