In 1956 Peter Mourelatos opened up his first little food shop at 262 Mont-Royal est near Henri Julien. Today he is the proud papa of not only 4 big Mourelatos supermarkets, but kids and grandkids who work in the business alongside him.

Its flavour might be Greek (it’s the only place I know where you can buy gyro meat by the pound at the deli counter), but the good prices on fresh meat and vegetables here have been attracting everyone in the neighborhood for the past 55 years. It’s my favorite market for price and helpful service.

The homemade tsatsiki, yogurt and Greek feta will tempt you along with the 15 kinds of olive oil, rose petals in syrup, frozen octopus and stuffed vine leaves, but it’s the friendly service that has made it possible for this family business to keep their customers coming back all these years.

The West Island store has recently been renovated, and it is a pleasure to shop in.

Other locations: 4919 Notre-Dame ouest, Laval  (450-681-4300); 4957 boul. St-Jean (514-620-4200); Ville St-Laurent, 1855 O’Brien (514-956-0100); 1621 Ste-Catherine ouest (514-904-0300).   www.mourelatos.com

Les Delices La Frenaie used to be located only on the East end of the city, then in Laval but now you can find them on the West Island too. Try one of their cakes or pizza for Father’s Day. They are in the same outdoor mall as Ares and the Lindt chocolate outlet store. All good ideas for Father’s Day gifts (yes lots of Dads like to cook).

If some of the cakes at Les Delices La Frenaie look suspiciously similar to those in Loblaw’s (and Le Biftheque, Boccacinos and Chenoys), you would be a good detective.

Come here for: bacio, key lime cheesecake (15 others), frutti di bosco, dulce de leche, orange or walnut pound cake (16 others), limoncello, heavenly berry and Milky Way in 8″ or 10″ sizes. Some can be ordered 36 hours in advance for more than 20 people. The best deal is the apple, lemon, chocolate chip, or cinnamon marble cakes for only $8.50, and taste the amaretti biscotti. Trays of pizza (tomato, white, all dressed and vegetarian) can be ordered.

New Location:  58A boul. Brunswick (514-542-4242)
Locations: 8405  Lafrenaie at Jarry (514-324-8039; Rosemere, 199F Cure-Labelle (450-430-4222).
Regular Hours: Mon-Fri 6-5, Sat 6-2
www.lesdeliceslafrenaie.com

Clarence & Cripps is a store specializing in British food so therefore they have everything you need to create a Traditional English Cream Tea for your Mum on Mothers Day.

What a lovely idea to have a tea party.  This is what you would need to set it up:  Devonshire Double Cream, Tea, Ready-to-bake Scones, Jams and English Fine bone china to drink the tea from.

When you venture in to the store, you will discover a friendly shop filled with  British foods. You will find: Robertson’s mincemeat, Tate Lyle golden syrup, and in the freezer: 4 kinds of sausage, Melton mowbray pork pies, and their own steak and kidney pie.

Favorite snacks are there too: Walker’s chips (steak & onion, prawn cocktail), Maynard’s wine gums, Galaxy minstrels, McVities digestives and some Marks & Spencer products. If you’re lucky you’ll be able to scoop up some real Devonshire double cream for your scones.

Delivery is available, even to downtown.

Location: 71 Cameron, Hudson
Phone: 450-458-4073
Store Hours: Tues-Sat 10-5, Sun 12-4
www.clarenceandcripps.com

Clarence & Cripps is a store specializing in British food and all things Brit. This morning they had an overwhelming amount of requests to join the ladies who were donning their hats and enjoying the wedding together at their shop. In order to keep the festive mood going, they will be giving away Wedding Cake this weekend in return for a voluntary donation to the Canadian Lifeboat Auxiliary.

The owner wrote to Prince William and Kate Middleton and asked if they had a charity here in Canada that was close to their hearts and believe it or not they wrote back!  So, at their personal request they are collecting for the Canadian Lifeboat Auxiliary.

When you venture in to the store, you will discover a friendly shop filled with  British foods. You will find: Robertson’s mincemeat, Tate Lyle golden syrup, and in the freezer: 4 kinds of sausage, Melton mowbray pork pies, and their own steak and kidney pie.

Favorite snacks are there too: Walker’s chips (steak & onion, prawn cocktail), Maynard’s wine gums, Galaxy minstrels, McVities digestives and some Marks & Spencer products. If you’re lucky you’ll be able to scoop up some real Devonshire double cream for your scones.

Delivery is available, even to downtown. So why not plan a royal party of your own this weekend?

Location: 71 Cameron, Hudson
Phone: 450-458-4073
Store Hours: Tues-Sat 10-5, Sun 12-4
www.clarenceandcripps.com

On Saturday in Hudson, there will be a St. Patrick’s Day Parade. At 1pm, Clarence & Cripps will be serving, outside of their store (and FREE of charge), a traditional Irish stew made with lamb & Guinness in return for donations to Juvenile Diabetes.

When you venture in to the store, you will discover: St. Patrick’s Day cards, traditional Irish peg dolls, Irish National tartan scarves (100% wool), Irish tea, McCann’s Irish oatmeal and also steak & ale pies (ready to bake) made with Guinness! All of their Easter eggs are now in stock.

The rest of this friendly shop is filled with  British foods. You will find: Robertson’s mincemeat, Tate Lyle golden syrup, and in the freezer: 4 kinds of sausage, Melton mowbray pork pies, and their own steak and kidney pie.

Favorite snacks are there too: Walker’s chips (steak & onion, prawn cocktail), Maynard’s wine gums, Galaxy minstrels, McVities digestives and some Marks & Spencer products. If you’re lucky you’ll be able to scoop up some real Devonshire double cream for your scones. Delivery is available, even to downtown.

Location: 71 Cameron, Hudson
Phone: 450-458-4073
Stew hours:  starting at 1pm
Store Hours: Tues-Sat 10-5, Sun 12-4
www.clarenceandcripps.com

Q1:  We don’t usually think of the West Island as an area where you can find ethnic food, however today you’ve come to tell us this is not so.

There had been a slow Western creep of International Food on Boul. des Sources of Indian, West Indian Pakistani and even some Asian food. Now I have found a growth of Central and Eastern European markets for German, Russian, Polish and Bulgarian yummies around Boul. St-Jean and Boul. Pierrefonds.

Q2:  Can you give us an example of European foods you have found?

At Le Petit Munich, first you are greeted with the healthy (unbleached flour, no preservatives) baked breads: bierbrot (sourdough beer), kummelbort (rye), artoffellaib (potato), brezen (pretzel rolls, sticks, braids) and Russian pumpernickel, and then there’s the cold cuts to put on them.

However for a real German feast, you can score some homemade foods: semmelknoedel (bread dumplings), schweinebraten (pork roast), sausages, German hamburger, meatloaf (laberkas), liver dumplings, spaetzel, housemade salads: potato, cucumber, carrot, beet, red cabbage, meat with pickles, sausage with onion and if you pine for it – head cheese.

For dessert, the cheesecake is not at all sweet and comes with pear, mandarin or poppyseeds, or spring for the biennenstich with honey, almonds and whipped cream, apple strudel and sacher torte, of course. You can try all of them out in the attached restaurant.

Location: 4832 boul St Jean, Pierrefonds
corner: Harry Worth
Phone: 514-626-8899
Hours: Tues 8-6, Wed – Sat 8-8, Sun 8-2

Q3: You mentioned Russian food, can we really find some caviar out there?

Russian, Polish, Rumanian and Bulgarian flavors have plunked down on the West Island at Marche Euro Mix .  Lots of homemade offerings are cooked here, like vereniki (potato & fried onion or cheddar, sauerkraut, sweet cherry) and pelmenis (chicken, pork, veal, turkey, beef & chicken). Head for the take-out counter for homemade soups, fresh herring salad, stuffed grape leaves, tongue with mushroom sauce, ham with potatoes, carrots, peas and cuke salad, walnuts with onions and kidney beans or beets and walnuts with garlic and mushrooms, red peppers, egg and onion all mixed together.

Of course, there’s sturgeon, caviar and eel or cabanos, Estonian salami and double smoked bacon. Take a meat knish ($1.99) or mushroom and potato one to go. On the shelves, they stock jarred herring, cod liver oil, zacusca (red pepper spreads), Polish Family’s wafers, Sandora cherry juice, plum jam, kefir, marinated apples, 1/2 sour pickles or lotus leaves and rows of Russian candies and cookies. Brew some Japanese and Chinese tea and have cheesecake, walnut cake, napoleon or 5 kinds of halvah for dessert.

Locatin: 15718 Boul. Pierrefonds
corner: Paiment
Phone: 514-620-6000
Hours: Mon-Wed 10-8, Thurs & Fri 9-9, Sat 9-8, Sun 10-7

Q4: Okay, wrapping it up, take us somewhere for dessert.

Patisserie Danka, Polish bakery on the West Island is a find. Very traditional babkas, chocolate babkas, cheesecakes (raisins, chocolate covered or poppy seed) and apple cakes are lined up. Authentic strudels in poppy seed, chocolate, vanilla, walnut, lemon and orange are baked and stefanka, the 7-layer cake, is here along with cherry cake, honey cake made with cream or plums.

Roulades come in chocolate or mocha, vanilla and walnut, and you can buy meringues or rum balls. Some groceries (cookies, candies, jams, teas, syrups) and videos line the shelves.

Location: 15450 Boul Pierrefonds
corner: Jacques Bizard
Phone: 514-620-1253
Hours: Tues, Wed & Sat 10-4, Thurs & Fri 10-7

Boulevard St-Laurent has been hard hit over the last few years as the city has taken it upon themselves to rip it up to renew it, over and over again. It’s time to re-learn the new shopping on the street and give these local merchants a bit of our community support.

This weekend the Boulevard St-Laurent sidewalk sale will be happening from Thursday to Sunday. The street sale begins at Sherbrooke and goes all the way up to Mont-Royale.  Some of the stores mentioned in my Smart Shopping Montreal book that fall into that section of the street:

3653 Slovenia – homemade sausages: veal knockwurst, lyoner, pariser, schnitzel, all kinds of bacon and on…
3667 Nino La Cuisinere – for all things kitchen
3843 Boucherie Hongroise – grab one of their sizzling sausages to go while you peruse the street
3885 La Vieille Europe – charcuterie and foods from all over the world
3985 Frenco en Vrac – bulk food for more natural products
4358 Schreters – best shop on the street for men’s and boys clothing and now- ladies shoes

Dates and Times: June 17 & 18: 9:30-9, June 19 & 20: 9:30-6. Some stores on the lower Main, closer to Sherbrooke may stay open later on the weekend as they are in the busy restaurant area.

Q1: Montreal is a multi-ethnic city, and we have many places to buy authentic groceries from different parts of the world. Today you wanted to tell us a bit about East European food.
When you think of Russian or Baltic food, you think of hearty stick to your ribs dishes and that’s just about what we need at this time of year. Since these are local family businesses, much of the food is homemade so free from preservatives or additives. Their meat products are smoked naturally with wood, not injected with flavoring.

Q2: What countries are we talking about?
Russia, Roumania, Hungary, Slovenia

Q3: What kinds of foods might we find there?
Well borscht of course, chicken Kiev, different kinds cured meats: gypsy sausage or Moscow salami, goose pastrami. There’s healthy foods like kefir, yogurt drink and their smoked fishes are full of omega 3 (mackerel, herring and sturgeon). You’ll always find dumplings – my favorites are called pelmeny, little meat dumplings that I put in soup. Cabbage is good for you and they make homemade sauerkraut and stuffed cabbage. Don’t forget these stores also make wonderful desserts.

Q4: In what part of town would you find these stores?
West of the city in the Snowdon area: Sherbrooke St., Decarie Blvd., Victoria Ave.

At Bucarest Charcuterie and Patisserie you’ll find that Rumanian food and everything to make an authentic meal – meatball soup, stuffed grape leaves, naturally smoked sausages, chopped eggplant salads, stuffed cabbage, marinated mushrooms or carrots, goose, lamb or pork pastrami, fresh roe, homemade sauerkraut, pickled cabbage heads, etc. can be purchased here.

Russian foods to try would be sprats, sturgeon, whole herrings, smoked eel and mackerel, kefir and pilmeny (meat dumplings and others), chocolates and homemade cakes. Their canned groceries cover more of Eastern Europe, and include: sour tomatoes, white cherry or walnut preserves, chestnut puree, Hungarian paprika paste, pumpkin seed oil, black currants in syrup and yummy juices (pomegranate, red currant, blackberry).

Location: 4670 boul. Decarie at Cote St-Luc Rd. Phone: 514-481-4732

Patisserie et Charcuterie Bourret – The Roumanian, Hungarian, Slovenian, Swiss, German take-out foods in this 40-year-old business include zakuska, smoked eggplant, fish egg salad, goose pastrami, salamis, stuffed cabbage, pickled whole cabbage, fresh and smoked sausages, head cheese and Bulgarian sheep feta.

Bakery specialties to try are kifli (almond and apricot), poppy seed bagli, the 7-layer dobosh, cozonac, and torte wafers ($3.99). There is a wall of grocery products like gooseberry jam, chestnut puree, letcho, Hungarian noodles.

Location: 5771 Victoria, Snowdon  Phone: 514-733-8462   www.bourretinc.com

St. Petersburg Russian Delicatessen – If you’ve ever wanted to try gypsy sausage or dried Moscow salami, you’ve found your spot. Russian yummies include smoked trout and mackerel, salmon caviar, borscht and chicken Kiev of course, but also spicy carrots, pickled mushrooms, herring with beets and potato, pelmeny, 10 kinds of pierogies and varenikas in the freezer, lots of jarred and canned veggies, and after you’ve had your pickled tomatoes, grab a piece of halvah or a  few cookies from the 75 bins and wash it all down with strawberry soda, sour cherry tea – or kefir.

Location: 5584A Sherbrooke ouest  Phone: 514-369-1377

Q1: There comes that moment in holiday preparations, where we relize we have no time to bake something wonderful or traditional, or perhaps, we want to bring something fabulous to a New Year’s party. Can you help us find some sweets?

We are so lucky in Montreal to have a cross section of many nations’ treats to choose from:
Swiss, Italian, Mid-Eastern, Greek, Polish, Portuguese. Make sure to have some sugary treats downed on New Year’s Eve so that you will have a sweet New Year.

Q:2 What are some of the yummy traditions that we may not know about?

In specialty bakeries these items are only made once a year, so take advantage of them now:

-Italians love their Cassata Calabrese which is made with custard and chocolate chips. Must be ordered ahead
-Mustacciolo are diamond shaped large cookies covered with a thick layer of dark chocolate and filled with almonds, honey and cinnamon
-There’s a German New Year’s tradition of homemade donuts called Berliners which can be stuffed with prune, strawberry, lemon or raspberry jam. Only made once a year
-The buche or log cake that we love here takes on International flavors made with black forest cake, amaretto or limoncello, etc.
– Chestnut cake is popular in Hungary
– Even the Nutcracker Suite gets a salute with a chocolate hazelnut cake.

Q3: Okay, time to dish out the goodies, where can we find some of these treats?

Here’s two European bakeries:
At Swiss Vienna Pastry & Delicatessen, Christmas brings on the yule logs in vanilla, mocha and chocolate in small medium and large. They even do their famous Black Forest cake as a log. strawberry or fruit shortcake Or for a lighter ending, have a mousse cake: triple chocolate mousse – that’s white, milk and dark chocolate layers with a fudge bottom – strawberry and raspberry, Smartie or just buy some miniature pastries.

For New Year’s Eve the Gateau St. Honore and the Charlotte Russe (made with lady fingers, custard, fresh fruit and whipped cream) are quite popular. For me, this bakery sells the best mille-feuilles in the city.
After you jump into your car to get some, remember to check out their hazelnut cake, butter danish, apple strudel and florentines, too. For your party, they can prepare hors d’oeuvres and decorated platters of sandwiches (roast beef, smoked meat, turkey, ham, tuna, egg), cheeses, meats, veggies or quiches.

The store also has a selection of international groceries with imported chocolate bars, sausages (debrecinor, kielbasa) and a hot and cold salad bar with ethnic snacks. Everything that you buy in this store is freshly baked from that day, since each evening all that is left on the counters is packed up and sent over to a food bank.

Location: 297 St. Jean Blvd at Highway 20 in the Pointe Claire Shopping Center.
Phone: 514-697-2280
Regular Hours: Mon-Wed 8:30-6, Thurs & Fri 8-30-8, Sat & Sunday 8:30-5
Holiday hours: Open Dec 24th 8:30-5, closed Dec 25th, open Dec 26th 8:30-4, open Dec 31st  8:30-5, closed Jan 1st & 2nd

For Christmas, Italians love their Cassata Calabrese, made with custard and chocolate chips which has to be ordered ahead. They head for Patisserie Alati to buy it or the Mustacciolo, Susaniele or diamond shaped large cookies covered with a thick layer of dark choc and filled with almonds honey and cinnamon. Next try the Torrone Bagnara with hazelnut and almonds or the Struffoli balls covered with honey piled high in a pyramid. Yes, there’s butter cookies shaped like Christmas trees.

Very popular for parties are their mini pastries, which are bite-size versions of their pastries – then you can taste so many! They have a famous Alati cake, which is a white cake with ricotta and custard,. Everyday treats include amaretti (with pine nuts), taralli (with lemon), biscotti (cinnamon and anise), hazelnut cookies, cassatine (ricotta and almond paste), sfogliatelle, cannoli (ricotta, or cream or chocolate), baby lobster tails and limoncello, white cake with lemon custard and berries on top.  There are a couple of tables for a quick expresso and sweet or a savory pizza, panini or sandwich. They are well known for wedding cakes.

Location: 5265 Jean Talon St. East at Dollier St. in St-Leonard.
Phone: 514-729-2891
Hours: Tues & Wed 8-6, Thurs & Fri 8-7, Sat 8-6, Sun 8-5:30 (Jul & Aug Sun 8-1
Holiday Hours: Dec 24th 8-5:30, Dec 25th 8-1, Dec 31st 8-5:30, closed Jan 1st &2nd

Q4: It would be an even sweeter year if we could save money on these, could let us in on where we could find deals on cake

Wholesale bakeries made those divine cakes that we eat for dessert at restaurants or for the supermarkets. These are often large cakes great for serving crowds. Here are two of them:

If some of the cakes at Les Delices La Frenaie here look suspiciously similar to those in Loblaw’s (and Le Biftheque, Boccacinos and Chenoys), you would be a good detective. Christmas logs come in amazing flavors here: chocolate hazelnut crunch, amaretto, strawberry, marscapone, frutti de bosco, limoncello. Profiterole are made into buches, candy canes, or wreaths. Those who pine for chestnut cake, order the Chataigne. For New Years Eve, they’ve prepared a chocolate  cube cake and a white chocolate and raspberry pyramid.

Come here for: bacio, key lime cheesecake (15 others), frutti di bosco, dulce de leche, orange or walnut pound cake (16 others), limoncello, heavenly berry and Milky Way in 8″ or 10″ sizes. Some can be ordered 36 hours in advance for more than 20 people. The best deal is the apple, lemon, chocolate chip, or cinnamon marble cakes for only $8.50, and taste the amaretti biscotti. Trays of pizza (tomato, white, all dressed and vegetarian) can be ordered.    www.lesdeliceslafrenaie.com

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Location: 8405  Lafrenaie at Jarry
Phone: 514-324-8039
Regular Hours: Mon-Fri 6-5, Sat 6-2
Holiday Hours: Dec 24 xmas 6-4, 2526 closed dec 31 6-4

When you swoon over the gigantic luscious cakes you are eating at certain coffee shops and restaurants around town (think King Kong, Roche Noir, Black Jack, Avalanche, Pecan Pie, Financiers, Monster Squares), then you can love them even more when you go right to the source to buy them at Patisserie Kilo Gateaux or find them in the freezer for IGA – 6 inch Rocky (chocolate cake) or La Roche (chocolate coffee layered mousse)

They’ve come up with a red and white Christmas cupcake; it’s chocolate of course, with  cream cheese frosting and a cherry on top. Their Christmas logs are fudgy chocolate or tiramisu. The
Casse Noisette is a salute to the Nutcracker, it’s crispy, has meringue and hazelnut coffee cream.
With over 60 sweets to choose from, many serving 16 slices, you can feed a whole crowd.  Order 24 hours in advance if you want a particular favorite or if you want it personalized.  www.kilo.ca

Location: 6744 Hutchison at Beaumont
Phone: 514-270-3024
Regular Hours: Mon-Fri 9-5, Sat 10-5
Holiday Hours : Dec  24th  9-3, closed Dec 25th & Dec 26th, Dec 31st  9-3, closed Jan 1st & 2nd

There is a mushroom family in Montreal and they’re located in a shop right off the Main on Rachel east. Mycoboutique has found endless mushroom products beyond the fresh, dried and frozen varieties (even Djon Djon from Haiti or   rare Japanese-loved matsutake).

Daughter Judith, a biologist (what else?), adores the mushroom ice cream, however you can feast on mushroom:  pasta, pate, butter or truffle oils, creams and  chaga anti-oxidant powder.  Mushroom flour is sold for gluten-free diets but I’m thinking it might make yummy coated chicken or fish.

There are hunting tools  (adorable foldable fabric baskets that would be cool for grocery shopping), growing kits, kefir culture, fertilizer, clothing, decor items and tons of books. Ask about mushroom field trips.

Location: 16 Rachel est
Corner: St-Dominique
Phone: 514-223-6977
Hours: Regular plus Sun 12-5
www.mycoboutique.ca