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.
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?
McDonalds on St-Hubert Street: An amazing freakshow
There are places known for having alot of freaks as clients; One that immediately comes to mind is Spot Bowling in Cartierville with that 65 year old prostitute that is in her bikini even if its -40 outside. Another known one is the Guy Metro station, known for it’s stylish hobos. But my friends, I have found THE spot to see a wide selection of freaks, one more interesting than the other: the St-Hubert street McDonalds.
Since montrealing.com moved to the St-Hubert Plaza, I have been walking around the streets and noticing very ”interesting” people, to a point where I can proudly describe myself as an expert hobo-ologist. My unofficial research has led me to the following conclusions:
Looking for hobos is actually very tricky; the best place to find them in public areas where there is some type natural or man made protection; the best time to find them is actually during the day between 11am and 3pm. If you are a beginner in hobo-explorations, a simpler way to find them is to just look for pigeons, they are usually close by.
Saint Hubert Street creates the perfect environment for the hobo population, mainly due to the fact that the Plaza sidewalks have a protective roof and that there is a lot of foot traffic. Now where it gets interesting is when hobos are mixed with groups of older people, Squeegees, wierdos and hippies. That is where the McDonalds on the corner of St-Hubert and Beaubien comes in. The “Mcdo du coin” creates the ideal circumstances in Montreal in terms of Freak watching. Just sit back, relax and enjoy the show!
I will be updating this blog on a regular basis, with my discoveries; hopefully including some pics, maybe even some interviews. Please feel free to do some explorations of your own and share your insights your freak discoveries and hot spots.
The Montrealing.com Loft
We are pleased to announce that the montrealing.com headquarters is under construction and will be ready shortly! The loft is a 2500 sq/ft location in the St. Hubert Plaza and will be the place to be for all types of events. The place will be most known for its pre-parties, where Montreal’s finest will meet and greet right before taking the limos to a night out in town. I already have some “before” pictures but will wait for the “after” pictures to post them all at the same time, because quite honestly, the place looked like shit when we first got it. Stay tuned…