MISS MOOX: 
Search results for french food

The Round-up:

• Food - 3 out of 5
• Decor - 3.5 out of 5
• Service - 3 out of 5
• Overall - 9.5 out of 15

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Several months ago a food-loving group was created on Facebook. Its name was the "Cathedral Village Needs a Cheap Breakfast Place", or something like that. It seems that the Village just hadn't been the same since the Quality Tea Room shut down several years back.

I quickly joined the group, as did several hundred other Regina folks (What did we ever do before Facebook groups became the new face of activism, by the way?).
The Facebook fan page continued to grow, many of its members calling for a cheap plate of hash browns and bacon . . . like now.

Well, some wishes do come true.

The Mercury Cafe and Grill opened its doors in April. The place seemed to spring up overnight on the corner of 13th and Robinson streets in a spot that has housed numerous other restaurants.

The Mercury is a diner, no doubt about that. From the bright red vinyl booths to the formica and chrome tables, stepping into The Mercury is like stepping back 50 or 60 years in time. The Mercury is also under the same ownership as Regina's well-loved Novia Cafe, another all-out diner. This is a good thing -- who better to start a new diner than the folks who run one of the city's oldest and best?

I've been to The Mercury twice now, once for breakfast and once for supper. It's hard to find the right word to describe both experiences. It wasn't fantastic, but it wasn't horrible either. Perhaps satisfactory is the right word.

Weekend breakfast bustles and hustles in The Mercury. If you're not there by 11 on a Sunday, you're going to wait in line for awhile. Granted, The Mercury could easily jam a few more tables into the dining room in order to shave some time off the waiting game.

Your choices for breakfast are classic standbys: bacon and eggs; hash browns; pancakes; an omelette. You get the picture. Now, is it cheap? That depends on your definition of cheap. Most items run around the $8-9 mark, plus the cost of coffee and/or juice. I've had cheaper, but I've also had more expensive.

Service can be a little disorganized, but hopefully the servers work that out amongst themselves as the restaurant irons out the operating wrinkles. We had to wait 30 minutes for any food to hit the table at breakfast, almost enough to push us to the breaking point, but not quite. Fortunately, our waitress took good care of us in the meantime.

Now let's talk about supper for a moment. Once again, there are few surprises on the evening menu. Nachos; chicken wings; chicken fingers; burgers; clubhouse sandwiches; and grilled cheese are a few of the choices.

We ordered up a plate of nachos to get things started. With a $10 price tag, we pictured a nice platter of cheesy chips and veggies. We couldn't have been more wrong. A dinner plate with a puny pile of nachos on it was what we got. Even worse: the scarce bits of cheese on the chips were overcooked and rubbery. Epic fail, my friends. Epic fail.

Next up: the burgers. Now this is where the action is at. Tender homemade beef patties are smooshed between fresh buns with all the fixins. I went for the Mushroom Swiss. Big Willie had The Mercury Burger (two patties with fried onions, mushrooms, shaved ham, Swiss and cheddar cheese). All burgers come with a side. We went for the french fries and they were done to perfection.

Big Poppa (my dad) went for the open-faced Hot Turkey Sandwich . . . which came with hot chicken, oddly enough. But he got past that.

All in all, The Mercury offers up decent food in a comfortable room. The motto seems to be: come as you are, eat what you will. Now if they'd only fine-tune the nachos and up the portion size for most of the breakfast menu, we might have a sure-fire winner on our hands.

(no website)

THE ROUND-UP:

Food - 4.5 out of 5
Service - 4.5 out of 5
Decor - 4.5 out of 5
Total - 13.5 out of 15

2375 Sainte-Catherine est
Montreal, Quebec
514-522-5105
restolegraindesel.ca
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If you're anything like me, TripAdvisor has become a trusted travel companion before, during, and after a trip takes you out on the road.

TripAdvisor offers more information about hotels, restaurants, and activities in almost any city than you could probably ever read. And more often than not, the information is reliable and straight-up honest.

Until recently, it had been more than seven years since the last time I visited Montreal. I was at a total loss as to where to eat, especially in a city with as many options as Montreal. So, I took the web's advice.

Do a search for restaurants in Montreal on TripAdvisor, and the number 1 result is a little bistro by the name of Le Grain de Sel (at least at the time of writing in September 2010).

Thank you yet again, TripAdvisor, for an amazing night out.

While no one visits Montreal without strolling down Sainte-Catherine Street at least once, Le Grain de Sel is on a stretch of the street that sees little traffic (about five blocks east of the Papineau subway stop).

The main dining room out front is cozy. White linens dress each table with darker colours on the bar and walls.

Staff were immediately welcoming and friendly, offering us a choice of available tables. The menu is completely in French, but our waiter took the time to explain almost every item, mostly without even being prompted.

I think Le Grain de Sel's total lack of pretension is one of its best qualities. The head chef even came out to our table to ask how the food was at one point in the meal. And he looked like he genuinely wanted to make sure we were having a good time.

We ordered the Escargots en Croute and a pair of fresh Quebec Scallops for appetizers. Both dishes were delicious. The escargots came served in a piping hot bowl covered by a thin crust of glazed phyllo dough. Beneath the doughy dome were our escargots, buttery and mixed with wild mushrooms. Mwa!

The scallops were seasoned perfectly with oil, salt, and pepper, and served with a side of corn and red pepper. Not your usual sides, but they were a perfect match for the scallops.

As for main courses, we ventured for the halibut and a duo of haddock and pork belly. The fish was truly delicious and makes me wish that I lived nearer to the ocean.

The pork, on the other hand, was extraordinarily fatty. So much so that once the fat was cut away, just a few morsels of meat were left. When our lovely waitress asked how I liked my meal, I had to confess that I wasn't nuts about the pork. But she made a good point: the fatty pork was intentionally paired with the ultra-lean haddock as a contrast. I still can't say that I enjoyed the pork, but at least the kitchen is thinking seriously about the food it serves.

For dessert, we gorged on a homemade cheesecake, and a cold raspberry and balsamic vinegar soup with fresh doughnuts on top. It was all too, too delicious.

If I had to give Le Grain de Sel a grade, it would be an F++.

Hold on now, that stands for Fresh, Friendly, and Fantastic.

When in Montreal go to Le Grain de Sel. Just go.

Have been REAL busy! Gotta break this post up into two days for you folks so not to overwhelm you with visual eye candy.

I stopped in Columbia on my way to Atlanta to do some shopping. Found some goodies...these are the things I didn't buy.

I want to turn these old tractor seats into barstools.

Great Mid-Century chandelier (but I would use round bulbs)

Still coveting these yellow urns.

This booth was great, kinda hard to see but check out the apothecary style floor lamp in the foreground.

Chicken Feeder (seems random but you just wait! I did buy these.)

I don't know what this blue wood thing is but I forgot to go back and get it. I was gonna make it a centerpiece and put candles in it, etc. Darnit.

Ok, this is a bathtub and really gross. I feel sorry for those that had to use it because I imagine they never felt clean. However, I think it would make a great commercial sink or add legs and you have a killer beer tub for a party! [Just don't think about the prior bathing.]

Then I stopped in Augusta to see one of my best friends. We ate dinner at the French Market as they celebrated Oktoberfest which was kinda random at a French place (at least it seemed random?). My dinner date got the Crab Chop a la Charles and it was good, real good, I had food envy.

Next up was The ATL. While at ADAC, I met this guy...

Martin Lawrence Bullard. Not to be confused with this Mar-tin lawrence.

Don't you know he hates that! Anyway, he has a new book out so he was signing that and he has a new fabric line for Schumacher. It is quite fab! I will tell you more about it next week.

Then I went by a few of my favorite shops...South of Market (amazing), Pieces (it was closed and it shouldn't have been...I teared up/borderline sobbed as I peaked/eerily stared through the window for over 30 mins), Paris on Ponce (killer mix of stuff), Scarlet Loves Rhettro (lots of Mid-Century pieces, the owner just might be my sister soul mate) and Highland Row Antiques (I got here about 10 mins till closing so it was like Supermarket Sweeps...I couldn't stand it! But I did find a few things just in the nick of time!). I wish I had more time to shop in The ATL and see all my friends but it is always a world-wind!

You local folks will be seeing the goodies I bought at my booth at Southern Accents very soon!

Ok, more to share tomorrow!

In case you're not familiar with Cereal Magazine, it's a new quarterly publication 'in pursuit of food and travel'. Volume one is out now and it really is a thing of beauty - be sure to check it out!
I recently did some design work for the Cereal Mag blog which you can see here. This particular post is about the French island, Il de Ré, which I am now frankly desperate to see for myself. In fact, it has reminded me how much I love France and how it might just have to be our next holiday destination. (Please?).
The images are by photographer Lucy Wilkinson who says of the island: "Il de Ré is home of Cognac, Saint-Martin (added to the World Heritage Site list in 2008), and the same number of hours of sunshine as its counterparts in the south of the country. Cars appear seldom used and the residents' transportation preference for bicycles is helped by the essentially flat landscape; the highest point on the island rising just 20 metres above sea level."
Cognac, cycling and sunshine? SIGN. ME. UP.
Head on over to Cereal blog to see the full article!