SOHO – Population: 5. No, not the one in New York…

I have recently discovered yet another quaint hidden gem, this one located in the West Island. In other words, if you don’t have a car, you’ll have a hard time getting there and should probably quit reading unless you’re masochistic enough to spend the 1.5 hours on public transportation.

SOHO is located in Pointe-Claire on St-Jean Blvd., squeezed between Moe’s Deli Restaurant and Patisserie Gascogne, on a large strip mall. Most West Islanders aren’t even aware of its existence, probably due to the giant parking lot (which I refer to as the “no man’s land”) that physically and visually separates the passers-by on the street from its shops. SOHO is a small restaurant, and by small, I mean minuscule. There must be a total of about 30 seats in the entire place; the sushi counter taking up a majority of the area with a piano next to it for the occasional nights when you can enjoy live music.

The reason why I’m boasting about this place is because it serves some of the best quality sushi. Their menu isn’t extensive and prices a tad high, but the seaweed will melt in your mouth like nothing else you’ve ever had. Quality over quantity is what you will get. Now, I know that nearly all my reviews have been fairly positive, so I’ll drop a few bombs and criticize in hopes of keeping my journalistic integrity:

SOHO, although has an amazing freshness to its food, does make you wait for what seems like an eternity, so don’t go while you’re starving because you’ll get cranky before recieving your meal. You’ll wonder why they’re taking so long when they only have a total of about 8 people in the room: it’s because most of their clients order take-out. The prices also seem pretty steep for the lack of originality and the slow service you’ll get.

This is an authentic Japanese sushi place, which means that you will not find silly ingredients such as mangoes or cream cheese in the rolls that North Americans have added and morphed a well-respected, traditional cuisine into a monstrosity they refer to as “Japanese-American fusion”.

PROS:

• Fresh ingredients
• Good cocktails
• Nice decor/ Intimate ambiance

CONS:

• Long wait
• Not accomodating for large groups
• Sushi not served as depicted in picture

Montreal Italian Week

Sites: NDG, Lasalle, St-Léonard, Little Italy, Place Jacques Cartier, Centro Leonardo Da Vinci, etc.

Activites: Opera La Traviata, Fashion Show, Exhibitions, etc.

More information available from the National Congress of Italian Canadians (Québec Region): (514)279-6357

BIXI: The First Public Bike System in Canada

Don’t be surprised if you see the mayor riding a bike around the city, wearing his suit and dorky helmet. If you do see him, give him a wave as he is probably on another one of his crusades promoting BIXI; the new public bike system in the city accessible at all times to anybody with a credit card. You have probably seen them lined up on street corners on the BIXI bike racks; a scene we only thought we’d see in Europe. We must admit that this along with the closing of Saint-Paul Street for pedestrians is a great initiative by the city of Montreal, which is discretely phasing out cars from the downtown Montreal core. While this might frustrate many, it is probably the most innovative approach from a city in all of Canada, which are typically behind a decade in these types of innovations from European cities. Montreal is the North American gateway to European trends, just as Miami is for South American ones. The city’s European flair is the right fit for this type of venture and our sincere wish is that this project evolves every year. The truth is that right now, BIXI is more of a trend, and an expensive one. Taking the metro would probably be faster and cheaper, but riding a BIXI sure is something different that’s also good for your health.

The bikes cost the city about two thousand dollars and are claimed to be theft proof due to innovative technology. Get this: the bikes are tracked through GPS and if you don’t return it on time, they will slow down on there own. So if you spot a guy looking like he is climbing a mountain with his BIXI even on flat pavement, chances are he is trying to steal it, or his credit card maxed out. There are 3000 BIXI bikes with 300 different stations. The annual membership fee to have access to the bikes is 78$ which is good for 365 days between the month of May through November. There are also monthly memberships for 28$ and a 24hr access for 5$. Usage is free under 30 minutes and exponentially rise for every 30 minutes used. This pretty much means that people are encouraged to use the bike for short runs. To give you an idea, if you’re thinking of doing the Tour de l’Ile de Montreal with a BIXI, it will cost you around 40$, in other words, go buy a used bike from a garage sale.

Montreal Needs Some Street Food

Can anybody explain the reasoning behind the ban of street food vending in the city? Even Ottawa, which sees the most action during its annual Tulip Festival, has hot dog vendors on street corners, serving wieners to the busloads of Montreal retirees. Come to think of it, I have this odd suspicion that our local old people are using the tulip festival as an excuse to go eat some greasy wieners off these carts.

The arguments against street vending are always the same: they are not hygienic, it would create even more trash in the city and the carts would eventually be taken over by the local mob to launder drug money. These arguments are all well founded and actually make a lot of common sense, but the drunken teens coming out of the clubs at 3 am need more than just common sense to understand why there are no hot dogs or giros ready to quench the alcohol in their system.

And then we wonder why the Americans coming into town are always yelling in the middle of the streets once they leave the clubs. These people are driving all the way up from Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire for some under 21 drinking and partying, only to realize that there are no Hot dogs on the sidewalks after they leave the clubs. This typically comes as a shock to them, and as you might have noticed that is usually when all hell breaks loose. Mr. Mayor, these are our guests and the Montreal Tourism board should at least provide them with a ‘sorry no street dog’ disclaimer on the home page of its website, as well as any Montreal ad campaigns run in other cities.

In all, Street food vending will probably cause some inconveniences to the city from all the dirt and loitering it would generate. But all it takes is a bite of some real street food in New York and yes, even Ottawa, to realize that even with all its restaurants, Montreal is still not perfect from a culinary perspective. We have one more step my friends, one more step to reach perfection. And no, that fake shit with the Canadian Tire barbecue sets at the Jazz Festival is not real Street Food.

If there was a ‘Do Not Discover’ section on montrealing.com, then I would have posted this under that category, but I guess the ‘Discover’ section will have to do for now. If you are planning on visiting Montreal for the first time, consider this as your only disclaimer. We apologize on our city’s behalf.

Le Quartier Latin

Crescent and St. Laurent are great for a wild party night, but le Quartier Latin is the best part of town to have a relaxed night out with friends, especially in the summer. Le Quartier Latin is primarily on Saint Denis Street between Sherbrooke and Sainte-Catherine.  The Strip is filled with Bars, restaurants and most importantly Terraces unlike any other you will see in other parts of town. Chances are you will not see these outdoor hangouts as they are not like the Crescent street bars with balcony terraces overlooking the street; these are more like huge courtyards, hidden as if to keep them as close to a secret as possible.  The best example is Saint Sulpice , this place can have more people outdoors than all of the crescent street terraces combined!  The beer is cheap, the people are nice and more importantly, everybody looks comfortable.  Flip flops and t-shirts replace the high heels and tight dresses, while the pitcher of Sangria at 15$ replaces the 200$ bottles.

Although it is packed at all times, this part of town can still be considered a hidden treasure, primarily for tourists and even local anglos who are stuck on mainstream Crescent and St. Laurent.  The clientele is mostly French, which contributes largely to the uniqueness of the area. Shisha lounges, Rock Music bars and restaurants with in-house breweries are pretty much the norm, with the smell of soft drugs  as a constant in pretty much the whole neighbourhood.

The best time of year to visit the Quartier Latin is during the Just for Laughs festival, when the street gets blocked and pedestrians take over along with the hundreds of performers. The show, organized by the Juste Pour Rire festival, is something that cannot be missed and can be best compared to an acid trip, with excentric borderline esoteric dancers, comedians and performenrs who bring a show unlike any other in the city.

Marco a.k.a. Mr. Tam Tam

If you’ve been partying it up in Montreal, you’ve definitely seen Marco aka Mr Tam Tam perform in some of your cities finest hot spots. He has been part of the Montreal nightlife scene for years and although his incomparable talent is what got him into the club scene, it is his showmanship that kept him in the spotlight. Ever since the whole club percussion shows started at the old Central Station almost 10 years ago, we have seen many tam tam players with instruments from all over the world come and go; Some lasted a couple of years, others a couple of seasons but most only did a couple of gigs. The truth is, there are a lot of talented percussionists out there, but some of them should stick to a recording career as they do not have the charisma nor showmanship to pump up a party crowd. There is certain X factor that Marco provides which brings life to his performances and explains why he has been around for so long. It is a combination of his style, his massive crew wearing his promo t-shirts popping bottles left and right, and most importantly his own desire to party and have a good time. The recipe is simple, but combined with hard work and a yearning for perfection is what makes this artist one of the top performers in the city.

Marc Saad, born March 7th, 1986 in Beirut Lebanon, grew up in Montreal escaping from the war that was ravaging Lebanon in the early nintees. He was always inspired by music and instruments of any kind, but felt a particular affinity to anything ‘drum’ related. His specialty, the Arabic tam tam, also known as a ‘derbakeh’ or ‘darbouka’, became his passion ever since he was a toddler. He became one with the ‘derbakeh’ and began his long foray into performing at the age of three where he awed audiences with his rapid moving tiny fingers. That was the first of many awed audiences to come, and the beat is still going on since Marco and his producer Stikky have been working around the clock for months now to finally produce Mr. Tam Tam`s much anticipated first solo record entitled `Carnival Arabia by Marco“. The much awaited album is set for release in the summer of 2009 and will be available for purchase on his official website. The tracks will include all types of genres, from house, electro, Arabic, Arabic house, Reggateon and hip hop, with special collaborations by some major artists. All songs will of course be led by Marco and his `derbakeh `otherwise known as his `baby` to bring a truly unique and inimitable sound and flair. The year 2008 held many firsts for Marco including the opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream to perform in Dubai, a city of many musical wonders that completed a very successful musical year.

Saint-Paul will become a pedestrian street!

Fresh off the press! Rue Saint-Paul in Old Montreal will become a pedestrian street this July!   Yep! Terraces, street acts, and candies and lollipops shall abound this summer!

Saint-Paul is of course THE tourist trap of Montreal (ok, maybe #2 after Club Super Sexe on Sainte-Catherine which has indebted so many visiting American students who are not yet 21 years old). But I’ll be the first to come clean, Saint-Paul/Place Jacques-Cartier is the first place I take any out-of-towner (unless it’s an American student who is not yet 21) to show them how awesome Montreal is.

Of course, the whole issue has a huge political undertone, with Montreal Mayor Gérald “too nice to rule a city” Tremblay having opposed the project, and leader of the opposition/mayor of the Ville-Marie borough Benoît “people don’t really like me” Labonté deciding to implement in anyways.  To be fair, the whole thing was initially Mayor Tremblay’s idea, but he backed out because the Old Montreal businessmen were opposed to the idea.  Mayor Tremblay, unsurprisingly, didn’t want to insist…

Political considerations aside, I think this is pretty good news for Montreal.  Anyone who has worked/lived/passed by the Village in the summertime will tell you that, quite frankly, it’s an awesome place to be.  Plus, Rue Saint-Paul’s cobbled streets and Europeanish buildings make it, in some regards, a more obvious and cozy choice than the Village which, let’s face it, has a staggering number of porn shops.

PRO: Pedestrian streets rock.

CON: Say goodbye to some prime parking spots

PRO: All those cars on a tight street like Saint-Paul kinda make it lose its charm anyways

CON: hmm, looks like I’m out of CONs..

PRO: When Les Deux Pierrots closes at 3, we can just move the party outside!

CON: oh, just thought of one.  The few people actually living on Saint-Paul probably don’t want a bunch of drunk people singing Paul Piché at 3:01AM (though honestly, if I lived there, I’d definitely join in)

PRO: More pedestrians = more people who will marvel at the hilarious “I COME FROM CANADA EH” t-shirts that are showcased in 95% of the stores on Saint-Paul

CON: Damn it!  One more.. The pedestrian street experience just won’t be all it can be as Montreal STILL has no street hotdog vendors.. (Note to self: look into why Montreal still has no hotdog vendors)

PRO: Opens up a whole new option for guys who nervously notice on their first date that you can only walk around Place-Jacques Cartier for so long..

CON: Aha, one more! Will probably invite a whole bunch of people engaging in unfortunate public displays of affection on an otherwise charming street.

Uh-oh… final CON: the project in itself should cost about 20,000$.  I predict we will be entertained with a whole new only-in-Montreal-and-possibly-Sicily scandal a few months later, where we’ll find out that we ended up spending $47 million to close off a street and put a few chairs and tables outside..

So, Montrealers, what do you think?