Prohibition ▪ Montréal

5674 Monkland Avenue
Montréal, Québec
514.481.8466
website

It seems all of my favourite Montréal food blogs have already posted about Prohibition. For good reason: it's a terrific brunch spot! We headed there for Elle's birthday before Christmas. It is located on busy Monkland Avenue in a semi-basement that was not too dark.

Prohibition has a small menu with unique items. The men of our group ordered the maple fried challah French toast with fried chicken ($13). Two large pieces of deep fried challah bread accompanied a piece of crispy chicken. It's a very impressive plate and Mr. Dee (Elle's hubby) seemed to really enjoy it. I wish that the bread wasn't deep fried because I would definitely have ordered it; it just seems a bit too heavy for me.

French toast and fried chicken.

Instead, I ordered the lemon ricotta pancakes served with blueberry compote and sugar bacon ($13). I'm not usually a pancake person, but ricotta pancakes appealed to me and I'm wild about anything with blueberries. The four pancakes made for an impressive stack and the ricotta ensured they were light and fluffy. I was worried the thick cut bacon would not be crispy but I had nothing to worry about. I was very happy with my choice, combining sweet and savoury. I would probably order this again, even though I'd be tempted to try other dishes. 

 Ricotta pancakes, blueberry compote and thick cut bacon.

Elle and our friend MJ ordered the breakfast sandwich ($12), which consisted of an egg over easy and peameal bacon served in an English muffin. Elle seemed to enjoy her sandwich, after squirting me with her runny yolk, and the very generous portion of fries, that I was happy to help her finish. Those were good fries.

Breakfast sandwich.

I might be biased since it's in my neighbourhood and just a few minutes' walk from my place, but I think Prohibition is a great brunch spot for a number of reasons. The food was excellent and the plates plentiful. I liked the original breakfast items. Not ordered were also huevos rancheros and shakshouka. The service was very attentive: so much so, that I had to tell the waitress to leave my tissues on the table, while she keenly picked them up to throw them away. Finally, the big plus is that Prohibition takes reservations! No waiting in line, wondering when you'll get to enjoy brunch!

Amaranto ▪ Montréal

5974 Monkland
Montréal, Québec
Notre-Dame-de-Grâce
514.510.1225

With no plans for dinner, Elle texted that she craved Mexican and suggested trying out Amaranto. Conveniently, the restaurant is walking distance from my condo so we headed out to try some authentic Mexican fare. Amaranto is located on a less busy part of Monkland Avenue, on the West side.

Elle and I first sat at one of their outside tables but it was rather windy so we went into the basement level restaurant. It's a spacious space with a small number of tables. The kitchen is open so you can see what's cooking. There's also a wall offering specialty Mexican food for sale, such as nopales (cactus) and Mexican herbs.

Amaranto.

I drank half of my hibiscus tea, or agua de jamaica, ($2.75) before I remembered to photograph it. The juice is made of dried hibiscus flower. It had a sweet and tart taste, reminiscent of cranberry juice. Elle liked it so much she bought a pack of hibiscus flowers to make for herself at home.

We were served complimentary tortilla chips with two salsa's. There's no better way to my heart than free food! Even better, when it's fried chips with great salsa's. The green salsa, made with tomatillo and habenero, was my favourite because of its spicy kick but the red tomato and chipotle salsa was also tasty.

Tortilla chips.

Elle and I decided to share a starter and ordered the cazuelita de queso fundido with chorizo ($8.25). When we topped a soft tortilla with the Oaxacan cheese mixture, the cheese was ooey-gooey, stringy and stretched for miles it seemed. The combination of the cheese and chorizo reminded me of pizza topping. How could one go wrong with that?

Cazuelita de queso fundido with chorizo.

Elle was very intrigued by the avocado soup ($4.99). The soup was as delicious as it was unique. Made of chicken stock, the soup had a generous amount of avocado purée in the middle, was dotted with pomegranate seeds and topped with crispy tortilla crisps. The soup was slightly tart from lime juice. The avocado in the soup was a wonderful and unexpected combination. My favourite part was the little pops of flavour that came from the pomegranate seeds. Outstanding soup and so original!

Avocado soup.

We also shared four tacos de pastor ($9.99). The marinated pork tucked in soft corn tortillas was delicious. The tacos were generously topped with coriander and onion, with a side of lime wedges. The tacos were quite satisfying.

Tacos de pastor.

Finally, we were in a mood to try out more new food so we decided to have dessert, and ordered the fried plantains ($3.50). Sour cream and condensed milk were drizzled and cinnamon was sprinkled on top of the plantains. The condensed milk nicely sweetened the plantains while the cinnamon gave the dessert a nice kick.

Fried plantains for dessert.

We were very happy with our meal at Amaranto. It's nice to know that you can find authentic Mexican food in Montréal. If you've never had the pleasure of having authentic Mexican food, Amaranto should be your next destination!

 

Pasta Casareccia ▪ Montréal

5849 Rue Sherbrooke
Montréal, Québec
Notre-Dame-de-Grâce
514.483.1588
website

I got back from my BC trip and headed straight to my new condo. I hope to have some before and after posts soon-ish! During the following week, with help from my family, the condo was cleaned and painted. After one of these cleaning sessions, Elle and I went searching for food in my new neighbourhood of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (NDG) - also my old neighbourhood as this is where I grew up. We walked down Sherbrooke and went to one of Elle's favourite restaurants for pasta.

Pasta Casareccia has a great reputation for pasta because it makes its own pasta in-house. Not only is it a restaurant, but also offers Italian goods, including fresh homemade pasta to bring home. We sat down at one of the outside tables and admired the herb planters on the tables.

Pasta Casareccia.

Elle and I both started with a Cesar salad ($6) each. The dressing tasted homemade but the anchovies flavour was a tad strong for my taste.

Cesar salad.

The menu offered a few pasta and sauce choices that patrons can combine to their liking. In an attempt to have a light dinner, we decided to share the medaglioni di ricotta ($16) because Elle was intrigued by this unfamiliar pasta. The dish consisted of 4 large medallions that we shared.

Medaglioni di ricotta.

When we sliced into the medallions, we were amazed by the thin layers of pasta alternating with ricotta and spinach filling. We tried to figure out if the pasta was cooked before putting the medallions together, or if the pasta was rolled uncooked and baked. We couldn't figure it out. We also agreed that it would take a lot of skill to spread a very thin layer of filling and roll it into such a nice medallion. We might have to try our hand at medaglioni's! The medallions were topped with tomato sauce.

Delicate layers of pasta.

I am very excited to further explore my new neighbourhood, and Pasta Casareccia was a great start! I can't wait to go back and try other homemade pasta. It's also good to know that I have access to great pasta nearby. This will be very convenient if I ever have to throw an impromptu dinner party.