HOLIDAY MENU OFFERINGS
Restaurants have us covered
The festive season is upon us, but it's hard to get in the mood: no office parties, no nights out, no booking babysitters, no Christmas get-togethers in light of Thursday's announcement by the Quebec government — and, sadly, no celebratory meals at our favourite restaurants.
The hospitality industry has been working hard to adapt and survive in what used to be the beating heart of our city. But it's far from “bien aller.”
“No one is doing well right now,” says Ryan Gray, co-owner of Nora Gray and Elena. “We're all just trying to keep our heads above water.”
The problem is that everyone is already in dire financial straits, and without the influx of holiday business, there just won't be a cushion to pad them for those dreaded quiet first few months of the year. That's why it's so important to support one another, especially now. Whether it's treating the family to an unexpected night of takeout; giving yourself a break from having to cook; gifting a friend, neighbour or co-worker with a basket or certificate; or splashing out on a special meal, if we all try to order from just one of our favourite restaurants, bars or other local spots, it really will make a difference.
So, in honour of staying home for the holidays — and beyond — here is just a handful of special menu offerings, festive meal ideas and ways to treat yourself, or someone else, this season. Help bring a little more joy and light to the end of 2020.
Unless otherwise specified, all of the following offer both pickup and delivery.
Etna etnamtl.ca; 438-408-6030; 244 Jarry St. E. Pickup only.
This small Andalusian and southern Italian wine bar in Villeray has reason to celebrate: it's not just the holidays, but their first anniversary. “And what a year it has been!” exclaims Claudia Fancello, who co-owns Etna with Sergio Conde. Their set menu ($65 for two) is made up of an apéro box including house spreads, crudités, homemade focaccia and Spanish tortilla, followed by Andalusian-style meatballs, Sicilian eggplant ragu, delicata squash, spinach and pear salad, and citrus ricotta cake. If you're feeling frisky, add a litre of È Rosso natural wine for another $40. Not into the set meal? They have plenty of other treats, like homemade pickles, canned fruits and frozen meals, along with holiday wreaths by local florist Les Bois Les Feuilles.
Paloma palomamontreal.com; 514-5448521; 8521 St-laurent Blvd.
A charming Niçoise restaurant owned and run by father-daughter team Armand and Rosalie Forcherio, Paloma is preparing Christmas baskets for pre-order. For $90 you'll get plenty of southern French specialties, including pissaladière, persimmon jam, chicken liver mousse, mignardises, tomato sauce, pain roulé, and your choice of bubbles, including prosecco or cava. As of Dec. 10, they will also be offering a Christmas menu that includes chicken ballotine stuffed with chestnuts and pommes anna — two gorgeous festive dishes that are sure to get you in the mood.
J'ai Feng jaifengmtl.com; 29 Beaubien St. E. Pickup only.
Former Trilogie and Café Denise chef Anita Feng was about to head to China when the pandemic hit, and has been rethinking her next move since. J'ai Feng is her latest endeavour, a month-long pop-up at Cul-sec wine bar, where Feng will be preparing classic Chinese home cooking until Dec. 19. “I'm launching a new menu every Sunday night, people have until Wednesday to order online, and can pick it up on Friday or Saturday,” she explains. “There will always be a soup, a side dish and a main with rice, and maybe noodles at some point, too.” In addition, you can purchase Feng's specialty products, including her huile rouge, a spicy Sichuan chili oil you'll want to put on everything.
Centrale Culinaire maurincuisine.com; 514-910-9508; 5333 Casgrain Ave.
This collaborative kitchen, owned and run by chef and caterer Maurín Arellano, focuses on local and seasonal quality produce. For the holidays, Arellano is teaming up with Montreal roving chef Nantha Kumar to create two festive meals ($70 for four) that reflect each chef's background. Highlights of Kumar's Malaysian menu include mulligatawny soup, Nonya chicken curry or vegetarian rendang, and cap chay, an Indonesian sauté with napa cabbage, black fungus mushrooms, yuba and salted black bean paste. Arellano's Mexican menu includes crispy pork with pasilla chilies and vegetables, tomatillo mole sauce with Gaspé seaweed, and dessert tamales.
Kamúy / Paul Toussaint chefpaultoussaint.com Kamúy: 1485 Jeanne-mance St.; 514-447-7481
Paul Toussaint: Time Out Market, Eaton Centre
Pickup only
Haitian chef Toussaint has been keeping busy, running his namesake restaurant in the Time Out Market, as well as his new venture, Kamúy, which opened over the summer in Quartier des spectacles. To brighten up your staycation, sample his Caribbean, Creole or Sunshine menus, with dishes like jerk octopus, pineapple ham, Toussaint's addictive djondjon rice and a coco-rum and lime Mont Blanc dessert.
Automne automneboulangerie.com; 514274-8111; 6500 Christophe-colomb Ave. Pickup only.
Petite-patrie bakery Automne stole our holiday hearts way before the pandemic with homemade tourtières, movie nights for the kids and Christmas trees for sale out front. This year, they're taking their offerings even further. Sadly, movie nights are off, but the tourtières are still on, and they'll have even more Christmas trees than ever. Some new additions to their lineup: homemade gingerbread loaves, boxes of assorted Hollandaise biscuits, chicken pot pies and panettone. Pre-order every
thing online 24 hours beforehand, so whether you're picking up one baguette or 10 tourtières, all you have to do is click and collect.
Zoe Ford zoeford.com; 514-880-6560; 137 St-ferdinand St.
Caterer extraordinaire (on temporary event hiatus), chef Jo Notkin of Zoe Ford recently gave our city some serious props when she was on Season 8 of Top Chef Canada. The dish that won over the judges was a Jewelbox Brownie — her signature brownie with candied hazelnuts and oranges, pumpkin seeds and cocoa nibs nestled in a drizzle of caramel. In addition to these brownies, Notkin has a range of other gorgeous, ready-made treats that ship all across Canada, so you can gift others (and yourself) tins and bags of assorted handmade caramels and walnut brittle, as well as mixes to make chocolate chip cookies, pancakes and carrot cake.
Hello 123 hello123forever.com/ sthenri-menus; 514-938-5959; 3580 Notre-dame St. W.
Looking for the perfect dessert to surprise the celiac, vegan or health-minded loved one in your life? The St-henri location of this plant-based restaurant chain has a new manager/baker, Emilia Jamieson (formerly of Le Kitchen), best known
for her delicious vegan, gluten-free and naturally sweetened offerings. For the holidays, along with Hello 123's vegan meal boxes and natural wine, she's making show-stopping, made-to-order vegan, gluten-free and paleo cakes, raw cakes and pies. Options include strawberry shortcake, lemon vanilla cake with coconut cream cashew icing, chocolate hazelnut coffee cake, layered pumpkin cake with maple glaze, and pumpkin pie with coconut whipped cream.
Elena / Cantina NG
Elena: coffeepizzawine.com; 514379-4883; 5090 Notre-dame St. W. Cantina NG: noragray.com; 514-419-6672; 1391 St-jacques St.
Things are kicking into high holiday gear at both Elena and Cantina NG, Nora Gray's takeout iteration, with specials galore. Both restaurants will be offering custom gift baskets — the perfect idea for co-workers or staff — filled with a selection of in-house products, sauces, merch, wine, olive oil, pasta, coffee and more. Elena has been in full panettone production — including a panettone ice cream collaboration with nearby Dalla Rose — plus there are frozen pizzas, and plenty of wine. At Cantina NG, there are family-style lasagna meals, frozen lasagnas, chef Emma Cardarelli's baked shell pasta cacio e pepe, and her famous seasonal stuffed rabbit loin.
Kammys kammysmtl.com; 438-387-7877; 30 Westminster Ave. N.
With the aim of making Kammys the best Indian restaurant in the city, Heidi Rudzitis recently took over this Montreal West spot, along with chef Megan Summers. Their holiday boxes offered throughout the month will please vegetarians (with a vegan alternative) and meat eaters alike. “Mains will include lamb korma and curried lamb leg as well as oven-roasted tandoori turkey legs, breast, halves and whole birds, depending on the size you order,” says Rudzitis. Vegetarian highlights include stuffed parval (green potato), stuffed eggplant, oven-roasted cauliflower and seasonal mixed vegetable korma. “All boxes will include pakoras, sambar, dahl and samosas,” Rudzitis explains, “plus the option to add on our most popular dish: butter chicken — or tofu.”
Joe Beef joebeefshop.com; 514-935-6504; 2491 Notre-dame St. W.
If you've been following Joe Beef on Instagram, you've probably seen David Mcmillan and Fred Morin's short videos, Hey David, Hey Fred!, in which they've been promoting products and meal specials. They've taken it a step further for the holidays, sporting bathrobes and Santa hats and enjoying their ingenious “Joe Beef TV dinners” (a packaged, ready-made meal of veal blanquette, for one). They've also pulled out all the stops for decadent holiday meals to pre-order online, with everything you could ever want. It's worth popping by the restaurant just to admire Morin's elaborate holiday window setup, complete with electric train.
Marconi marconimontreal.com; 514-490-0777; 45 Mozart Ave. W. Pickup only.
Finally, if you don't feel like cooking at all on Christmas Day, Marconi is here to help with Christmas meals for two. Start off with a Lazy Brunch, including miso devilled eggs, pigs in a blanket, smoked char rillette, English muffins, cookies and more, then roll into Christmas dinner with a menu that includes seared duck breast, charcuterie, wing confit fried rice, bone broth, pickled black radishes and a surprise cake.
Special to Montreal Gazette