I Left My Deer Heart in Montreal: Part One

Montreal Skyline with Leonard Cohen Mural [Thomas1313, CC BY-SA 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons]

And then there is Montreal. I’d like to take some time to wax poetic about this city we fell madly in love with during the year we lived there. What’s not to love? As far as cities go, it’s like Paris and New York had a love child and then immigrants and indigenous people took over and said, “Step back, we’re doing it our way!” And then there is the food . . . the food scene is, without a doubt, one of the best of any city in the Western Hemisphere. So let’s start there.

On January 17th, 2017, our first day living in Montreal, we awoke in our snug little studio apartment in Le Plateau-Mont-Royal to three feet of snow and below zero temperatures. And yes, dear reader, you might well be saying to yourself that perhaps it hadn’t been very prudent to relocate to this unswervingly icy burg in the middle of winter? Touché. You would not be off the beam in this supposition. Nonetheless, having resolutely decided to leave the US after the elections in 2016, we packed up our hats, scarves, long underwear, snow boots and winter jackets and left three days before the inauguration took place.     

That first afternoon, we bundled up in our winter attire and made the slippery and occasionally treacherous trip to the incomparable gourmet market that is La Maison du Rôti on L’Avenue du Mont-Royal in the Plateau. I had done my homework in the months preceding our arrival and this was destination number one. If you’re the kind of Epicurean who frequently finds yourself in need of some cuisse de lapin confit, stuffed partridge with pomegranate, Comté mamie, or a giant slice of pâté en croûte à la pistache and a pre-made tourtière du Lac St-Jean, this is where you will spend much of your time in Montreal. I know I did! This place is a treasure-trove of products from the best artisan farmers and chefs across Quebec, the likes of which I’ve never seen in any store in any city we’ve ever lived. The quality and selection of products is beyond any boutique vendor I’ve encountered anywhere and if this sounds like an advertisement for La Maison du Rôti, you may consider it so.

Stuffed Partridge with Pomegranate [Photo by La Maison du Rôti]

And while we’re talking food, there are scores of restaurants in Montreal in an echelon simply beyond compare. Undoubtedly, fans of one of my heroes, Anthony Bourdain, will recall the “I Love Montreal” episode [full episode here] from his award-winning series Parts Unknown documenting his insatiable dining experiences at Joe Beef and Au Pied de Cochon (two of the city’s culinary temples). Because I wouldn’t dream of trying to compete with my fellow traveler, my kindred spirit, my Epicurean Vagabond guru, I will attempt here to delve into some other pearls of Montreal’s gastronomic scene (although I would strongly encourage you to submit your reservation requests for both of these two gluttony-inducing restaurants several months ahead of your intended travel date to this foodie Mecca). [Fun fact, the Travel Channel almost green-lit the travel show I pitched them exploring the relationships between food, wine, art, literature, music and culture in specific locations around the world the very same year that Anthony Bourdain scored his breakthrough TV show No Reservations. The network, in their infinite wisdom, chose his show instead of mine, and after seeing the results I could not agree more. I still had more vagabonding to do!]

So let’s start with our first major dinner after uprooting ourselves to Montreal. For Valentine’s Day 2017 a dear friend of ours (and a great admirer of Montreal) gifted us dinner at the iconic Moishes Steakhouse, housed in a jaw-dropping Art Deco building on Saint Laurent Boulevard (sadly since closed and relocating to a new location in the more corporate surroundings of Victoria Square). Opened in 1938 by Moishe Lighter, this Montreal institution happened to be the favorite haunt of Quebec’s native son and icon, Leonard Cohen (who had just passed away in 2016). Indeed, he even had his own table at Moishes. Sharing in our mutual love of Leonard Cohen, our friend made a reservation for the two of us to be seated at Leonard’s table along with a gift card for $100 and a complimentary bottle of Champagne. It was a marvelous surprise and we were thoroughly delighted.

When I lived in Los Angeles across from Canter’s Deli on Fairfax (another of his favorite haunts), I frequently encountered Leonard at the deli counter getting takeout chopped liver or some stuffed kishka with gravy. He was always Leonard, always a perfect gentleman. I simply adored him. Comfortably seated at Leonard’s table at Moishes, we ordered what practically everyone orders – an hors d'oeuvre of chopped liver and dill pickles, followed by a 45 day dry-aged porterhouse steak for two and their classic Monte Carlo potato on the side (a creamy, buttery twice-baked heart attack with a crunchy top dusted with paprika). Is it classic, old-school steakhouse fare? Yes, but it’s divine!

Moishes Steakhouse. Leonard Cohen’s table is in the center between two windows, just right of the waiter in the middle of the room. [Photo from moishes.ca]

Aptly, our apartment was also only a short walk (contingent, naturally, on the accumulation of ice and snow on the sidewalks) from Montreal’s illustrious Gay Village (the largest gay neighborhood in North America). Along St. Catherine’s Street, the hip and funky heart of “Le Village,” one can find a vast array of restaurants, cafés, hair salons, boutique shops, male strip clubs and bars all explicitly catering to the LGBTQ+ community.

We often started our evenings out in Le Village at another one of the city’s finest eateries, Café Saigon. We have never visited Vietnam (although it’s very high on our list of future destinations) but we’ve eaten at countless phở-nomenal Vietnamese restaurants from L.A. to San Francisco, Seattle to Vancouver to the Quartier Asiatique of Paris (home to a slew of astounding Vietnamese restaurants). Vietnamese cuisine is one of my absolute favorite cuisines in the world and I would place Café Saigon in Montreal at the top of my list. This place is first-come, first-served and is always packed. You cannot eat here without having their rouleaux impériaux croustillant (nem rán). These perfectly deep-fried, sizzling spring rolls (wrapped in cold lettuce and fresh mint) are mouthwatering morsels of crunchy, delectable goodness tantalizing your taste buds with succulent pork, sliced carrots, mushrooms and glass noodles. Also, did I mention it’s one of Montreal’s many “bring your own wine restaurants?” No corkage!

Rouleaux Impériaux Croustillant (nem rán) at Café Saigon [Photo from cafesaigon.ca]

Montreal is also a city with a thriving art scene. Year-round, on any given day or evening, one has a plethora of cultural options from which to choose. From book readings to theater to dance to opera to concerts to numerous museums and art galleries, there is ALWAYS something going on in this city. One evening in April, we decided to have an early dinner at Café Saigon and then head around the corner to attend one of the many book readings of the international literary festival Blue Metropolis, held annually in Montreal since 1999. The reading was part of The Violet Hour Reading Series and was an evening of literary readings by queer writers. It was $10 and it was taking place at Stock Bar . . . the largest male strip club in the city. Attendees were invited to come at 6:30pm for 90 minutes of celebrated authors Ivan Coyote, Peter Dubé, Sky Gilbert, Harry Josephine Giles, Catherine Hernandez, Kai Cheng Thom and Christopher DiRaddo reading their poetry, monologues, fiction and memoirs on the main stage. Everyone was also invited to stay for the adult entertainment afterwards. We did just that.

All I can say is that it was completely surreal sitting on a bar stool, cocktails in hand, listening to learned authors read excerpts from their literary works whilst leaning against a stripper pole. At one point during the evening, Scottish author Harry Josephine Giles stood up and announced that they would be reading their delightful translations of the perennially lascivious Roman poet Catullus, to which Ryan and I clapped and shouted fervently, “Whoooo-hoo!” She laughed heartily, “Oh, I see we have some Catullus fans at the strip club this evening! Wow, that’s a sentence I never thought I’d utter,” which was met with uproarious laughter from the audience.

After the reading ended, we had a lovely chat about Catullus with Harry Josephine Giles (whose books had sadly been held up in customs) and purchased two fantastic books from award-winning author Kai Cheng Thom (Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl's Confabulous Memoir and a collection of poetry called A Place Called No Homeland), which she graciously autographed. And then, abruptly, the house lights dimmed and were immediately replaced with seductive red lighting and a spotlight on the stage. Before you could say Magic Mike, the first of many hunky young stripper boys was suddenly on stage sensuously removing his shirt to Beyoncé. And that wasn’t all he removed. Let’s just say it was . . . “the full monty.” We soon found ourselves with front row seats to a procession of oiled, athletic bare buttocks and unusually pendulous appendages swinging precariously close to our faces. The humorous contrast was not lost on any of the poets, authors, editors, literary agents, English professors, queer history scholars and bespectacled attendees who stayed for the show. Classic Montreal.

Our first six months in this frosty town had flown by and we found ourselves utterly enamored with this cosmopolitan jewel. Having spent our first five years together living in Paris and being fluent in French certainly didn’t hurt. But it was more than that. There is something so relaxed, so familiar, so easy about this city. It’s a vibrant, pulsing metropolis that manages to feel like a quaint village. Montreal can be a bone-chilling 10 degrees below zero outside, but it’s somehow always warm there.

Rue d’Esplanade in December, Le Plateau-Mont-Royal [CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons]

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Please stay tuned for “I Left My Deer Heart in Montreal: Part Two,” where I will take you on a journey through our second six months in this fabulous city.