OK, we ended up at Stash's Cafe in Old Town Montreal. The place had a nice old world charm to it (much like everything in Old Town Montreal). We missed lunch hour, so we came in for an early dinner - we were the only ones in the place, which made me a little nervous. We came through the door, and a guy with a non-French Canadian accent seated us at the table, and in my limited knowledge of the Polish language, I asked him if he spoke Polish. With an accent that seemed more "Canadian-English" than mine, he replied in Polish that he did.
I started off with an enquiry as to the vodka menu, as I was a tad parched, and ended up with Ice Cold Belvedere, from a freshly uncorked bottle, filled to the brim. Nice Start.
Had to try the Borscht - OK, not too salty like some restaurants try to make it, but not as good as my mother in law's. But then again, ask 4 Poles to write a good borscht recipe, and you will get 6 different recipes!
I opted for the kotlet schabowe, with a side of Potato and Cabbage. The veggies were good, but the coating on the schabowe was a little commercial, and the whole thing was deep fried as opposed to pan fried, but good none the less.
My daughter opted for the perogies - and she enjoyed them immensely.
Dessert rolls around, and my daughter had the szarlotka with a large dollop of yogurt on top. It was nice because it wasn't too sweet, again, a little different than the mother in law's. I opted for the poppy-seed cake, and it was nothing like I expected. There were heavy layers of of icing between, much too sweet for my liking, and I have a sweet tooth. I couldn't finish it all.
For my final dessert, I forced myself to quaff a final shot of vodka, and again, it came out in a virgin sealed bottle, Icy cold and filled to the brim.
It was an interesting weekend as there was a science fiction convention in town. Mid way during our meal, the restaurant started to fill up, with some of the geekiest looking folks you could imagine. When the waiter filled up the second shot of vodka, it must have caught the sci-fi crowd's attention. As I downed the shot (in Polish style) I heard an audible gasp from the geek corner, disbelief that somebody could drink vodka down in one gulp. A cultural experience for us both, I guess ;-)
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