The last breakfast of 2012

The year is ending. 2012 breakfasts would soon be a thing of the past. Since our hotel was serving the same brunch as yesterday, we decided to leave on an adventure to find a suitable location. It didn’t take long – once on Henri-Bourassa, the familiar n logo soon appeared, and so Normandin would be our last breakfast destination of 2012. Normandin is a chain of family restaurants originating from Quebec City. Their delivery service is quite popular – and noticeable, with a fleet of blinking n logos on top of red cars. It is also open late, making it a destination for the bar crowd looking for a late snack. Normandin is also sells a lot of their products at a counter, where you can get buckets of their spaghetti sauce, family size dishes such as Lasagna, Macaroni, Pâté Chinois, and savoury or sweet pies. The first one opened…

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KFC’s Festivus for the rest of us!

As previously discussed, KFC is offering a sweet deal for Christmas. Merry, Merry! Because nothing says “Happy Holidays” like Free Fried Chicken. So when you purchase a Festive Meal For one… You get a free sandwich voucher!!! If you want more free chicken, you can instead purchase any Family Feast (Your choice of 8, 12, 15, or 20-piece Original Recipe Chicken, with fries, gravy, two more sides, and a 2L Pepsi. ) and you’ll get a $10 Gift Voucher to use on your next family feast! I had to take advantage of Colonel Santa’s offer, so I made my way to the St-Joseph location in Hull. But since I was alone, and since I didn’t need a Family Feast on my own, I had to go for the Festive Meal for One. Merry, Merry! There were a few other customers in the restaurant, but I didn’t need to wait before…

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Steak-Frites de Luxe

I had a lunch date with an esteemed member of the National Press Gallery, with whom I was to discuss the year that is coming to an end. Luxe Bistro had been selected for the occasion. We were seated in the middle of the restaurant. The decor is all in subtleties: brass, dark wood, brown leather, subdued lighting and framed mirrors. The white clothes are rounding it up to a classic, upscale feel, yet still comfortable without being casual. Located in the Byward Market, Luxe styles itself as a blend of Steakhouse and French Style Bistro. In my opinion, it is neither, especially not at lunch. Luxe does offer 6 different cuts of beef on its dinner menu, with an interesting selection of sauces and side dishes. But at lunch time, the selection is reduced to two very specific cuts: The 8oz Beef Tenderloin or the Steak-Frites – a 6…

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Gros Jambon!

After an interesting discussion about the future of the NDP in Quebec, and after two hours of discussion about the NDP Quebec section‘s constitution, ND and I left Montreal’s Palais des Congrès, looking for a lunch spot. We walked a few blocks south, and hit the unassuming and narrow storefront of Le Gros Jambon, a Diner on Notre-Dame. The spot opened a year ago in an old jewellery store, but it almost feels like its been there forever – except it is too clean and too slick here and there to really fool you. Still, le Gros Jambon is quite tight – an actual Gros Jambon could have problems navigating between the two rows of stools. The place was opened by Travis Champion and Monica Terlecki, who also run L’Orignal, a few blocks away. The decor is retro-cool, with the wall stacked with vintage photographs and posters, a bunch of…

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All-you-can-shrimp

Since the beginning of the month, Anthony had been harassing me. Some would argue he started harassing me long before then, but that’s beside the point. The point is that Red Lobster is back with its Endless Shrimp promotion, and Anthony wanted to go. And he didn’t want to go alone. And so he was harassing me. And so I reluctantly agreed, and made we arrangements with our respective partners and eventually settled on a date. For a limited time, you can eat all the shrimp you can handle. Apparently, it is the most popular promotion at Red Lobster. In fact, Red Lobster Blog tells us that “as a server this promotion is hell the first week, and hell on the weekends during peak business periods.” Noted. Also, from his point of view, ie as an employee, Endless Shrimp “is the single worst promotion ever created by Red Lobster.” And…

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