Today is Labour Day in North America. Traditionally it is the last day of summer vacation for the kids; the day before the first day of school. Since we are no longer kids, nor in school, nor have any kids, this is just an ordinary long weekend. Except that we are in Montreal! And it’s a national holiday and everything is closed 😦 We did find a single shoe store open on St. Catharines (the main shopping street down town) but nothing to shout home about. And it’s raining. Pouring at times; and the temperature has plummeted, it’s down right chilly out there!
We started our day in a cute little breakfasty place just around the corner from our hotel; cold café au lait and soggy croissants! Oh well, we won’t go there again! We then took the Metro to Crescent Street and St. Catharines to window shop and hopefully find a great place for lunch. We walked around to find W&G, an eclectic Italian restaurant/bar. I had a delicious grilled octopus Polpo alla griglia: Octopus, red wine vinaigrette, roasted red peppers pickled onions and JT had a pizza special, with a fish soup starter. The fish soup had a great bouillabaisse taste, with chunks of fish. The pizza had sundried tomato pesto, chicken, basil, gouda and mozzarella cheese. It was delicious! A good find on Crescent Street! http://www.wiensteinandgavinos.com
My octopus:
JTs pizza:
Overall rating (in my opinion): Decor 2.5/5, service 3/5, food 4/5, Value 4/5, Noise: 3/5 (1 being very noisy, and 5 being very quiet).
We have one of the best restaurants in Montreal booked for this evening: Barroco http://www.barroco.ca/, we tried getting in last night but failed to make reservations for six. This place gets amazing reviews on trip advisor!
Unfortunately, I didn’t luv it. Perhaps what I ordered didn’t hit me, or the music (it’s a century building with three foot walls and exposed brick, playing Michael Jackson, Aerosmith and The Rolling Stones). It would have suited the place better to play Nora Jones or Michael Buble! Oh well.
I had the organic salmon carpaccio, which ended up rather tasteless; and the Mediterranean Branzini – I thought it was too mushy, but I’ve never had Branzini before, so the texture was new to me. JT had the sangria marinated watermelon with Serrano Ham, too watery and the braised short rib with a gnocchi side-the gnocchi was very tasty. He said the short rib was fine!
Overall rating (in my opinion): Decor 4.5/5, service 3.5/5, food 2.5/5, Value 1/5, Noise: 2/5 (1 being very noisy, and 5 being very quiet).
We walked back to our hotel, the rain had subsided and had our complimentary glass of wine at the bar.
Wow, that’s some *big* octopus! – loving that long plate it’s serve on too! Speaking of pizza, I’m making some this weekend to test out my new pizza stone! Yay 🙂
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The octopus was delicious – so tender. I’m not sure of a pizza stone, we have a cast iron pizza pan, but I heat it up and put the raw dough on the super hot iron; you get a wonderfully crispy crust that way! Damn, now I’m thinking pizza on the weekend too!
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The octopus and the pizza sound like definite winners there! 😀
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Thanks Lorraine. The little capers added the brininess the sweet octopus needed.
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The octopus and the pizza both look fabulous! You’d think I would eventually tire of eating pizza…but it has yet to happen. 🙂
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I know what you mean Kristy. We love pizza too, so versatile.
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I love that pizza! Really delicious!
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Angie, the pizza was wonderful. The cheese was so tasty on top!
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The octopus does look wonderful. I can always sacrifice a bit of service for really good food!
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But bad service can really break a meal, Greg. What’s service like in Arkansas?
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I applaud your selection of grilled octopus; so few would do so. That pizza looks, good, too. Here’s hoping the clouds part for the remainder of your stay!
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Thanks John. The octopus was done perfectly, so tender, with just a few charred bits. Very tasty with the pickled onion.
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