Our August Dishcrawl took us along a notorious stretch in downtown Montreal. Known for its bars, clubs and summer festivities, Crescent Street is always bustling with locals and tourists alike, constantly updating itself, yet remaining unchanged. With Tracy on the other side of the continent, I had the enormous pleasure of hosting and guiding our 45 guests up and down Crescent, taking them to favourite places, some newbies and other well-grounded institutions.
Boustan
The evening began at Boustan, a Lebanese restaurant that serves up my favourite shawarma sandwiches. They are a legend on this street, where late night partyers fall victim to tasty pitas, stuffed with an array of ingredients all prepared in house. This establishment has been frequented by a few members of the Trudeau family, the Grey Cup and the occasional pro hockey player here and there. You can find pictures on display near the cash register, so take a glance while the friendly staff shaves the meat off the roasting skewers, and grill your sandwich to a crisp perfection. After twenty-five years of working long hours and sharing everlasting smiles with his clients, the owner Imad shared the story with us of how he got started, his love for food and the wonderful sandwiches he had put together for us. We had chicken and beef shawarma, but the true hero was the vegetarian. It is not always that the veggie sandwich steals the show but this truly is good as it is different from what you get at most Lebanese restaurants. Stuffed with the usual salad, humus, garlic, marinated turnips, this pita features an herby fried omelette concoction, grilled eggplants, zucchini, garlic potatoes and just plain magic. Most definitely a must try at any time of day or night when in need of eats!
Burger Bar
We then made our way to Burger Bar on the opposite side of the street, where owner Ari and Chef Brian were waiting for us with a special dish made just for our guests. Burger Bar is the newbie on Crescent Street, and though barely open for two months, they seem to be slowly becoming a favourite amongst burger fans. They pride themselves in offering a true gourmet burger experience. Though you will find a classic Mr. Personality Burger on their menu (lettuce, onion and tomato), you really go there for some more eccentric flavours such as the Supersonic Burger topped with onion rings, Jarlsberg cheese, bacon, dill pickle, tomato, banana peppers and spicy mayonnaise. Our Dishcrawlers got to taste the Big Bad Blue Burger, a fresh hand formed beef patties topped with blue cheese, arugula, tomato confit and a crispy potato chip on top. Flavours popped and the chip took the burger to the next level. Served with fresh hand cut fries, this burger was a great discovery and many are sure to return to try some more!
Troïka
Third stop, another Crescent Street establishment known as Troîka. Fifty years young and still a lush, Troïka is one of Montreal’s few Russian restaurants. It’s new owners – David and Stéphanie – promising to keep its tradition going strong, presented us with the evening’s dish (or dishes in this case), Zakouska! a.k.a. the Russian version of tapas. The variety of small hot and cold dishes are meant to accompany an evening of drinking vodka to help sustain the alcohol. With a wide selection of vodkas from all over the world to choose from, these small plates are a great way to get the party started or keep it going.
Swurl
What’s in a Dishcrawl if you don’t end it with some whimsical sweets? And Swurl Frozen Yogurt was the perfect place for that!! Brian was waiting for us with new flavours of frozen yogurt including Cookies’n’Cream and Irish Cream, but where he really goes wild is with his toppings. I’m not going to even attempt to name the many extravagant toppings available, save for one only because it is really crazy and he did first make it just for us. Are you ready for it? New topping at Swurl is the sweet glazed, slightly chocolaty Ramen Squares! Yes, you read correctly, and it looks like this one is going to stick-on as a permanent item there, but even if you don’t happen to see it in the self-serve counter, you can always expected some a little different and a lot of fun from Brian!
As always, Dishcrawl is all about mingling with great people, eating delicious food, trying new restaurants, discovering new neighbourhoods. All this is what makes the Dishcrawl community a success! To be part of the Dishcrawl community or find an event near you, go ahead and browse our website, tag some photos in the Facebook Album, follow us on Twitter. We are reaching more and people every month!
Have you signed up for our next Montreal Dishcrawl with eatlocal.com? Join us to taste some local treats and get to meet the locavores living right here in Montreal!
‘Til then, happy eatings!
Kristel | @kristelskitchen | Facebook
