Bagel Etc.

How I can put two photos of me without makeup on my blog in the span of half a week is beyond me
I'd first heard of Bagel Etc. from my friend Kevin (not the one who lives in Brooklyn), but seeing as how I was living by Atwater at the time and Bagel Etc. was all the way up in the Plateau, it would be pretty unreasonable for me to make the long trek up there just for a weekend brunch... even if it's right across from Leonard Cohen's apartment.

Fortunately, Ezra's current apartment is pretty much in (on?) the Plateau, so we made a couple trips there while I was visiting him in Montreal. He tries to avoid it though, because they charge you separately for coffee - a no-no in his books.

On our first trip there, I'd been pretty much "egged out" from having scrambled eggs for breakfast almost every day at the apartment. I quickly learned that it's basically impossible to order anything without eggs if you're looking at the breakfast/brunch menu, so I got some "hidden" egg in the form of "Sucrée-Salé" - challah French toast with your choice of sausage, ham, and bacon (I got the sausage since I'm a sausage fiend.)


The French toast was nice and tender... often when I make French toast the egg mixture just coats the surface, but here it was completely soaked through without being too soggy. So delicious with a drizzle of maple syrup. My sausages were great too, but nothing compared to the knackwurst that Ezra got with his "L'Europe de l'est":


L'Europe de l'est comes with your choice of knackwurst (mild) or a spicy sausage (pepper-something, I think), eggs any style, potatoes, homemade sauerkraut, and mustard.

The knackwurst was really good (inspiring a Hungarian sausage + German beer dinner we had later that week), especially with the mustard, which was very horseradish-y (was it here that the mustard was horseradish-y or somewhere else?). The real kicker was the sauerkraut though - nice and sweet, not sour at all.

On our second trip, we arrived pretty late in the day because Daylight Savings totally threw us off and we had trouble getting up any time before noon. I ordered the "St. Viateur" from the "lunch" menu, which is essentially bagels and lox. The "Fairmont" is actually the same, except on black Russian bread - are they trying to tell us something?


My friend Stephen asked me after my Murray's Bagels post whether I like New York or Montreal bagels more. I've decided that I do like Montreal bagels more because I find that there's more flavour to them, as opposed to just a mouthful of starch. What I *don't* like, however, is how the city seems to default to sesame seed bagels. What's wrong with poppy seeds? (Other than the fact that I almost *always* get them stuck in my teeth.)

Ezra went for the Classique, which is really just eggs any style, potatoes, your choice of toasted challah, black Russian bread or bagel, and your choice of sausage, ham, or bacon (he went for the bacon, naturally.)


In addition to the awesome food combos, there's always a stack of papers (The Gazette and the Globe and Mail) at the entrance for you to read while you wait for your food or even while you're eating. Also take the time to admire the restaurant's kitschy decor; it's got a lot of memorabilia from when it used to be called Cookie's Restaurant, including a giant sign, and nameplates at different tables for regulars (?)

Bagel Etc.
4320 Boulevard St-Laurent
Montreal QC
(514) 845-9462