Mamzelles Bagel – St.Jerome, QC

Mamzelles Bagel
72 de la Gare
St. Jerome, Quebec
(450) 304-3777

Saint-Jerome, the gateway to the Laurentian Mountains – is a small town located north of Montreal.  We stopped in for a quick bite before heading out to Mont Tremblant, and found this bagellerie.  “Looks cute” says my wife.

What caught my eye more than the ‘cuteness’ factor, was the sign stating “Bagel cuit sur place” (Bagel baked on premises).

The menu listed just a handful of bagel options filled with your standard items of ham, turkey, and tuna;  but I chose the club au poulet (Chicken club).  Served with a nicely prepared salad, this bagel sandwich was straight-out delicious.  The shredded chicken was lightly dressed and (although hard to see from the photo) was plentiful enough to make this a fully satisfying lunch.

Aki Japanese Restaurant – Vancouver, BC

Aki Japanese Restaurant
745 Thurlow Street
Vancouver, BC
(604) 682-4032

Since 1963…

Granted I wasn’t even born then, but pretty amazing to realize just how long this business has been around. I’d love to see images from its early days (probably in a different location) and visualize in my mind of how it was probably one of the early (and few) restaurants offering Japanese cuisine in this city during the sixties, but that is now filled with so many of them (the majority being very poor in quality and taking too many creative liberties in the kitchen and behind the sushi bar).

Fairmount Bagel – Montreal, QC

The Original Fairmount Bagel Bakery
74 Avenue Fairmount Ouest
Montreal, QC
(514) 272-0667

Montreal’s first bagel bakery, continues the tradition with a time-tested recipe of  hand-rolling, and baking in a wood burning oven.  This is another perfect example of a single store, making one thing, really, really well.

I enjoy bagels, but growing up in Western Canada, my exposure to this carbohydrate packed treat has been limited to those available in grocery stores or the local donut shop.  When we arrived at this bagel factory, I’ll admit that we were overwhelmed with over 20 varieties to choose from.  So, we asked if the purveyor would choose a dozen of his favorites, plus a couple of the ones which just came out of the fire.

MIX the Bakery – Vancouver, BC

MIX the Bakery
4430 West 10th Avenue
Vancouver, BC
(604) 221-4145
Monday to Saturday 7am to 5pm; Sunday 8am to 4pm
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My neck of the woods has a few gems when it comes to simple but cozy cafés that pump out solid sandwiches. I’ve written about some of them previously: Coco et Olive, and Pane e Formaggio.

MIX the Bakery is another one that churns out not only fabulous artisan breads made fresh in-house (which can be seen from the order counter at the front of the house), but also a solid array of sweet desserts and pastries, and take home preserves that utilize wonderful BC sources (such as Fraser Valley blueberries and Okanagan peaches).  To top it off, they also have a catering service as well.  It’s a great spot for a quick lunchtime meal or takeout, and the following are my thoughts on two recent pickups there…

A hearty but incredibly satisfying part of MIX’s menu are their homemade soups.  With the weather turning for the worse as we head towards winter, I can’t think of a better way to get a meal going.  On this day, they had a trio of offerings: a pork adobo, a butternut squash, and pictured above, a corn chicken chowder.  Filled with healthy vegetables including onions, potato, celery and flavoured generously with cilantro and cumin, it was not fully creamy like a seafood chowder would be, but not totally thin and liquid-y in consistency either.  The large size take away container (three inches high, and four-and-half inches in diameter) was plenty for two.

Off Broadway – Charlottetown, PEI

Off Broadway Restaurant
125 Sydney Street
Charlottetown, PEI
C1A 1G5
(902) 566-4620

After a few hours of exploring Old Charlottetown on foot, the sun was starting to fall out of the sky and we happened to find ourselves at Off Broadway Restaurant (which matched one of the places I had scribbled down from my quick search earlier that morning). With no reservations, we were still able to get a table in the back of the restaurant.  Exposed brick and dark woods made for a romantic space.

The featured Table d’Hote,  and accompanying wine flight ($18) seemed interesting, but I still had oysters on my mind from earlier that day, and a desire to try the local scallops.  My wife on the other hand, just couldn’t pass up anything with lobster.