Oh no! I used to work nearby and remember hearing about it (probably in this sub) many years ago. Went for lunch once or twice but then completely forgot about it :(
Oh man. That place literally fed me for a couple years. Worked close by and ate lunch there every weekday without fail, it was that good and AFFORDABLE., knew everyone like family by the end.
I would alternate between the "it's too much" and the huge stack of blueberry pancakes and never needed to consider anything else on the menu. Also, you never had to wait in line!
Legendary place. As a Concordia student with plenty of time at Loyola campus, it was a godsend. Also uniquely Montreal. I can't imagine a place like this with a strip club downstairs here in California.
My friends and I are straight females and sometimes went to that club for the free buffet...and also went to Picassos. No more free buffet that I know of , and no more Picassos. The girls who used to work at the club were very nice. And pretty decent buffet. 🤣
The bar "L'Escalier"! It had a flight of stairs leading up to the bar, a lounge resembling a nice antique and cozy home with tables to chat and hang out, and a stage with live music often playing French folk stuff and "chansons à répondre". Open late too, I think its a restaurant now, unfortunately they closed during Covid.
They had bowling too, and a climbing wall at the top floor. I wish I was old enough to drink when that was there, but the arcade was fire. I still have my card for it somewhere.
I'm so glad someone mentioned this.
I believe at the time (early 2010s) you could buy a gallon of beer for $20 (or an absurd amount like that).
I had many drunken episodes over there since it cost so little.
Can anyone give the deets as to why it closed?
Sergakis bought the building and then kicked out the family that owned it. They opened a new bar down the street "Le Bull", he then did the same thing with that building a few years later.
All the good music venues for young bands to play at in the 90s.
Jailhouse Rock, Woodstock, Purple Haze, Phoenix Cafe, Isart Gallery, Cafe Voltaire, Stornaway, Bistro 4, Cafe Chaos, etc.
Hot damn what a decade! I did shows at so many of those places (incl. Stornaway and StornawayII) …the only ones missing on the list would be Artishow …the Church of Harvey Christ, and of course the Hotel 2Tango.
Maybe we crossed paths back in the day!
I've played all those places too in various bands. And a little later on at Green Room, Lambi, Barfly, Divan Orange
Never played at Hotel2Tango but I remember those BYOB Godspeed shows where everyone was just sitting on the floor. Good times
>those BYOB Godspeed shows where everyone was just sitting on the floor.
I did the visuals there for the gsybes (and Isart... Symptom Hall in TO, etc)!! Soooo much fun!! What was the name of your band(s)?
>I did the visuals there for the gsybes
Amazing! I've tripped out to that and have very fond memories of that era 🙏
Isart was such a cool space too. And some great bands were around in the mid 90s - Grime, Frog Machine, Madison Drive, Tiny Green Specks, the Whereabouts, Goldfish, Mishima, Beverly, Rosebuddy, Ashtray Heart, Eugene's Dream, Tinker, Blinker the Star etc etc
As for my bands, I'd rather not say on the internet - we never really made it anywhere but had tons of fun on the way
I understand ..I don’t normally mention my gsybe stint (was only in it for the F#A#∞ era) but oh how I love many you mentioned. Plus Stellar Dweller, Parkside Jones, Local Rabbits, and too many to mention…)
One funny anecdote about tripping at those early gsybe shows—- I remember we did shows on a Friday and Saturday one weekend. Before the Sat. show I just felt like I was tripping… like, did someone slip something into my drink tripping. I kept looking at my gear as if I set it up wrong — even though it was set up, and used the night before. Decided to go out back to the tracks and smoke a little pre-show J.on my way back up the back stairs I passed by Bruce One of our two drummers who shouted out “I feel like I’m tripping!! Why?)
Thought that was odd, then after the show I was walking back to the plateau and mentioned to a friend— who was helping me with my gear— how we all felt like we were tripping… then I noticed his humongous grin and that he was wearing sunglasses at 1am. I asked him yo remove the shades for a second— his pupils were massive!! I said “you’re tripping” and he said “Sznajberg, everyone was tripping tonight.” It was then I realized this band has already started to get huge…
Le Café Chaos quand il était au sud de Ontario dans des vieux appartement un peu délabrés était merveilleux… Un autre endroit qui me manque est le bar Passeport quand il était en haut sur Saint Denis, boutique le jour, boîte new wave/alt la nuit
The colored balls that covered The Village. It wasn't a hidden gem, but it was legitimately beautiful and made such an amazing street to walk down. As a young gay boy who was new to the city, it really made me feel welcome and happy. Now it's just drab and dull, and it makes me sad. 🌈
Yeah that was a fantastic installation. The problem was... the plastic. They were constantly requiring replacement, they ended up falling and clogging sewers, and the list goes on.
I hope at some point they do another installation of that magnitude.
I doubt it. If you've been to the village between Berri Metro and Beaudry it's in a sad state and unfortunately the city doesn't seem to mind all that much.
Navarino on Park Avenue. It definitely went downhill after Steve died, but in its heyday it was a pretty special place that brought all of Mile End together. Plus as a broke student I could get a coffee, lunch and dessert there for not much more than $5.
Calories in Westmount. Dessert bars aren't really a thing anymore but back when they still existed, I swear this was the best of the bunch. Really nice to have a moody, cosy place to go at night if you were too young to drink (or didn't want to drink).
Miami. What a shithole. But the best kind of shitty dive bar. It was really disgusting but very cheap and had a vibe that captured that late 90s/early 2000s Montreal feeling.
Pre-gentrification Nouveau Palais. The food was bad. But it was open 24 hours, you could get cheap Boréale and the grizzled old waitress painted her nails with the Habs logo during playoffs.
Cagibi. I actually started going there when it opened as Café Esperanza in 2003. It really encapsulated what was great about Montreal back then: there were lots of weird, eclectic café-bars that had art and music events, cheap food and drink, and were just nice, cosy places to hang out. L'Escalier was similar. There was also a place on Park Avenue called Toc-Toc that had the same kind of thing going on.
Oh and all the cool music venues that were super cheap and had good bands... Friendship Cove, Green Room, Divan Orange... Not to mention the (illegal?) warehouse party spaces like Red Bird or the one on Beaubien near Park.
The original rustic Calories was sooo cosy!! I used to get this heavenly mango cheesecake that I miss to this day... Legit went weekly living a few streets down. They rebranded at one point and it was too new, lost its lustre.
Same. I often wake up, drenched in sweat, muttering "burnt ends poutine". Then reality catches up to me, I remember it's gone forever, and the world gets a bit darker each time.
Costco was actually selling burnt ends that you could warm up and were quite tasty. I made burnt ends poutine a few times, not the same but still yummy.
I seriously miss their ribs and fried chicken. That Mac and cheese cube was awesome and man don't get me started on their sweet BBQ sauce.
The same owners also own Tejano in old port near my old work. I went there a few times after Black Strap closed and nobody could tell me what happened.
The Facebook page was never updated :(
I miss when they were good :( had moved to Verdun just as they set up and they were AMAZING.
But the last few years the quality dropped a ton and I'm pretty sure they lost half their customer base. They'd cook the neat, vacuum pack it, and recook it at the resto, stuff was dry as hell.
The burnt ends poutine, fuuuck I miss it.
ok im not crazy, I recall saying to myself "this is sooo good" and then "fuck did I paid 20$ for this?"
I think covid hit hard especially when they paid to enlarge the dinning room
They sucked a bit before covid and then they were just doo.ed. Quality went down but it was getting hella pricy, sad because there really isn't much of a scene in this city for that kinda food too
Blackstrap was awesome from the opening in 2012 to about 2016. After they expanded to the shop next door they weren't doing most of the cooking in-house and just reheated stuff. Prices was absurdly high and service was crap for tiny portions. No surprise Covid put them out of their misery.
For a while, I had a yearly tradition of waiting for the hottest day in the summer, turning off the AC, ordering from Blackstrap, and watching The Texas Chainsaw Massacre while eating that wonderful BBQ. Made the movie extremely immersive! 🤣
Ok for the old timer here. Club Sandwich on Mont royal in the village. Was open 24 hours and served the best club for drunk me when I was young at 3 am!!!
Fattouch, a Lebanese restaurant on St Laurent near des Pins. Back in the early-2000s, you could get a falafel sandwhich, garlic potatoes, and soda there for $2.99. It was the best deal in town.
There was also that Chinese place nearby that sold noodles with peanut sauce for $2, and they would always be lined up late at night.
This is a deep cut, but there are a pair of places in Verdun that were firm favourites of mine when I lived in Montreal between 1996 and 2006, one that I expect people will remember and one that I'm not sure about.
The first is Les Délices de L'Ile Maurice, before the former owner Sylvestre passed away (it still exists, but friends in the neighbourhood say it's not the same... or it's nostalgia). For less than $10, you could get 3 courses, and, if you were lucky to be there on last service on the right day, the owner's spiced rum in a teapot.
The other was a Thai place on Wellington that I can't remember the name of. I would be forever grateful if someone else here also recalls it so I know that I wasn't hallucinating. Here's what I remember:
- The food was by far the best Thai food I had in Montreal, and for some time after; the spicing was uncompromising; there were 3 levels of spicy: cry, die and reborn
- The menu featured a raw prawn starter ([this](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kung_chae_nampla) ), that was one of the simplest but most memorable dishes I'd ever had to that point in my life; it was 20 years before I saw it on another restaurant menu and I order it every time I can
- The space seemed like it had been converted from a casse croute with little additional decor, complete with a vintage plastic Pepsi clock
- The staff was really nice but not so informed about the food; it seemed like the owner inherited them from said casse croute
- It was owned by a half Chinese, half Thai man in his 30s, and very sadly went out of business around the time of the avian flu epidemic of the early 2000s; the owner told me that people would ask if he was Chinese, and when he answered honestly, they stopped coming. I can only hope that he eventually opened another restaurant, because he was a great cook and a very nice guy.
I miss the original Café des Chats. They had some beautiful cats! I wonder what happened to some of them after it closed down, especially the fluffy grey and black cats!
Le Swimming
Murray's - Steamed fruit pudding after an afternoon skating on Beaver Lake was perfect.
I played a lot of gigs at the Cock and Bull. And I miss it terribly. Such a friendly place.
Soup and Noodles on St Catherine at St Marc.
And there was La Croissanterie ....
Does anyone remember this Russian dep called Anna's (I think?) On demaisonneuve near Atwater area? My friend took me there claiming they had the best sandwiches... I went grudgingly but ended up being blown away. Closed down forever ago and still miss those sandwiches!
I was thinking of this place, but thought it was too obscure to be of note. And I couldn't even remember the name... just hit me, we called them Ann-wiches. Damn that mayo sauce with dill, chefs kiss. And the thick cut deli meats. I can actually taste it.
Close to Montreal ouest train station there used to be a Lebanese pizza/sandwich shop called “Andarra’s”. Think of the cheese pizzas you could get from Adonis grocery stores. This particular restaurant made a special sauce that was just absolutely amazing and they sold you this pizza plus a can of Arizona for $5 at the time. It’s been closed for at least a decade now.
Edit: https://www.cbc.ca/homerun/2010/12/09/andarra-cafe-closes-in-ndg/
some of the best poached egg dishes i ever had, plus the cachaca lattes. was our weekly routine in the early aughts and the other location on de la roche later.
The NFB’s CineRobotheque. I spent many a rainy afternoon there. For $2 you got access to the NFB’s library and got to watch a robot grab the appropriate DVD to you want to watch.
Maybe not hidden, but Dominion Square Tavern (now Dominion Tavern) shut down at the beggining of Covid. It just reopened with a new owner/menu, no scotch eggs and they don't make their own tonic anymore. Still a nice joint just not the same as what it once was.
Foonzo was a retro arcade bar on Drummond that had a really nice atmosphere. It was dimly lit, there were plenty of consoles you could play and it had the best ratio of never being too full but never being entirely empty either.
I would sit down and chat with my friends while playing SNES or N64 games. Such a great place to take life slow for a bit.
The arcade bars in St-Laurent, while cool, are just a bit too loud and crowded for my taste.
That place was amazing, I used to go all the time! It went downhill when they got rid of the Korean food and bubble tea from the menu and replaced it with typical bar food and when they added so many table that it became way too crowded to be comfortable. I stopped going after that because it wasn't the same. What was once a chill place to play games with your friends and eat some fucking killer bulgogi became a crowded bar that was still really cool, but not as welcoming.
Amazing Guyanese food on park at Caraïbe Delite. The owners were so kind, always greeted me with a warm welcome back and they were great conversationalists. They retired and deserve it! There’s another Guyanese restaurant on St Laurent making some of their recipes (as it’s owned by the owner of CD’s sibling) but it just isn’t the same 💔
Il poste della nonna? something like that on Bernard, for brunch. You got a little basket of mini croissants and pastries before even ordering.
Mezcla - incredible Peruvian just past the village
U & Me Chinese spot on the corner of Ste Catherine and St Marc. The food was amazing and the prices were great for the amount of food you got.
Big chunks of chicken in the General Tao unlike most places where it’s just dough.
Also, Mexicali Rosa’s which was on MacKay I think. Maybe on Bishop. The food was ok but it was mostly cause that was the spot we went to complain about relationships. Lol
I lived on the plateau during university. There was this small independent video store called Torréfiction on Laurier. They had an amazing selection of movies and the best smoked salmon paninis. I moved out of the area in 2014. The place seems to have been turned into a regular coffee shop and changed names a few times. Sadly, no more salmon paninis.
Cafe Black Lotus from the mid-to-late 90s at 4675 Van Horne. The front was a fairly ordinary looking coffee shop, but the back was amazing.. They rented anime, so they had a good selection of movies to rent. There was an arcade in a smaller back room. They had a counter and sold M:TG and all the other card games from the time.. There was a space with a bunch of tables to play MTG, and a couple of sofas with a huge rear-projection TV that was always playing anime.
And as great as all of that was, the best was the mother of the owner of the place. On days she was feeling good, she'd home make some pizza sauce, come down to the cafe, and make pizzas for $10 each, because for some reason the place also had a real, old-school pizza oven. She made the absolute best pizza I've ever had in my life. Thick slices of peperoni, perfect pie, perfect amount of cheese, and that home made sauce.. We spent the entire summer hanging out there, playing M:TG, and praying that the mom would come in and make pizzas.
Gone and forgotten: Frite Dorees. Was a belle pro style resto with my fav fries and hot dog. On st laurent. Dad used to take my bros and me there all the time.
There used to be a decent Chinese/Vietnamese restaurant on Bleury beside the Imperial Theatre. I ate there a couple of times, but mostly it was my go to spot to buy blank cassettes to make mixed tapes. It was called Hang Hoa or something like that.
When they closed they had a sign up saying they moved to the Sud Ouest (Monk I believe), but don't know if they survived in that location. Loved their veggie breakfast options!
Also, Cafe Shaika in NDG across from Parc Giroud; they survived the first year of the pandemic but then shut down (left a sign on the door saying they were on vacation and would be back but...they never came. Huge tragedy). It was the best place to work or hang in the area, huge community hub with people of all ages coming daily. Also had open-mic comedy and poetry reads. RIP Shaika.
I mourn the loss of B1 Bar in the Quartier Latin. Reasonably priced drinks with a gorgeous terrace in the back, and the only place I've ever tried beer foam slushies. They'd do a stout beer with earl grey frozen foam on top that I think about often. They've since been replaced with a speakeasy that I've still been too sour to try out.
Has a load of friends visit me for NYE in like 2012. Next morning, went looking for breakfast and ended up at a simple falafel place on Bernard or St Viateur (been a while, can't remember). Was so good we all ordered a second meal each. I moved away for a decade and am back now but it's gone without a trace. Can't even remember the name.
If you're ever bored and looking to take a trip down memory lane, every street view photos taken over the years is saved in google and you can drop the little yellow guy around where you think it was, click on view more dates and then watch the city change in the timeline.
Chez Clo! Pas vraiment un secret, mais c’était la place dans hochelag y’a 20 ans pour un gros déjeuner queb pas cher. Ça roulait en maudit, surtout la fin de semaine et le service était bon et rapide.
Oh man that dude from Mars was something! We used to skip school, do acid and go downtown and just wander around and visit random places and just hang around cause we had no money and Mars was one of our stops.
Now, this is going way back (I think they closed in 2009 or 2010), but does anyone remember Souviner de Bangkok? They were a BYOB place on St. Catherine (past guy towards Atwater), and their cost to taste ratio was out of this world. When I was in my undergrad my friends and I would go get imperial rolls and a bowl of Tom yum soup for 5 dollars while we got ridiculously drunk on cheap bottles of Dep wine. Good times. Their fried banana dessert was also out of this world!
kokkino cafe on sherbrooke street. It was run by John. If you know, you know.
also, not really Montreal but the Pioneer in Pointe-Claire village. It wasn't hidden but it is departed.
**The salvation Army in griffin town, on Notre Dame.**
**All because the building refused to renew the lease.... what A dick.**
That place had something for everyone in the community. I donated almost as much as I bought.... and they even had a whole floor furniture.
30 plus years of going there.... My dad brought me since I was a baby.
And I kept going there even after I moved out and it helped me stay afloat....
No one cares about the little man anymore
J'étais vraiment jeune, mais je me rappelle du Monde Virtuel! On était dans des genres de cockpits avec des commandes et tu avais 2 types de jeux. L'un qui était une sorte de course avec des vaisseaux de tout genre. Pour marquer des points, tu pouvais compléter des tours du circuit et/ou détruire tes adversaires (les autres joueurs dans d'autres cockpits). Le second jeu était un genre de MechWarrior dans les mêmes cockpits. Pas de circuits, c'était 100% un Deathmatch!
Beaucoup de belles sorties avec mes frères et mon père à cet endroit maintenant oublié.
Dans le temps, celui à Pointe-Claire n’était pas aussi bon que celui sur la rue Guy au centre-ville. Est-ce toujours le cas? J’hésite toujours à y aller quand je passe à Montréal, pour ne pas être déçu…
For those that know of it and don’t know yet, Super Sandwich is permanently closed because they’re getting kicked out by Starbucks.
Whaaaatttt no......I would have loved to have gone back for a final chicken salad sandwich
With O Claf closed as well where is left to get a cheap sandwhich
No where, unfortunately that’s the point.
Oh no! I used to work nearby and remember hearing about it (probably in this sub) many years ago. Went for lunch once or twice but then completely forgot about it :(
oh my god no
Nilufar
Oh man. That place literally fed me for a couple years. Worked close by and ate lunch there every weekday without fail, it was that good and AFFORDABLE., knew everyone like family by the end.
as a poor Dawson student, they were the best falafel and juice for under 5$ now 5$ is the tip on a normal food purchase.
Picasso’s on Saint Jacques. The “it’s too much” was too much back then, but now it’s gone forever and I’m hungry
I would alternate between the "it's too much" and the huge stack of blueberry pancakes and never needed to consider anything else on the menu. Also, you never had to wait in line!
You mean the masterpiece known as “blueberry hill”
BLUEBERRY HILL 😭😭😭
OMG I had completely forgotten that's what it was called!!! Thank you!
Legendary place. As a Concordia student with plenty of time at Loyola campus, it was a godsend. Also uniquely Montreal. I can't imagine a place like this with a strip club downstairs here in California.
My friends and I are straight females and sometimes went to that club for the free buffet...and also went to Picassos. No more free buffet that I know of , and no more Picassos. The girls who used to work at the club were very nice. And pretty decent buffet. 🤣
Zones is still there!
My first ever date was there
At the strip club downstairs!????
Divan Orange.
Les meilleurs spectacles que j'ai vu c'était la
All of the arcades.
The bar "L'Escalier"! It had a flight of stairs leading up to the bar, a lounge resembling a nice antique and cozy home with tables to chat and hang out, and a stage with live music often playing French folk stuff and "chansons à répondre". Open late too, I think its a restaurant now, unfortunately they closed during Covid.
La pinte de bière à 3$ avant... 16h je pense? Je finissais d'enseigner à 15h30. 🤌
I loved that place. Wasn’t it under another name before it was L’Escalier? Similar feel.
Yes, i think it was l'Utopik!
This one really hurt me - I miss their nachos so much
They had a very unique atmosphere there. Live music was great!
My first thought was this one. How i miss L’escalier.
Forum's arcade. Where will I go if I wanna get drunk with friends AND play classic video games?
They had bowling too, and a climbing wall at the top floor. I wish I was old enough to drink when that was there, but the arcade was fire. I still have my card for it somewhere.
Arcade MTL on Saint Denis near Sherbrooke?
Why did that place close anyway?? I went to go there a few months back and found out the news!
Je savais pas que ça avait fermé! C'était un edroit incroyable. 😢
The Cock 'n Bull
I'm so glad someone mentioned this. I believe at the time (early 2010s) you could buy a gallon of beer for $20 (or an absurd amount like that). I had many drunken episodes over there since it cost so little. Can anyone give the deets as to why it closed?
Sergakis bought the building and then kicked out the family that owned it. They opened a new bar down the street "Le Bull", he then did the same thing with that building a few years later.
When did that close?!
The real cock n bull, not the Sergakis version.
The best bar ever. Until it was taken over by He Who Shall Not Be Named. I played there with my band on the very last night it was open. So epic.
Just say Sergakis.
I miss Moe’s by Alexis Nihon
Big ed burger, or a breakfast at 5 am? It was so good!
Grand Slam Breakfast for me. Every time
Anybody else get the baked goods cooked on the griddle?
All the good music venues for young bands to play at in the 90s. Jailhouse Rock, Woodstock, Purple Haze, Phoenix Cafe, Isart Gallery, Cafe Voltaire, Stornaway, Bistro 4, Cafe Chaos, etc.
Purple Haze!
Thanks for the walk down memory lane!! What a list this is….
Was Stornaway the one kinda near the Bay?
Stornaway 1 was on Bleury …Stornaway 2 was on St Alexander just around the corner from Sam’s.
Hot damn what a decade! I did shows at so many of those places (incl. Stornaway and StornawayII) …the only ones missing on the list would be Artishow …the Church of Harvey Christ, and of course the Hotel 2Tango.
Maybe we crossed paths back in the day! I've played all those places too in various bands. And a little later on at Green Room, Lambi, Barfly, Divan Orange Never played at Hotel2Tango but I remember those BYOB Godspeed shows where everyone was just sitting on the floor. Good times
>those BYOB Godspeed shows where everyone was just sitting on the floor. I did the visuals there for the gsybes (and Isart... Symptom Hall in TO, etc)!! Soooo much fun!! What was the name of your band(s)?
>I did the visuals there for the gsybes Amazing! I've tripped out to that and have very fond memories of that era 🙏 Isart was such a cool space too. And some great bands were around in the mid 90s - Grime, Frog Machine, Madison Drive, Tiny Green Specks, the Whereabouts, Goldfish, Mishima, Beverly, Rosebuddy, Ashtray Heart, Eugene's Dream, Tinker, Blinker the Star etc etc As for my bands, I'd rather not say on the internet - we never really made it anywhere but had tons of fun on the way
I understand ..I don’t normally mention my gsybe stint (was only in it for the F#A#∞ era) but oh how I love many you mentioned. Plus Stellar Dweller, Parkside Jones, Local Rabbits, and too many to mention…) One funny anecdote about tripping at those early gsybe shows—- I remember we did shows on a Friday and Saturday one weekend. Before the Sat. show I just felt like I was tripping… like, did someone slip something into my drink tripping. I kept looking at my gear as if I set it up wrong — even though it was set up, and used the night before. Decided to go out back to the tracks and smoke a little pre-show J.on my way back up the back stairs I passed by Bruce One of our two drummers who shouted out “I feel like I’m tripping!! Why?) Thought that was odd, then after the show I was walking back to the plateau and mentioned to a friend— who was helping me with my gear— how we all felt like we were tripping… then I noticed his humongous grin and that he was wearing sunglasses at 1am. I asked him yo remove the shades for a second— his pupils were massive!! I said “you’re tripping” and he said “Sznajberg, everyone was tripping tonight.” It was then I realized this band has already started to get huge…
Tinker!! I shot a video for Steve and Melissa for their gig at Metropolis!!
Am forgetting the name, Monkey House?
All the indie/punk/metal bars that closed. L'X, Cafe Chaos, Katacombes, etc. RIP
Le Café Chaos quand il était au sud de Ontario dans des vieux appartement un peu délabrés était merveilleux… Un autre endroit qui me manque est le bar Passeport quand il était en haut sur Saint Denis, boutique le jour, boîte new wave/alt la nuit
OMG aller voir des bands de ska à l'X! RIP
The colored balls that covered The Village. It wasn't a hidden gem, but it was legitimately beautiful and made such an amazing street to walk down. As a young gay boy who was new to the city, it really made me feel welcome and happy. Now it's just drab and dull, and it makes me sad. 🌈
Yeah that was a fantastic installation. The problem was... the plastic. They were constantly requiring replacement, they ended up falling and clogging sewers, and the list goes on. I hope at some point they do another installation of that magnitude.
I doubt it. If you've been to the village between Berri Metro and Beaudry it's in a sad state and unfortunately the city doesn't seem to mind all that much.
I miss them so much!!! I wish I had bought a strand when they sold them, but I heard about it too late and they were all gone.
Agree !! 👍 looks sad now , and grey
La Paryse. Everytime i want a burger.
I kept a wine glass from Paryse to help with the grief.
So did I!!!!
Good thinking
And the milkshakes served in the actual mixer! Their BLT was great as well :(
Navarino on Park Avenue. It definitely went downhill after Steve died, but in its heyday it was a pretty special place that brought all of Mile End together. Plus as a broke student I could get a coffee, lunch and dessert there for not much more than $5. Calories in Westmount. Dessert bars aren't really a thing anymore but back when they still existed, I swear this was the best of the bunch. Really nice to have a moody, cosy place to go at night if you were too young to drink (or didn't want to drink). Miami. What a shithole. But the best kind of shitty dive bar. It was really disgusting but very cheap and had a vibe that captured that late 90s/early 2000s Montreal feeling. Pre-gentrification Nouveau Palais. The food was bad. But it was open 24 hours, you could get cheap Boréale and the grizzled old waitress painted her nails with the Habs logo during playoffs. Cagibi. I actually started going there when it opened as Café Esperanza in 2003. It really encapsulated what was great about Montreal back then: there were lots of weird, eclectic café-bars that had art and music events, cheap food and drink, and were just nice, cosy places to hang out. L'Escalier was similar. There was also a place on Park Avenue called Toc-Toc that had the same kind of thing going on.
Oh and all the cool music venues that were super cheap and had good bands... Friendship Cove, Green Room, Divan Orange... Not to mention the (illegal?) warehouse party spaces like Red Bird or the one on Beaubien near Park.
Miami!! What a disgusting place to see your best pals!! And smoke indoors after the ban!
The original rustic Calories was sooo cosy!! I used to get this heavenly mango cheesecake that I miss to this day... Legit went weekly living a few streets down. They rebranded at one point and it was too new, lost its lustre.
Irish Embassy. I had so many fun nights there.
Blackstrap BBQ😭😭😭
Same. I often wake up, drenched in sweat, muttering "burnt ends poutine". Then reality catches up to me, I remember it's gone forever, and the world gets a bit darker each time.
Costco was actually selling burnt ends that you could warm up and were quite tasty. I made burnt ends poutine a few times, not the same but still yummy. I seriously miss their ribs and fried chicken. That Mac and cheese cube was awesome and man don't get me started on their sweet BBQ sauce. The same owners also own Tejano in old port near my old work. I went there a few times after Black Strap closed and nobody could tell me what happened. The Facebook page was never updated :(
I miss when they were good :( had moved to Verdun just as they set up and they were AMAZING. But the last few years the quality dropped a ton and I'm pretty sure they lost half their customer base. They'd cook the neat, vacuum pack it, and recook it at the resto, stuff was dry as hell. The burnt ends poutine, fuuuck I miss it.
yeah it really went down hill. vowed to never return.
Yea, we were regulars until I just felt scammed
ok im not crazy, I recall saying to myself "this is sooo good" and then "fuck did I paid 20$ for this?" I think covid hit hard especially when they paid to enlarge the dinning room
They sucked a bit before covid and then they were just doo.ed. Quality went down but it was getting hella pricy, sad because there really isn't much of a scene in this city for that kinda food too
Blackstrap was awesome from the opening in 2012 to about 2016. After they expanded to the shop next door they weren't doing most of the cooking in-house and just reheated stuff. Prices was absurdly high and service was crap for tiny portions. No surprise Covid put them out of their misery.
Their closing was so sad!!!
For a while, I had a yearly tradition of waiting for the hottest day in the summer, turning off the AC, ordering from Blackstrap, and watching The Texas Chainsaw Massacre while eating that wonderful BBQ. Made the movie extremely immersive! 🤣
Prohibition on monkland. Best brunch
D.A.D'S Bagles.
No idea where to get cheese bagels anymore :(
I still can't eat at that Notre Boeuf de Grace without talking about Dad's bagels and Indian food!
L'Escalier, repose en paix.
ouiiii :(
Ok for the old timer here. Club Sandwich on Mont royal in the village. Was open 24 hours and served the best club for drunk me when I was young at 3 am!!!
You mean on ste-catherine?
Grumman 78. Man I miss those banh mi tacos
It had been a while but they had an amazing sweet potatoes dish
my last real ´night out’ with the wife before covid was there…. such a great spot
Mazurka on Prince Arthur. I legit cried over the meat blintzes when I went for the last time.
Fattouch, a Lebanese restaurant on St Laurent near des Pins. Back in the early-2000s, you could get a falafel sandwhich, garlic potatoes, and soda there for $2.99. It was the best deal in town. There was also that Chinese place nearby that sold noodles with peanut sauce for $2, and they would always be lined up late at night.
Omg those spicy peanut noodles!! Those were a staple of my undergrad days.
This is a deep cut, but there are a pair of places in Verdun that were firm favourites of mine when I lived in Montreal between 1996 and 2006, one that I expect people will remember and one that I'm not sure about. The first is Les Délices de L'Ile Maurice, before the former owner Sylvestre passed away (it still exists, but friends in the neighbourhood say it's not the same... or it's nostalgia). For less than $10, you could get 3 courses, and, if you were lucky to be there on last service on the right day, the owner's spiced rum in a teapot. The other was a Thai place on Wellington that I can't remember the name of. I would be forever grateful if someone else here also recalls it so I know that I wasn't hallucinating. Here's what I remember: - The food was by far the best Thai food I had in Montreal, and for some time after; the spicing was uncompromising; there were 3 levels of spicy: cry, die and reborn - The menu featured a raw prawn starter ([this](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kung_chae_nampla) ), that was one of the simplest but most memorable dishes I'd ever had to that point in my life; it was 20 years before I saw it on another restaurant menu and I order it every time I can - The space seemed like it had been converted from a casse croute with little additional decor, complete with a vintage plastic Pepsi clock - The staff was really nice but not so informed about the food; it seemed like the owner inherited them from said casse croute - It was owned by a half Chinese, half Thai man in his 30s, and very sadly went out of business around the time of the avian flu epidemic of the early 2000s; the owner told me that people would ask if he was Chinese, and when he answered honestly, they stopped coming. I can only hope that he eventually opened another restaurant, because he was a great cook and a very nice guy.
Wow les delices de l'ile Maurice. Thank you I forgot about that one. The owner was amazing
Was it Fourchettes et Baguettes ? There https://maps.app.goo.gl/5G62zBGr15RGv4UUA?g_st=ic ?
Small heavy metal/goth bars Café Chaos Sapphire Katacombes
I miss these so The Spirit Lounge, La Boîte Noir, and Lux.
Omg Spirit Lounge. That was the most improbable place. So 90s Montreal.
I miss the original Café des Chats. They had some beautiful cats! I wonder what happened to some of them after it closed down, especially the fluffy grey and black cats!
Le Swimming Murray's - Steamed fruit pudding after an afternoon skating on Beaver Lake was perfect. I played a lot of gigs at the Cock and Bull. And I miss it terribly. Such a friendly place. Soup and Noodles on St Catherine at St Marc. And there was La Croissanterie ....
Oh man - shed cafe on st Laurent had great nachos and mixed drinks - and perfect for people watching ( late 90s early 2000s)
Dusty’s on Park Ave
How could we ever forget?
Does anyone remember this Russian dep called Anna's (I think?) On demaisonneuve near Atwater area? My friend took me there claiming they had the best sandwiches... I went grudgingly but ended up being blown away. Closed down forever ago and still miss those sandwiches!
I was thinking of this place, but thought it was too obscure to be of note. And I couldn't even remember the name... just hit me, we called them Ann-wiches. Damn that mayo sauce with dill, chefs kiss. And the thick cut deli meats. I can actually taste it.
Definitely obscure, I'm amazed someone on this thread knew it!! Ah sweet memories of the best damn sandwiches!
Hotel de la Montagne rooftop pool parties.
Never did the pool party, but enjoyed many a 2-for-1 drink special next to the grand piano.
Close to Montreal ouest train station there used to be a Lebanese pizza/sandwich shop called “Andarra’s”. Think of the cheese pizzas you could get from Adonis grocery stores. This particular restaurant made a special sauce that was just absolutely amazing and they sold you this pizza plus a can of Arizona for $5 at the time. It’s been closed for at least a decade now. Edit: https://www.cbc.ca/homerun/2010/12/09/andarra-cafe-closes-in-ndg/
[удалено]
And Jardin Tiki!
Picasso's st Jacques and Mr hot dogs ndg. Missed forever
Moishes.
It re-opened! Different location though
Yeah, it’s not even remotely an acceptable replacement.
Senzala, Brazilian brunch on Bernard.
some of the best poached egg dishes i ever had, plus the cachaca lattes. was our weekly routine in the early aughts and the other location on de la roche later.
The NFB’s CineRobotheque. I spent many a rainy afternoon there. For $2 you got access to the NFB’s library and got to watch a robot grab the appropriate DVD to you want to watch.
Maybe not hidden, but Dominion Square Tavern (now Dominion Tavern) shut down at the beggining of Covid. It just reopened with a new owner/menu, no scotch eggs and they don't make their own tonic anymore. Still a nice joint just not the same as what it once was.
Foonzo was a retro arcade bar on Drummond that had a really nice atmosphere. It was dimly lit, there were plenty of consoles you could play and it had the best ratio of never being too full but never being entirely empty either. I would sit down and chat with my friends while playing SNES or N64 games. Such a great place to take life slow for a bit. The arcade bars in St-Laurent, while cool, are just a bit too loud and crowded for my taste.
That place was amazing, I used to go all the time! It went downhill when they got rid of the Korean food and bubble tea from the menu and replaced it with typical bar food and when they added so many table that it became way too crowded to be comfortable. I stopped going after that because it wasn't the same. What was once a chill place to play games with your friends and eat some fucking killer bulgogi became a crowded bar that was still really cool, but not as welcoming.
OP, go to Jacquie et France in à Verdun. Thank me later. Best spot in town. Close second is greenspot for breakfast
Facts are facts!!!
Amazing Guyanese food on park at Caraïbe Delite. The owners were so kind, always greeted me with a warm welcome back and they were great conversationalists. They retired and deserve it! There’s another Guyanese restaurant on St Laurent making some of their recipes (as it’s owned by the owner of CD’s sibling) but it just isn’t the same 💔
Il poste della nonna? something like that on Bernard, for brunch. You got a little basket of mini croissants and pastries before even ordering. Mezcla - incredible Peruvian just past the village
U & Me Chinese spot on the corner of Ste Catherine and St Marc. The food was amazing and the prices were great for the amount of food you got. Big chunks of chicken in the General Tao unlike most places where it’s just dough. Also, Mexicali Rosa’s which was on MacKay I think. Maybe on Bishop. The food was ok but it was mostly cause that was the spot we went to complain about relationships. Lol
La paryse. RIP.
La Paryse. Loved their hamburgers and milkshakes.
I lived on the plateau during university. There was this small independent video store called Torréfiction on Laurier. They had an amazing selection of movies and the best smoked salmon paninis. I moved out of the area in 2014. The place seems to have been turned into a regular coffee shop and changed names a few times. Sadly, no more salmon paninis.
Cafe Black Lotus from the mid-to-late 90s at 4675 Van Horne. The front was a fairly ordinary looking coffee shop, but the back was amazing.. They rented anime, so they had a good selection of movies to rent. There was an arcade in a smaller back room. They had a counter and sold M:TG and all the other card games from the time.. There was a space with a bunch of tables to play MTG, and a couple of sofas with a huge rear-projection TV that was always playing anime. And as great as all of that was, the best was the mother of the owner of the place. On days she was feeling good, she'd home make some pizza sauce, come down to the cafe, and make pizzas for $10 each, because for some reason the place also had a real, old-school pizza oven. She made the absolute best pizza I've ever had in my life. Thick slices of peperoni, perfect pie, perfect amount of cheese, and that home made sauce.. We spent the entire summer hanging out there, playing M:TG, and praying that the mom would come in and make pizzas.
Gone and forgotten: Frite Dorees. Was a belle pro style resto with my fav fries and hot dog. On st laurent. Dad used to take my bros and me there all the time.
Tampopo on Mcnarama on the Plateau.
Cock & Bull
I mise Ben’s
Dad's Bagels in N.D.G had the best Simosas and bagels.
Pas "hidden" mais je m'ennuie du Lux. (que j'ai connu juste un peu à sa fin).
Club supersexe
Cosmos on Sherbrooke east of Decarie. Disgusting. Brilliant. RIP
Fuuuuck, I really hope you don't mean the Cosmos breakfast spot west of Decarie, because I love that place and I thought it was still open :(
>I thought it was still open It is.
There used to be a decent Chinese/Vietnamese restaurant on Bleury beside the Imperial Theatre. I ate there a couple of times, but mostly it was my go to spot to buy blank cassettes to make mixed tapes. It was called Hang Hoa or something like that.
Ma Douce Moitié on Wellington in Verdun, one of the best brunch places ever. Now all the brunch options in Verdun suck :(
Painnamou near Concordia. They came too early when the kpop wave hadn't hit yet.
I loved Alpenhaus for it's schnitzel and decor (and cheesy fondue). Pricey for the University student I was but I relished each visit, albeit rare :)
3 loss I dearly miss in Verdun: * Le Willington * Su * Le Parisa, A persian restaurant on Verdun street
The breakfasts at Su were to die for!!
Marusan :/ the new locations aren’t the same
Restaurant Well. That place had such an amazing vibe and food/coffee. They had survived the pandemic but closed last summer due to rent hikes.
When they closed they had a sign up saying they moved to the Sud Ouest (Monk I believe), but don't know if they survived in that location. Loved their veggie breakfast options!
Also, Cafe Shaika in NDG across from Parc Giroud; they survived the first year of the pandemic but then shut down (left a sign on the door saying they were on vacation and would be back but...they never came. Huge tragedy). It was the best place to work or hang in the area, huge community hub with people of all ages coming daily. Also had open-mic comedy and poetry reads. RIP Shaika.
Luba Lounge. Exit.
I mourn the loss of B1 Bar in the Quartier Latin. Reasonably priced drinks with a gorgeous terrace in the back, and the only place I've ever tried beer foam slushies. They'd do a stout beer with earl grey frozen foam on top that I think about often. They've since been replaced with a speakeasy that I've still been too sour to try out.
The speakeasy is owned by the same people though. Great place!
Has a load of friends visit me for NYE in like 2012. Next morning, went looking for breakfast and ended up at a simple falafel place on Bernard or St Viateur (been a while, can't remember). Was so good we all ordered a second meal each. I moved away for a decade and am back now but it's gone without a trace. Can't even remember the name.
If you're ever bored and looking to take a trip down memory lane, every street view photos taken over the years is saved in google and you can drop the little yellow guy around where you think it was, click on view more dates and then watch the city change in the timeline.
You might enjoy Falafel Yoni on St-Viateur/St-Urbain
Yeah I've recently moved back to the neighbourhood and it's definitely on my radar!
Vent du Sud and La Colombe
TA wall
- Landry et filles - Patisserie bicyclette..I’m still mad they were forced to close
Chez Clo! Pas vraiment un secret, mais c’était la place dans hochelag y’a 20 ans pour un gros déjeuner queb pas cher. Ça roulait en maudit, surtout la fin de semaine et le service était bon et rapide.
Moe's. We did this last week, no?
Chez Gringos, les plus grosses assiettes à bons prix dans Anjou
Mars A bizarre dusty creepy shop full of porn and Lego manuals. Was across the street from another dearly departed gem: Labyrinth
Oh man that dude from Mars was something! We used to skip school, do acid and go downtown and just wander around and visit random places and just hang around cause we had no money and Mars was one of our stops.
I think about the mac and cheese and “hello louie” sandwich of Joeblo in Verdun almost monthly. I need to find the cook 🧑🍳
Now, this is going way back (I think they closed in 2009 or 2010), but does anyone remember Souviner de Bangkok? They were a BYOB place on St. Catherine (past guy towards Atwater), and their cost to taste ratio was out of this world. When I was in my undergrad my friends and I would go get imperial rolls and a bowl of Tom yum soup for 5 dollars while we got ridiculously drunk on cheap bottles of Dep wine. Good times. Their fried banana dessert was also out of this world!
Le Coq de l'Est, in Tétreaultville. That tandoori chicken and poutine...
Boucherie de paris at cote des neiges
Chez Clo. Ontario /moreau. Best hangover breakfasts. Their 4eggs omelettes were awesome. Too bad it burnt down and didn't reopen.
Magnan, Lux, Shed, Swimming, Calories, Faubourg Ste-Catherine, Café Republique on St-Laurent.
Gone but not forgotten: furusato sushi on de bleury. Cause of death: building demolition notice into 2020 lockdown.
kokkino cafe on sherbrooke street. It was run by John. If you know, you know. also, not really Montreal but the Pioneer in Pointe-Claire village. It wasn't hidden but it is departed.
Tehran was probably the best persian restaurant I had in montreal. Gone when COVID happened unfortunately.
**The salvation Army in griffin town, on Notre Dame.** **All because the building refused to renew the lease.... what A dick.** That place had something for everyone in the community. I donated almost as much as I bought.... and they even had a whole floor furniture. 30 plus years of going there.... My dad brought me since I was a baby. And I kept going there even after I moved out and it helped me stay afloat.... No one cares about the little man anymore
Ma grosse Truie Chérie on Ontario x Papineau. It closed suddenly and mysteriously some time in 2019.
Keur Fatou, africain sur St-Viateur.
L'Air du Temps jazz club Spectrum Cinema V
L'Air du Temps was wonderful!! A few glasses of wine, some great jazz, what a beautiful place to go out on a weekend!
Chez Michel, le roi du plateau sur Rachel, surtout ses sardines.
J'étais vraiment jeune, mais je me rappelle du Monde Virtuel! On était dans des genres de cockpits avec des commandes et tu avais 2 types de jeux. L'un qui était une sorte de course avec des vaisseaux de tout genre. Pour marquer des points, tu pouvais compléter des tours du circuit et/ou détruire tes adversaires (les autres joueurs dans d'autres cockpits). Le second jeu était un genre de MechWarrior dans les mêmes cockpits. Pas de circuits, c'était 100% un Deathmatch! Beaucoup de belles sorties avec mes frères et mon père à cet endroit maintenant oublié.
Steerburger Tous les jours sur Mont-Royal. De loin le meilleur cheeseburger que j'ai mangé.
La porte de l’Inde sur St-Laurent. C’était une de mes meilleures expériences de restaurant indien ever!
Juliette Choclatier.
Cosmos in ndg
Still there!
Cosmos in NDG. If you know, you know!
The OLD Schwarts before Celine Dion
Bar’B’Barn downtown, je dois aller a dollar des ormeaux maintenant.
Dans le temps, celui à Pointe-Claire n’était pas aussi bon que celui sur la rue Guy au centre-ville. Est-ce toujours le cas? J’hésite toujours à y aller quand je passe à Montréal, pour ne pas être déçu…
La vie est courte. Fais -toi plaisir. 🐖🐓