Sweet idea for Verdun street party
Sixteen restaurants offer tastings that celebrate maple syrup
A city street will turn into a sugaring off party Saturday and Sunday when the merchants and restaurateurs of Verdun create their fourth annual maple promenade along Wellington St. This year’s event is named Érablière Panache et bois rond and will be staged each day from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. between de l’Église and Gordon Sts.
Tasting portions of sugar shack dishes will be offered by 16 participating restaurants at tables set up in front of Notre-Dame-desSept-Douleurs Church. Specialties priced from $2 to $4 will include maple-flavoured beans with bacon from Blackstrap BBQ, meats with maple mustard from Le Wellington, cretons from Tripes & Caviar and grilled cheddar cheese with bacon and maple syrup from Station W. Besides tire (maple taffy) on snow, sweet treats will include maple and spice cookies from Boulangerie Rustique Sweet Lee’s, maple and raisin bread from Boulangerie-pâtisserie Wellington, sucre à la crème from Café La Tazza, and waffles with maple syrup and whipped cream from Fromagerie Copette & Cie. You can wash it all down with maple-infused tea from Maison de thé Cha Noir and coffee from StHenri micro-torréfacteur.
Games, a petting farm, lumberjacks sawing logs, arts and crafts and face-painting will be offered both days. Organized by the nonprofit Société de Développement Commercial Wellington, the event is sponsored this year by Yellow Street food, Italian style
A celebration of the street foods of Italy will take place Friday night at Little Italy’s cultural centre called Casa D’Italia, 505 Jean-Talon St. E. For a $20 ticket, the public will be offered portions of three Italian specialties, plus gelato and coffee, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Music, wines available at $5 per glass, and two photograph exhibits will be part of the event. One photo exhibit will be about meats, titled The Cold Room, the other about the streets of Italy.
Called Cibo Di Strada, it’s a project of the newly formed Montreal Young Italian-Canadian Association, whose goal is to showcase modern Italian culture in Montreal. Their event is designed to mark the recent revival of Montreal street food. The sandwich with a pizza crust called piadina will be offered by the L’Artisan Piadineria restaurant. Porchetta sandwiches will be served by the butcher shop Boucherie Tranzo, and Vago restaurant will offer fried rice balls called arancini. The ice cream bar Chez Vincenzo will serve gelato and coffee.
Tickets must be obtained in advance. They are available at Caffè San Simeon, 39 Dante St., and at six other locations in Montreal, Pierrefonds, St-Léonard and Lachine. For locations and other information, visit myica.ca and click on Culinary Arts or telephone Sabrina Mercuri at 514-677-8230.