crepes 2 go, montreal canada

we tromped all over the other end of town looking for coffee and after we found it, we happened upon this homey little place. the last time i had crepes, someone that i was seeing who happened to be from montreal made them for me, so in a way i guess it was appropriate that i have some with my friend.

this was a real treat -- very thin, not too eggy, filled with nutella and then folded over again and stuffed with fresh cold strawberries, then laced with bittersweet chocolate sauce and powdered sugar. amazing.



very simple, really light and easy. like i could eat ten of them, but not really. so far, the best dessert experience of the whole trip.

na brasa, montreal canada

the first time i came to montreal, i wandered up avenue st. laurent and veered into a portuguese neighborhood that was rife with eateries. i chose the one with the packed and festive patio, a place called bistro duluth. i couldn't have been more on point. the waiter was so sweet and everything was so delicious, i promised myself that if i ever returned, i'd have to eat there again.

so today my friend and i tromped through the snow and freezing rain in search of this lovely little spot. i had no idea where it was. and little did i know that the name had changed to na brasa. after three years, all i could do was wander up the same avenue and hope for some clues here and there. well. believe it or not, we found it. it was the perfect lunch. thank God we split everything. (frankly, my best diet trick is to always let him eat most of our meals. he should anyway because he's so much bigger than me and can burn it off much easier than i can.)

my cardinal rule to eating out: no chicken! why go to a restaurant and order something that you get all the time, anyway? so unfortunately, their infamous marinated specialty was off limits. because we intended to have a foodie dinner, we decided to mix it up on the light side by starting with this:



this is a tapas dish called petisco. it's chourico (much like the mexican chorizo i know so well and love so much, but dried and cooked down), pork (marinated and grilled on its own before it was thrown into this mix), morcela (a kind of portuguese blood sausage -- this one was dense and flavorful, with no fillers like rice) and a soft white cheese (not quite manchego, but close), with a little salad on the side to cut the intensity of the meat. it was the right kind of spicy, with a sauce that demanded to be sopped up with lots of crusty, fresh-baked bread.

and then there was this amazing little treat:



this is called cataplana moda da casa -- basically it's fish with lots of seafood: clams, mussels, shrimp, prawns, calamari and chunks of deboned fish swim amidst a stew-like broth of cilantro, peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, sweet onions and new potatoes. it was like a tomato-based bouillabaise -- complex, flavorful, somewhat spicy, not fishy at all.

my friend ordered a fruity/not so dry glass of white wine that i actually liked. too full for dessert. but i'll make up for that later on tonight.

presse cafe, montreal canada

i know what you're thinking: it's just a sandwich. but it's not.

it's strange, the way food tastes so much better -- and in the most ordinary places! -- when i leave america. is it because of the good time euphoria that comes with being on the road, away from all that's familiar? is it because the food is generally chemical and pesticide-free? or maybe i'm imagining things.

one bite of this sandwich and i knew it wasn't me.



when the bread is baked by hand in the back of the shop instead of miles away in a factory somewhere and when you're eating the freshest ingredients, it's just better tasting food. it's easy to find this sandwich in the city -- so easy, i take them for granted. but not today.

this was the first snack i'd had all day and it was wonderful. there's the crunch of the fresh bread, giving way to its soft underbelly, and then the salty/savoryness of the paper-thin proscuitto cut with the heft of a thick tomato and crisp greens. and somewhere in there, a bit of thinly sliced bocconcini. something this simple is always such a joy. i can't believe i know people who've never tried it. seriously -- could i ever go back to kraft american cheese and bologna sandwiches on wonder bread, smeared with mayonnaise?

this sandwich (and many others like it) is one of the many ways that new york city has ruined me.