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Guest post by Stash

Each time I go on vacation outside Canada, I try to mingle in the local culture. To feel the beat. To eat their traditional food. To listen to their music or to browse some local markets. And each time I return to Montreal, I am looking to extend my beautiful foreign experiences by searching the same feeling around me. For example, by going to a Caribbean festival or a Portuguese restaurant where each time I am in search of that old sensation that I returned in a place I loved.

Let’s take bouillabaisse. Where you can eat a traditionally, carefully prepared bouillabaisse? In Provence, France. Only there this fish stew prepared of five different Mediterranean fish and spiced with five different herbs over five different vegetables can take you in the seven heavens. Forget about non-Provencal bouillabaisse. Forget about Spanish, Portuguese or Italian variations. Only in Marseille and surroundings you will have the best experience. But that doesn’t stop me for trying to replace that Provencal feeling in my mouth with some surrogates prepared in Montreal ‘’French cuisine’’ restaurants. I never stop believing that one day I will find the perfect bouillabaisse right there, in the middle of St-Denis street.

But let’s say that bouillabaisse isn’t the perfect example. Let’s try something more affordable, more likely to be found in a city that is renowned for its international cuisine.

Let’s talk about Greek Salad.

Every tourist that put his toes in the Egean knows what a Greek Salad is. And you might be lead to think that the actual Greeks immigrated to Montreal know by heart the recipe for a good, old fashion Greek Salad. Well…think again! If you are hitting five Greek restaurants, you will obtain five different recipes. Which is odd, considering that is not so complicated to prepare one.

The other day I was having dinner with some friends in a very much acclaimed cantinesque Greek restaurant, inspired called Tripolis. Which of course is a city in Libya. And in Lebanon. And in Greece. It seems that the people around Mediterranean See are not very imaginative. So, while I am there with my friends drinking a Boutari Naoussa, we ordered some Greek salads to go with this dry wine and fried calamari to go with the salad. The waitress brought our lettuce salads dressed with some grated Parmesan cheese, to our very much surprise. We looked at the menu and no Italian salad or whatever was available. Because we didn’t understand the confusion, we returned all salads and asked for some explanations.

And so we found out them the waitress (which was Greek, by the way) that are many types of Greek Salads. American Greek Salad. Brazilian Greek Salad. Russian Greek Salad. And Greek Greek Salad. And no, I’m not kidding you.

We asked what’a heck means Greek Greek Salad. And she told us that this is a Village Greek Salad, meaning is a traditional one. Like in ‘’tomatoes, red onions, olives, cucumber and Feta cubes, all dressed up with olive oil’’ salad. And because we didn’t said exactly which type of salad we want (the village Greek salad was actually more expensive than the other ones), she brought us North-American Greek Salad. Because it was evident, we wouldn’t knew any difference.

Long story short, we changed our orders for Village Salads that even if they were prepared as per their Greek recipes, didn’t taste like the ones that I used to stuff my face with in Thessaloniki, Kavala or Thassos. Maybe because of the tomatoes or even the olive oil that was not of Greek provenience. So we drank our wine, eat our calamari and paid the bill. That took us like twenty minutes or so.

Until I will discover new that fabulous Greek restaurant that will serve me meals exactly like in old Elada, the best Greek restaurant in Montreal remains Mythos, on Park Avenue. An expensive one, but a very good one. A restaurant where Greek Salad is magnificent as well as its generous lamb stakes.

And where the waitresses don’t presume anything!

Tagged: bouillabaisse, culinar, greek salad