Happening Gourmand @ Le Vieux Port Steakhouse

The Happening Gourmand month long food event involves 8 restaurants in Old Montreal. This is Urban Informed's 2nd year writing about this event as last year, Suite 701 and Mechant Boeuf were the chosen two restaurants. This year our first restaurant is the Vieux-Port Steakhouse which is known for having AAA Canadian beef. Seeing as how I have not had restaurant steak in my life I definitely wanted to try VPSteak which I did with Urban Informed partner in crime MBT. 

ATMOSPHERE

The atmosphere at Vieux-Port was very impressive. Some restaurants have no music, some have such loud music you cannot hear yourself think or speak to the person next to you. That's where I was impressed with Vieux-Port. If you are looking for a place with not to much light but not dark and just enough music for a good vibe that still permits you to have a conversation, then this is it. 

FOOD

Here is a look at the 3 course meal. 

1- Starters

For starters there was the soup and salad appetizer between my partner MBT and myself. My salad was great, not too big not to small and I still felt ready for the main course and not in need of an eating time out. The tomato soup also was great and as appetizers should do, it left us ready for the main course. 

2- Main Course

My main course was the baseball cut 7oz steak with string beans, red pepper and fries. Now I have not had the privilege of eating a steak at a restaurant before so for my first time I must say that this piece was terrific and left me wanting more. Just because this meal was at a reduced price does not mean you won't be full at the end of it. I was not over full considering I was able to eat dessert but the seasoned steak is worth waiting all these years for. Imagine finishing your steak and you are like "I need another one". That has to be some steak. MBT's main was the Santa Fe chicken with goat cheese and with garlic mashed potato and vegetables. All indications is that this meal also was a winner. The portion size was fair and good and with a glass of wine you will not be disappointed. 

3- Dessert

For dessert, the chesscake and chocolate cake were winners. Keep in mind that all chessecake is not made the same and some may find Vieux-Port's chessecake a little softer than other chessecakes. As for chocolate cake, well I love chocolate cake so I had to take a bite and I was not disappointed. 

SERVICE

The service was great. I know some people put huge importance on the service they receive in deciding if this could be a restaurant they return to or advise their friends to go to. I would have to say that the service was good and they seem to be very friendly with patrons. 

OVERALL 

    

The overall experience at Vieux-Port Steakhouse was a 9/10. Once again the atmosphere was great for a date night where you had just enough music that you could still have a conversation. The food was great and even though the meal was at the reduced price for the Happening Gourmand event, I would still go outside of this event to eat here. 

For more on Vieux-Port Steakhouse, check out their website at Vieux-Port Steakhouse.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

The Urban Informed team wishes you all a Happy Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. 

The legacy of Dr. King is still a work in progress but we see that progress year after year. We appreciate Dr. King's legacy of service and encourage everyone to give back to your own communities in order to leave them better as we found them, as Dr. King did himself. 

Target Closing Its Doors

It seems like we were only getting used to having Target stores in Canada. The giant American retailer came in with a lot of noise taking over Zellers locations bringing a piece of Americana to our shopping trails. However, things have not gone as expected for Target and now Target Canada is closing all 133 stores in Canada and putting 17,000 Canadian workers out of a job. For now it seems that stores will be open for a bit longer, assume that there will be some clearance sales going to get rid of merchandise. 

I personally thought that Target was a very good addition to the shopping landscape but with news that they are losing tons of money in Canada I have to assume that Canadians as a whole who seem to have supported Targets entry in Canada were not as enthoused after a while. 

The only question I have is..... Will we get back Zellers?

Stuart Scott Remembered

Last week, the sports world and all of us in kind lost a great person and sportscaster. I never was able to watch Stuart Scott on a regular basis but the little bit that I saw from him was very inspiring. Scott made watching the sports news a thing for ESPN, I bet that whenever Scott was on air more people tuned in to hear him give the rundown and highlights of sporting events across North America in a way no one could or to see him interview the best of the best in the sports world.

For young Black kids seeing someone in such a position when it is not the norm in the media business was also inspiring. You can only imagine how many young people decided they want to be the next Stuart Scott because they watched him were influenced by the repeated "Booo yah" moments Scott provided us with.

Unfortunately, Scott's life was taken to soon from us but not before he influenced and inspired an untold many.

Here is to you Stuart!


Stuart Scott Speech at Jimmy V Foundation Awards

Happening Gourmand 2015

The Old Montreal food event known as the "Happening Gourmand" returns with its 8th edition featurng 8 restaurants in Old Montreal that you can experience for reduced prices of $21, $25 or $29. 

Urban Informed will be looking forward to th great food at this event again this year and letting you in on these great restaurants that represent Montreal's food scene so well. We will be picking 2 restaurants to visit duing this month long event and share the pics and comment on the experience of these restaurants. 

You can check out all 8 of the participating restaurants at Happening Gourmand.  

The All New Urban Informed!

The all new Urban Informed will be back in 2015 with a new look and purpose.

Stay tuned!