After waking early Sunday morning and a Hawksley Workman filled drive Prynsus and I arrived in Montreal, met up with Ice Bound and began our trek to find what was boasted as the tastiest brunch in Montreal.  While I am not versed in the variety of Montreal foody cuisine, I can assure you that The Sparrow is one of the best brunches I have had.  Judging by the lines and 45 minute wait it would appear many Montrealers would agree.  The menu is short, sweet and to the point. Between the three of us we sampled the sausage and egg sandwich, french toast and eggs Florentine, all of which were delicious.  My eggs Florentine was cooked to just the right point with the perfect amount of yolk nicely balancing the bed of spinach.  For those of you who know me, nice and spinach do not normally take part in the same sentence.  Doused in maple syrup Prynsus’ healthy portion of french toast was wonderfully accented with crunchy apples and tart cranberries.  Ice Bound will simply have to fill you in on her sausage and egg sandwich, though I will add that it looked delightfully tempting.  The atmosphere is an interesting amalgam of bar and hipster coffee shop.  While its layout is that of a bar the floor is set with a cute collection of bistro like tables and even a comfy couch space in the front for coffee.  This bustling little corner of Montreal was entertaining and a must for any foody in search of brunch.

Later that evening, while in search for dinner, we stumbled across an italian eatery Prynsus and I have previously visited.  La Cucina is your typical Italian bistro with pasta and a wood fired oven for pizza and calzones.  The food was good but not particularly noteworthy, I did enjoy the bechamel filled calzone.   While the prices were good we did feel them to be a touch steep for Montreal, perhaps more in line with what we would find in Ottawa.  For our Ottawa Foodies, if forced to compare it would be much like Dolce Vita in style but not quite the same caliber.

We have returned home full and happy.

After a bit of a debacle with the hotel and sleeping situation we began the careful process of planning out our 3 days in the big city.  There was the expected museums, parks, and shopping but the topic of hot debate was were to spend our 3 lunches and 4 dinners.  The only real demand was a lunch at Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill, the rest was left up to chance.  Fret not we obviously dined on street vendor hot dogs and NYC pizza.

I think I will begin with the highlight of our trip which was Mesa Grill.  We had both been anticipating the food since we started the trip.  In fact Prynsus had been drooling over the lunch menu the night before we left, I was sleeping preparing for the long drive ahead of me.  What can I say about this restaurant?  It was simply fantastic, it was fun and bistro like with fantastic service and an amazingly clean looking kitchen.  Upon examining the menu we were given our server’s recommendations.  I am often annoyed by these as they are sure to be the most expensive selection, this was not the case; for  example I took her recommendation to switch the tequila in my pear margarita for one with a smokier flavor, costing me nothing extra and made all the difference.  We had decided to document this food outing and as such you will find our appetizer as well as both of our entries below.  The appetizer we chose, below, was the barbecued pork Oaxaca cheese quesadilla and was simply fantastic.

It appears small but was so rich even I was satisfied with sharing half.  What struck me with this particular dish was the amount of different flavors from the pork and tortilla to the hot and sweet cabbage.  I find some chefs’ ability to meld so many flavors into a harmonious taste simply daunting when I do my own cooking.  From this high point me moved onto our entries which were amazing.  I chose the  pressed roasted pork sandwich, top, and Prynsus went with the pressed Cuban burger, bottom.  Both sandwiches were outstanding with high quality ingredients; we are pretty sure they ground and marinated steak for the Cuban burger.

Due to full bellies we skipped dessert but need to discuss the margaritas.  Prynsus ordered the peach margarita, next to the Cuban burger, while I went with the aforementioned pear margarita, next to my pork sandwich.f  eel that my words regarding these drinks to be inadequate, with perfect portioning they were strong and yet not overpowering.  We were so impressed we inquired as to the nature of the tequilas and how to acquire some for ourselves; they are not available commercially and are custom small batch orders, oh the life we live on vacation *sigh*.

Other than Mesa Grill two food items stood out I feel obligated to highlight.  The first is the odd combination of corner store and deli which seems to be a norm within New York.  We discovered one of these hybrid establishments upon arriving at our hotel and it puzzled me.  I should have taken a picture but the birth of dotfoods was yet to come so I did not think to document it.  Approaching this shop you see flowers and upon entering, the idea of corner store is confirmed with the usual snack suspects.  However, with this business you will find a deli on the left and what is essentially a Chinese buffet down the middle.  I know what you are thinking…this cannot be going anywhere tasty but you would be horribly mistaken.  As a weary traveller having just arrived in the city I did not want to venture forth in search of new food so I ordered a California wrap which included avocado, real chicken breast and marinated red peppers; it was delicious, possibly the tastiest wrap I have ever had.  As to what Prynsus ordered I will have to leave it to her capable mind and nimble fingers.

The second little gem we found while walking in Soho searching for the KidRobot store, in our search we found a gorgeous little deli simply called Delicatessen. Those who know me are aware of the direct relationship between my grumpiness and my hunger; as a result we temporarily abandoned our shopping quest and settled in for some deli.  I was very surprised in the sophisticated and yet casual atmosphere.  The staff were incredibly friendly, even acting as tour guide to help us find the KidRobot store.  As with the cornerstone deli I regret to inform you that I did not take pictures of our meals as we had not come up with the idea of blogging about our food.  To appease the desire for pretty pictures I did get a shot of a matchbox that Prynsus took from the restaurant.  As for our actual selections, Prynsus had a chicken salad sandwich and I had a chicken BLT.  We left feeling satisfied and happy, yet not sufficiently impressed to recall the tastes a week later.  I do not consider this an insult as it is difficult when the following day we did go to Mesa which took up our taste memories.  If you do find yourself in New York and are in search of a fun Deli I would recommend it.

Well I believe that just about wraps up our New York trip and the tasty morsels we discovered on the way.  In the immortal words of the most interesting man in the world, “stay thirsty my friends”.

In this blog, we will write about the foods we eat and cook, give you recipes of our favorite meals and show you pictures that will make your mouth water and you’ll taste what you’re looking at.

So please enjoy and keep reading (and eating) and let us know what you think, and definitely give us recipes to try and we’ll write about them, especially if we like them

Bon Appetit!

Prynsus