There are a few things synonymous with summer in Montreal: racing, jazz, comedy and all the food that goes along with each event, romantic night out or hanging out on a terrace with friends. It is safe to say that Montreal has become a city for foodies, with amazing culinary options in each corner of the city, for every taste and budget. But with so many restaurants in Montreal and so few summer nights, we need to make our selections wisely.
Photo courtesy of Sebastien Roy
Enter Montreal’s food blogger community. This batch of discerning, honest and hungry writers is our go-to resource on where to satisfy our cravings with Montreal’s best eats. We thought it would be fun to introduce you to a few of our favourites…. Suite 203 serves up a little Q&A with the guys from 514eats.com.
Image courtesy of 514eats
Q: Tell us about the mouths behind 514eats…
A: 514eats is two childhood friends that grew up in the Middle East, studied Engineering at McGill, and now work separately in Business Intelligence and Finance. What Adnan brings to the table in web/database development and a penchant for eating a lot, Nizar complements with a knack for cooking, photography and image processing. In other words, 514eats would not survive without the two of us.
Image courtesy of 514eats
Q: Why did you decide to write a food blog?
A: Being friends for such a long time, it’s only normal that we eat out a lot. We naturally love eating and drinking, anywhere we might find it. We are, on the other hand, extremely picky when it comes to food, so we usually end up criticizing and commenting to each other. When we started following some blogs to keep up to date with new establishments, most failed to provide us with what we were looking for, and 514eats was born.
Image courtesy of 514eats
Q: There are so many great Montreal restaurants… How do you choose which ones to feature?
A: For starters, we don’t “feature” restaurants, we rather “review” them. We give you the good, the bad and the ugly. How do we pick what restaurant to review? Without boring you to death, let’s just say we employ a complex database system that ensures fairness and randomization towards all eateries (it’s not our fault, we’re engineers by training.)
Image courtesy of 514eats
Q: What’s your new go-to summer restaurant? Why?
A: Although we’ve enjoyed several new places this summer, none blew our hats off yet (we’re hard to impress, remember?) Of notable mention are (in no particular order): Blackstrap BBQ, the only Memphis style bbq in town, for succulent smoky meats; SuWu, with a unique old-school hip-hop vibe, to down some drinks and small bites, especially during Grand Prix and sidewalk sales; and finally Namos*, for a more relaxed gathering between friends to share Greek food and wine on the terrace.
* Please note, that 514eats was not asked to plug our client, Namos, but we are sure glad they did! Check out their review of this Mile End hot-spot!
