I heart NY (+ Mtl)

fig. a: nice fish!

As you may already know, we're big, big fans of New York's incomparable Russ & Daughters ("Appetizing since 1914"!). We love their egg creams, we love the Old New York atmosphere ("You call this a snowstorm?! I remember when a snowstorm was a snowstorm. Remember Burt Lancaster in Atlantic City? 'You should have seen the Atlantic Ocean back then.' Well, you should have seen the snowstorms back in 1950..."), and we especially like their assortment of smoked and cured fish. In fact, we've taken to making Russ & Daughters one of our last stops every time we visit the Big Onion,* so we can bring back "souvenirs," like their amazing sable.

fig. b: R & D sable

We come home, make ourselves a fish platter (comprised of sable, peppered smoked mackerel with orange and lemon zest, "pastrami-style" gravlax, and Baltic rye, perhaps), and it's like we never left.

fig. c: R & D fish platter

Almost.

The thing is, we always bring back some NY bagels and bialys too. We're not ones to make blanket statements about bagels based purely on geography (regional differences can be interesting, but, fundamentally, it's all about individual bakeries), even if we do get pulled into "the great bagel debate" from time to time. But this time there was no question about it: our Russ & Daughters sable, mackerel, and gravlax tasted better on a Fairmount bagel than it did on a Russ & Daughters bagel (a bagel they describe as "the Real Thing": "rolled by hand, boiled and the perfectly timed in an old-fashioned revolving oven"). I used to love a real New York bagel. I still love a real New York bagel on a philosophical level. But if this is "the Real Thing," is it possible the real New York bagel has gone the way of Old New York? Russ & Daughters' bialys sure ain't what they used to be.

fig. d: Mtl + NY

Of course, our Russ & Daughters sable, mackerel, and gravlax tasted better on a Fairmount bagel with Russ & Daughters cream cheese than it did with any cream cheese you can get at Fairmount Bagel (or anywhere else in Montreal), but that's another story.

Anyway, help us, New York bagel aficionados! This isn't a competition and we're certainly not in favor of New Yorkers (or anyone else) paying exorbitant prices for imported "Montreal bagels" (that's just ridiculous). No, seriously. Let's talk bakeries. Where can we find the definitive New York bagel these days?

aj

* It's frequently our very first stop, too.

Brunch-->Bagel Etc.

We managed to get the number of entries in our "...an endless banquet" Montreal Food Guide up above 100 over the course of the last 6 months or so, when we first started it, but somehow every time I take a look at it our list it seems like I notice one glaring omission or another. This morning, we picked up on another one. We were on our way to meet T. and R., have some breakfast, and deliver them some Moravian gingerbread geese for Christmas



when we realized that Bagel Etc.--our designated brunch destination--wasn't on our list for some strange reason [actually, none of our classic neighborhood breakfast spots--Beauty's, Dusty's, or Bagel Etc.--are on the list as I write this--but, fret not, dear readers, we here at "...an endless banquet" will do everything we can to bring you the best possible service as soon as humanly possible--ed.]. OK, it doesn't have the best name (then again, its name isn't exactly a groaner like, say, Eggspectations), but it's known to be frequented by Mr. Leonard Cohen when he's in town (he keeps an apartment just across the park and around the corner), it's got one of the most stylish interiors of any Montreal restaurant of any stripe, and, let's face it, they serve an excellent brunch (and they know it). You can't go wrong with either Bagel Etc.'s standards or their benedicts (in large part because their homefries are among the city's best), but things get particularly interesting in the "around the world" section of their brunch menu, where you'll find a number of options that you'd be hard-pressed to find anywhere else in town, including a Sephardic-style egg dish served with a delicious stewed tomato concoction and, my latest favorite, the "Eastern European" breakfast with eggs, potatoes, your choice of fried pepperette or knockwurst, braised sauerkraut, and a toasted bagel (natch).

In all the years I've been going to Bagel Etc. I've yet to bump into "Laughing Lenny" (as the boys used to call him back at McGill apparently), but, hey, you never know. In the meantime, I'll just keep going back from time to time to admire the decor and savor their outstanding brunches.

Bagel Etc., 4320 St. Laurent Blvd., (514) 845-9462

aj