I am fortunate enough to have a couple of great friends living in Montreal who are more than happy to fill their living room with air mattresses to let a bunch of guests crash on the floor.  So a couple of weeks ago I took a quick 6 hour road trip with my favorite allies off to Montreal. We drove through a small March snow storm with far to much coffee, Wendy’s and Timbits fueling our trip.

My weekend visits to Montreal have a tendency to become a friend filled days of eating and drinking. Something about the city makes it feel oh so right to party all night and have brunch at 2 the next afternoon. Things started off right as we arrived and were greeted by my favorite Quebec beer, Unibroue.

After an evening of dancing the first stop on the culinary adventure was poutine at 3am in a place that seemed to serve only poutine and hot dogs. The wait staff and kitchen clearly had some kind of competition for who could have the longest facial hair and the mix of goth, 30 something gay couples and university kids made for a special experience. The poutine did not diappoint but the highlight of the meal was the cheese dog that was cooked like a grilled cheese sandwich (buttered and fried) before a hot dog was placed in the middle. It was an extra special treat that I’m sure I’ll be recreating in my own kitchen some night at 3am.

Other highlights of the weekend were the always great poached eggs in an avocado and a mango, smothered in cheese and tomato’s served hot  with a jug of coffee at Senzala. Then it was off to have some Portuguese chicken which is amazingly similar to chicken tikka.

The best stop along the way though was coffee at Cafe Olympico. The groups of people milling around at picnic tables on a chilly March day suggested that this was a special place. The line up to get a coffee and the groups of families and friends watching soccer and chatting assured me that we were right where we needed to be. As we stood in line the short bald man making coffee faster than any Starbucks Batista yelled out for anyone who didn’t have a coffee and had been there for more than 5 minutes to leave. I guess that’s how you get good customer turnover! My latte and shortbread biscotti were delicious and served in a glass I probably would have used for water meant that my hands were nice and warm too. The coffee was so good it even converted a previous non-coffee drinker onto the dark gold.

A bag of fresh bagels and a purchase of 6 silver champagne glasses later it was time to say goodbye to good friends and head back to Toronto with a full belly.