Brunching & Lunching it in Montreal Part 4: Le Cartet

Le Cartet is an all around great sunday morning brunch spot. The place is beautiful in an old montreal industrial style kind of way. It's well lit by natural light pouring through windows on both ends of its long corridor shape. It's got high ceilings, white painted brick walls, and several long communal tables, with Edison bulbs hanging in a straight line at different heights all along the interior... their wires artistically knotted in line with the design style. It's a very warm and welcoming, montreal style decor that I love... especially on a sunny Sunday morning.

The waiting area is a small gourmet grocery corner of the restaurant, with plenty of interesting chocolates, teas, biscuits, olive oils, and ready to eat takeout items in an open fridge (fun to pop in and grab a little cheese platter with grapes and crackers). As soon as I walk in I fill up an Illy coffee at the self serve coffee counter in a to-go cup, to have while I wait. I'm pretty sure that counter is meant for people actually coming in to buy coffee and pastries to go, but I always help myself to a cup of Java, and nurse it until we sit down. No one has ever seemed to mind. I can handle a weekend morning wait for food... but that first coffee feels like life or death. The wait for a table is never more than 15 minutes, and the time passes quickly because of all the local and imported gourmet products to check out.

Le Cartet serves all the usual breakfast fare, but the highlight of the breakfast experience at Le Cartet are the different "complete breakfast" choices for $14.95. 5 or 6 interesting and different breakfast platters, all including a small fresh-squeezed oj, coffee & toast. To name a few: "Les Cantons", an egg, bacon, sausage, and potatoes served in a cast iron skillet with fruit and cheese on the side. "L'Atlantique", lox, a baked salmon cake, and scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, and a dill/yogurt dipping sauce in a shot glass... fruit and cheese on the side. My personal favorite is "Le Sante", two poached eggs served on multigrain toast with a chevre spread and arugula, a small yogurt parfait with blueberry and granola, figs, fruit, and organic cheddar cheese. I love it. Also, for an extra four dollars you can add a Mimosa to the party and make it a real breakfast with friends to remember! Sometimes it's just what the hangover calls for, or the just another way to celebrate a beautiful morning in our great city.

The service is quick and professional. The credit card processing is done at your table for a quick exit when you're ready to go out and enjoy the day. I'd probably rank Le Cartet last of the four spots I've covered. Not because it isn't a great spot, it's just not as consistent as Olive & Gourmando, Mckiernan, & Beautys. Everyone I have sent there gives the place rave reviews, but I do feel that the quality has gone down since they've opened: not as much attention to detail, a little less home made feeling (they used to have amazing jam) and sometimes, just sometimes, my "repas complet" choice feels like it was pre assembled before I ordered it and sat waiting on the kitchen ledge until my order came in. That being said, I still keep Le Cartet near the top of my list for brunch spots. It's just got the right sunday morning energy, and great food too. If you've never been there, try it out - it's also a great Montreal spot to take out of towners, who would enjoy a stroll by the old port after a deliciously gourmet breakfast.


Le Cartet
106 Rue McGill 
Hours:
Monday- Friday 7am- 8pm
Saturday-Sunday 9am-5pm

Brunching & Lunching it in Montreal Part 1: Olive & Gourmando

Montrealers know what it's like when the sun starts shining, the ski equipment gets stored until next year, and the first few warm weekends arrive... we just want to get together with friends on a sunday morning, head out into our beautiful city and eat with reckless abandon (well I do anyway).

Over the next few days, I want to talk about 4 places I love for brunch & lunch. Because hell, even though it's snowing (lightly) as I write this - it's spring! Time to whip out your shades & leather jackets and go wait in line for some great brunch food!

These four places are some of my favorite of all time, anywhere, and we're lucky to have them right here at home. If you are coming to visit our great city, you simply cannot miss eating at these legend-status-worthy local spots. Not all of them serve brunch all week (who's brunching mid week anyway?), but they all have an excellent weekend brunch, and some of the most amazing weekday lunch around, spots I hit for a midday bite on an almost weekly basis. So here goes.... first stop; Olive & Gourmando.

As you approach the lineup pouring out the door of Olive & Gourmando in Old Montreal, you may want to turn on your heels and run in the other direction. If you do, you clearly have never eaten at O+G. Otherwise, you'd excitedly be placing your name on the list at the door, and waiting patiently outside on the bench like a good little puppy - soon to be rewarded by a world class eating experience.

O+G has always been one of my favorite places to be in Montreal. On a sunny day, with the open windows and breeze blowing through, or, as a cozy refuge of warmth from the rain and snow. O+G seriously serves up some of the best brunch & lunch I have ever come across. The cool design & the vibe hits you as soon as you walk through the door. Dark reds and purples, wooden counters, good lighting, nice fixtures, great music. At the back where you make your order, the food is beautifully styled and displayed on dishes inside the glass counter. There are pots of spices and tomatoes growing in all the windowsills. Beautiful. From the style of the words and graphics on the walls to the perfect placement of each bag of potato chips, (that seem as though they were tossed into a basket)... the place is right on.

The restaurant was opened and is owned by couple Eric and Dyan (and now another partner, the wonderfully sweet Shelley Garinther), and the fact that they are never too far from the shop really shines through in the quality of food and service. These owners are hands on, and passionate about their establishment. Eric checks each plate as it leaves the kitchen area before hitting the table (I mean EVERY plate), and Dyan works the front making sure clients are happy and the customer flow is running smoothly. I have rarely been in there when both of them weren't present. Strangely, their staff lack some warmth - it's not always service with a smile, but it is fast and professional. The rest of the sweet O+G package more than makes up for it.

Owner Eric Girard checking each plate for perfection.

Breakfast here is really all about the pastries. One more delicious than the next. The rustic and consistently incredible quality of the baked goods is like a magic trick happening to your senses. It all looks, feels and tastes completely unreal. The "Egg on your face" sandwich is a bite into something special: oven roasted tomato, chopped poached egg salad and proscuito. A treat for your taste buds. They also have an excellent yogurt and granola dish if you are on the healthy plan (a plan you will soon throw away as you walk by the pastry counter), and as though that's not enough, they also serve a way-better-than-average coffee.

A few of my favourites from the pastry counter include; personal banana bread loaf (a great companion for a morning coffee and Gazette in hand), valrhona chocolate brioche (Eric's fave), Jami's Bar (named after the former pastry chef at O+G), Apple turnover, and I can't seem to leave the premises without a chocolate chip pecan cookie.

Can't wait to see where in Montreal Jami & his sweets will turn up next...

Mandatory cookie to-go

For lunch Olive has 2 soups a day, always amazing, so original, healthy, and hearty. Salads change daily, and the very original signature dishes (baked mac & cheese that will make your mouth water) change seasonally. The sandwich board has 6 choices, one of which rotates seasonally and the rest are O&G staples. 3 hot paninis, 3 cold sandwiches. They are imaginative, varied enough to suit all eating preferences (an amazing "Viva Las Vegan" sandwich with tofu can even turn my meat eating self into a temporary herbivore), and perfect every time. My favorite has always been the cajun chicken, avocado & mango sandwich on char-grilled bread, but the more new stuff I try, the more addicted I become to it all. And I have been a die-hard fan for close to 7 years.

I don't think I can hold your attention long enough to describe it all, because honestly the menu at O+G is like stepping into another galaxy of pastry and sandwich eating. I'll just say you'd be hard pressed to find other places churning out this kind of heavenly goodness anywhere in the world. So go.

Unfortunately Olive & Gourmando is closed on Sunday and Monday (yes, it is completely insane for them to be closed on Sunday, but it's all in the name of a day of rest, thus giving you 110% quality the rest of the time).

Olive & Gourmando
351 Rue Saint-Paul West

On tap for this week's brunch/lunch blog bonanza: Mckiernan, Beautys, & Le Cartet.