In Mile End, it always feels like the weekend

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It seems silly to talk about the weekend and Mile End, the neighbourhood where everyone always has time for coffee and it feels like the weekend 24/7. But when it actually is the weekend, watch out. The streets are bustling and there are lineups everywhere.  

Here are 27 stops that make a weekend in Mile End a particularly laid-back, pleasant or even decadent affair: 

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Coffee:  

Café Olimpico, 124 St-Viateur St. W. “Depuis 1970,” boasts the awning over the entrance to Café Olimpico, the longest percolating of Mile End’s coffee shops. Just past noon on a recent Tuesday, the lineup for a cuppa stretched 18-people deep, with a pair of Montreal’s finest patiently waiting at the back; but service was unflappably swift and the baristas were slinging expertly made lattes, cappuccinos and Americanos like nobody’s business. 

Club Social, 180 St-Viateur St. W. Jay Lucifero’s neighbourhood coffee spot has been around since 1982. “I was here with my late father,” he said. “It started off as a social club only for men, curtains and everything. I was pretty young — 22, 23. It was very small, we used to make four cappuccinos a day, and we sold cigarettes.” Now the place is open morning to night, and business doesn’t stop. “If you close here, you’ll cause a riot,” quipped Lucifero. His secret to longevity: “We’re a family-run business. We get to know everybody; we talk.” 

Café Alphabet, 5765 Clark St. On the hip new-school tip, Greek brothers Tom and Tony Argiropoulos have made the neighbourhood their brand, complete with Mile End Blend coffee (by their company Ambros) as well as T-shirts, mugs and more. Tony describes Café Alphabet, opened in 2023, as “a fun environment, an exciting environment, a confident environment and a very open environment.” 

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Bagels: 

St-Viateur Bagel, 263 St-Viateur St. W. One half of Montreal’s holy duality of bagel shops, St-Viateur has been slinging the circular sesame seed dough-rings since 1957. Joe Morena and sons’ specialty is the sesame and poppy varieties, though all-dressed is increasingly popular.  

Fairmount Bagel, 74 Fairmount Ave. W. Isadore Shlafman opened Montreal’s first bagel bakery in 1919, moving to Fairmount in 1949, then closing for several years before being mercifully revived alongside the friendly rivalry that has given Montreal — and Mile End — its glutenous bragging rights as bagel city.  

Books: 

Drawn & Quarterly, 211 Bernard St. W. Drawn & Quarterly squeezes a lot into its modest square footage. Alongside an impressive selection of indie comics, mangas and graphic novels are sections devoted to art theory, personal and literary essays, poetry, political and cultural theory, Black studies, feminist and queer studies, classics, fiction and new non-fiction. 

Records: 

Phonopolis, 207 Bernard St. W. A mix of new, used and reissues makes up this jewel of a record shop where rock, hip-hop and avant-garde offerings share space with local releases. “It’s not just about selling records,” said co-owner Jordan Robson-Cramer. “It’s about keeping a pulse on things happening in the city musically.” 

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Sonorama, 260 Bernard St. W. “Jazz, worldbeat, soul-funk,” said owner Edouardo Cabral, breaking down the key sounds of Sonorama. Cabral has been buying and selling vinyl around the city for over 40 years and ensconced in Mile End for over a decade. “I’ve gotten a lot of compliments recently,” he noted. And with good reason: his shop is a musical gold mine. 

Clothing: 

Jennifer Glasgow Boutique, 5145 St-Laurent Blvd. Jennifer Glasgow has been making funky, unpretentious clothes for Mile Enders since 2003. Asked what has kept her brand relevant, Glasgow replied, “We’ve had our ear to ground in the hood for so long, we understand our client base.” She defines her wares as having “a very artistic yet classic look, and sustainability is key.” 

Katrin Leblond Design, 230 Fairmont Ave. Katrin Leblond had to uproot from St-Laurent Blvd. to the corner of Fairmount and Jeanne-Mance in 2022, after her old shop burned down. Her attire is instantly recognizable for its bold colours and busy patterns. “It takes an extraverted person to wear it,” she said. “People don’t come in here for a plain pair of black pants.” 

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Bodybag by Jude, 17 Bernard St. W. Judith Desjardins is used to the lineups for Bernie Beigne stretching past her storefront. She opened her classy Bernard St. store back in 2006 on what was then a lonely outer limit of Mile End. She calls her aesthetic “casual chic — sophisticated but for everyone.” A longstanding fave is an oversized MTL-YUL T-shirt, created in 2017 for the city’s 375th anniversary and since expanded upon with other “made in Montreal”-themed items. 

Stationery: 

Papeterie et Photocopie Zoubris. 5678 Parc Ave. No stroll through Mile End is complete without a stop at Zoubris. A staple (pardon the pun) of the area since 1982, the copy shop, stationery store and impromptu neighbourhood meeting spot is owned by affable man-about-town (and special adviser to Mayor Valérie Plante) Jimmy Zoubris and his sister Demetra.  

Flowers: 

Dragon Flowers: 173 Bernard St. W. Tamey Lau has run some version of her beloved Bernard St. shop (from a tiny dépanneur across the street to her current, sprawling flower and plant store) for 47 years. In that time, she has had 14 children, who are now all grown up and some of whom can be found selling her wares. When Dragon Flowers was gutted by fire in 2013, the community rallied behind Tamey, raising the funds to get its favourite florist back on her feet.  

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Treats:  

Bernie Beigne, 23 Bernard St. W. You can spy them walking around the neighbourhood: giddy people carrying a pink pizza box full of donuts from Bernie Beigne. George Giannopoulos, Dean and dad John Giannarakis created an instant institution in 2021 with their tiny bakery featuring 23 flavours of donuts — from cherry cake to sour cream, Reese’s, s’more, brownie and Homer Simpson. So about that pizza box … 

Boulangerie Cheskie, 359 Bernard St. W. One of Mile End’s best kept secrets, Cheskie’s is a kosher bakery where the neighbourhood’s Hasidic Jews line up next to the goyim for rugelach, babka, cheese bagels, cookies and knishes. 

Lu & I, 5147 Parc Ave. Lu & I boasts a variety of vegan and gluten-free pastries to please even those who scoff at healthy options. Their yummy wares include biscotti, cookies (peanut butter, chocolate chip, matcha), energy balls, cupcakes, muffins, brownies, date squares, donuts, scones, mini-pies and quiches.  

Cocoa Locale, 4807 Parc Ave. Rima Singh makes, bakes and sells her delectable selection of cupcakes (faithful standbys vanilla, lemon-coconut and chocolate chai) and cakes (switches up daily, e.g. chocolate-banana, Mae West, lemon-lavander, vanilla-rose) on the premises, served with a beaming smile. “I just call it a nostalgic cake shop,” Singh said. “It’s very simple, very old-fashioned in every sense.” 

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Eats and drinks: 

Larrys, 5201 St-Laurent Blvd. Larrys used to be the little hole in the wall next to meaty Mile End eatery Lawrence, but the smaller sibling’s tasty bites and wine/beer/cocktail bar concept took off and the two switched places. There is a respectable dose of plant-based options to offset the ceviche, smoked salmon, pork and beef on the menu by chef Marc Cohen. Don’t miss the weekend brunch.

Buvette Chez Simone, 4869 Parc Ave. Open since 2008, Chez Simone is still hands down the coolest casual wine bar in the city. Perfectly laid back, it’s a great place to bring a date or  friends from out of town, to hunker down with an old pal or converge en gang. The tunes are tasteful, the vino tasty and the bites just right. 

Bar Le Sparrow, 5322 St-Laurent Blvd. A cosy neighbourhood pub, Sparrow is inviting any night of the week. The pub grub menu consists of burgers, pasta, oysters, shrimp, grilled cheese and salads, with cocktail offerings ranging from your Manhattan, martini and negroni to tamarind bourbon sour and fuego fresco. Open for brunch on weekends. 

Drogheria Fine, 68 Fairmount Ave. W. Also known as Gnocchi Della Nonna, this popular food counter makes one thing: gnocchi to go, which it serves up for $5 a pop. Slurp! 

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Euro-Deli Batory, 115 St-Viateur St. W. Pierogies, borscht and other old-country offerings are served at this frozen-in-time Polish eatery run by Jadwiga Czerkawska and her husband since the mid-1980s.

Ice Cream: 

Kem CoBa, 60 Fairmount Ave. W. There’s always a lineup at pastry chefs Diem Ngoc and Vincent Beck’s awesome ice cream counter. Low sugars, no preservatives and a limited selection of Vietnamese-inspired flavours — including peanut and honey, hazelnut, and praline and lime — keep the crowds coming back for more. 

Ripples, 5554 Jeanne-Mance St. Richard Bernett’s humble ice cream parlour has a down-home feel with some 30 flavours including caramel salt, kulfi, cheesecake and Oreo. This is the Mile End outpost of his St-Laurent Blvd. store, which has been serving up scoops since 1984.  

Movies: 

Cinéma Moderne, 5150 St-Laurent Blvd. With a café-bar up front and 54-seat cinema screening the best of international indie and repertory film fare in the back, Cinéma Moderne is the perfect pit stop for Mile Enders looking to catch a flick and then debate its merits over a drink. 

Music and more: 

Casa del Popolo, 4873 St-Laurent Blvd., and La Sala Rossa, 4848 St-Laurent Blvd. Hubs of the Montreal music scene, stages at the smaller Casa and larger Sala (as they’re called by regulars) feature performances by a rotating roster of local and international indie music talent. Bonus: both have restaurants attached. 

Marché des possibles, 5705 de Gaspé Ave. It has moved around the corner, but the POP Montreal-run Marché des possibles continues to provide an essential community service via an array of free daytime arts, crafts and music events from noon to 10 p.m. every Friday to Sunday throughout the summer.  

One in an occasional series of things to do in Montreal neighbourhoods.

tdunlevy@postmedia.com
x.com/TChaDunlevy 

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