Save 50% all pizzas on Pizza Tuesday

According to their ad in our local paper:

Gourmet pizza with whole wheat or white crust and only the freshest quality ingredients.

514-630-7577

www.calistogragrill.ca

This fairly new restaurant (not even a year old) is tiny but don’t let the size of the restaurant fool you. The food portions are huge and even better – they’re fabulous.

I’m not usually one for overly large food portions; I prefer to pay for decent sizes that don’t lead to overeating. However, they tell you that the fries, for example, come in a large bowl, so that lets you order only one to share between two. If your food is too much, you can always take the rest home to snack on later or to share with someone who wasn’t lucky enough to go with you.

As the name says, it’s basically burgers, but you can get some other choices as well.

When you enter the restaurant, there’s an order counter, where you place your order whether you are staying or taking out. This part is a bit crowded and confusing – if I had to criticize anything, it would be this set up. The door opens right to where everyone is standing and if the line is long, if you’ve ordered something ahead of time, you still have to stand in the long line to pay for and pick up your order. After you place your order, if you’re staying, they give you a number to place on your table so the server knows where to bring your food.

The food prices are very reasonable: a regular hamburger (dressed as you ask) is 4.00, while a cheeseburger is 4.50 and a cheese and bacon burger can be had for 5.00. And we’re not talking slivers of meat here – we’re talking real, honest-to-goodness, open-your-mouth wide, fresh-not-frozen hamburgers.

Other available offerings are are

• hamburgers with blue cheese, pepper mayo, and carmelized onions (6.00)
• hamburger with St. Paulin cheese and spicy mayo (6.00)
• hamburger with goat cheese, grilled veg, black pepper mayo (6.00)
• old-fashioned poutine (4.00 or 6.00)
• salads
• and more

Location:

59 Westminster North
Montreal West

(514) 564-9902

It’s just a few blocks north of Sherbrooke, on the right hand side if you are walking up.

My advice: check it out. But because of its small size, you may want to avoid traditional meal hours or considering calling and ordering ahead.

Free kid’s meal at Scores with each purchase of an adult meal. Check out www.scores.ca to learn more.

What:

Cafe 92°

A coffee shop owned by two women from Mexico, Claudia Vega and Maria Grajales, and a third partner, Reda Wahba.

What they serve:

Besides delicious coffee, they serve the typical coffee shop drinks and they have a lovely selection of teas. Their food has a Mexican influence, as well as sandwiches and lovely homemade soups. Their pastries are excellent as well.

Where:

6703 Rue Sherbrooke Ouest, Montreal - NDG -(corner Montclair)

514-750-4392

Hours:

Mon – Fri: 7:00 am – 9:30 pm; Sat – Sun: 9:00 am – 9:00 pm

Cost:

Very reasonable. A lunch for two, including a hearty soup, a roast beef sandwich and coffee, including tax, came out to about 20.00. A coffee alone is 1.50 plus tax.

Free WiFi too.

They even have a Facebook page.

By Sean Miller

One can only fall in love with a fenced patio decorated with lush flora and quaintly strung Christmas lights, hidden from the public within the depths of the famous Montreal Plateau. Thankfully, this is exactly what Café Santropol offers to its lush clientele.

Tucked away on the corner of St-Urbain and Duluth, Café Santropol offers a delectable variety of sandwiches, garnished with fresh ingredients, as well as herbal teas, coffees, and a personal favourite, home-style milkshakes. The staff is exceptionally friendly, even on the rainiest of days, and the menu offers a wide variety of health-conscious options (it is a vegetarian establishment, though offers meat and poultry additions to their standard menu, for those that need or want).

Each dish comes served with an array of fresh fruit, quite possibly the easiest and tastiest appetizer, or addition if you will, to the monstrous sandwich that follows. The sandwiches are very well prepared, with the only criticism being the overdose of any spread. Whether it be cream cheese, jalapeño paste or hazelnut spread, an even inch of anything on a sandwich is too much for the palette. However, one negative does not overshadow the many positive.

The milkshakes can be made to one’s specific taste, with the option of mixing and matching ingredients. Banana-hazelnut, cherry-chocolate, strawberry-raspberry are all feasible options, but one can always be creative and go for the whole package (for a measly 75 cents per extra ingredient).

Overall, Café Santropol is the perfect, quiet and artistic alternative to the hustle and bustle of St-Laurent, providing customers with a comfy, dimly-lit, relaxing environment with a warm and friendly staff, and an eccentric yet tantalizing menu. A must-go for anyone visiting Montreal, with a health conscious, delicious alternative in mind, for a very good price.

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Photo from Google Maps

My reaction? Very nice Montreal restaurant that serves good Indian food and an extremely decent price. Three of us ate for just over 30.00. The food was tasty, the service fast.

Pushap is really a sweet shop and restaurant and has been on Dollard in LaSalle for 5 years and is run by a husband and wife team, and their son and daughter (who served us).

When you go, do not forget to taste their sweets. You can buy them to take home and they are delicious – made our server’s father. In fact, I’m eating another piece of their carrot cake right now as I type.

Where: 1661, Av Dollard (corner Newman), Lasalle  514-365-1312

Hours: Tue-Sun: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

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What: Burritoville, vegetarian restaurant – burritos, tacos, empanadas or quesadillas plus many fillings

Where: (I was just told that the NDG location has closed)

2055 rue Bishop , Montréal 514-268-8283

Cost: According to Hour.ca’s article Homemade Hacienda, “Dinner for two, before tip and beverages (tax is included; cash only): $12-$24″

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For visitors to Montreal and people who aren’t familiar with Schwartz’s, it’s a delicatessen that has been part of Montreal since the 1920s. There’s even been a film made about it, called Chez Schwartz.

The restaurant is known for its long line-ups, quick and no-nonsense service, and good food. Many (and I mean many!) celebrities and public figures have eaten at Schwartz’s and many people come to Montreal for the first time knowing that they have to check it out. Ex-Montrealers often have orders to bring back smoked meat from Schwartz’s to other ex-Montrealers, where ever they may be.

Their menu is on-line so you can check it out before you go.

If you’re in a real rush, they have a take-out window now, so you don’t have to stand in line with those who want to sit down to eat their meal.

Where: 3895 Saint-Laurent Boulevard (so-called The Main), Montreal (514) 842-4813  Marijke/Montreal On The Cheap

When:

Sunday 8:00 AM – 12:30 AM
Monday 8:00 AM – 12:30 AM
Tuesday 8:00 AM – 12:30 AM
Wednesday 8:00 AM – 12:30 AM
Thursday 8:00 AM – 12:30 AM
Friday 8:00 AM – 1:30 AM
Saturday 8:00 AM – 2:30 AM

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It’s an international site, so you can use the site where ever you travel if it’s listed in the system. And it’s very simple.

Let’s say you decide you want a special night out with your sweetie next weekend or you have friends coming in from out of town. You want a nice restaurant but don’t want to call around to see who has reservations and who doesn’t. You simply go to OpenTable.com and go through their list of restaurants to see who is participating. Currently, there are 63 restaurants in Montreal that are part of this system.

Then, using the website, you book your table. It’s all done on-line and your reservation is automatically entered into that particular restaurant’s reservation system. When you show up for your dinner, it’s registered and you are awarded points (no points given for no shows or cancellations).

The points are awarded usually for 100 points, but there are some special times and places where you can get up to 1000 points. According to the website:

Once you’ve accumulated at least 2,000 Points, you can redeem them for OpenTable Dining Cheques in the following denominations:

* 2,000 points = US$20 or Can$26 or £15

* 5,000 points = US$50 or Can$65 or £37.50

* 10,000 points = US$100 or Can$130 or £75

The best part? They can be used in any OpenTable restaurant anywhere in the world. So, if you’re on a nice vacation in England or on a business trip in Singapore, you can accumulate points you can use at home or on your next trip. How cool is that?

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Tags: open table points system, open table reservation system, open table restaurants, restaurants montreal, montreal, free dining montreal

Where: RestoMontreal.com

What: Coupons for vegetarian restaurants. The coupons range from but one get the next 50% off to discounted meals.

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Tags: montreal vegetarian restaurants, discounts vegetarian restaurants Montreal