Night out at the Moxie

The restaurant scene in Montreal continues to impress during this cold winter season. So my first restaurant steak was a success at Vieux-Port Steakhouse during Happening Gourmand, so when I saw the menu at Moxies the steak was at the top of my list.

I've heard about Moxies for a while now, the restaurant that was close but not close enough to Montreal being in Ontario but now Moxies has come to downtown Montreal and I had to give it a try. What better night than Valentine's Day with my sweet thing partner in crime MBT. 

One of the things Moxies has going for them right now is the daily drink features, including half price bottle of wine on Wednesday nights among other specials during the week. This will prove to be a great attraction come summer time when more people will be milling about downtown Montreal on those hot summer nights. 

My dinner selection at Moxies was the sirloin steak plate. This plate included french fries, string beans and sweet potatoes. For the french fries, Moxies has this wonderful spicy mayo dip that I had to try and as someone who loves french fries I garuantee you will like the way Moxies does their fries. The spicy mayo dip has a great taste to it and don't worry it is not that spicy that you won't enjoy it. As for the steak itself I was very impressed with it and yes I probably could have, should sprung for another one. Not too red inside the steak and not to dry either, it was just right and was a great meal all together. For the service, the waiters/waitresses very nice and engaging at times and was that manager himself giving out Valentine Day drink coupons for wine? It might have been, either way the service was very good. The atmosphere was great as well, television screens at almost all angles and someone seemed to put in some nice R&B grooves just for me..... Ok maybe not but when your jammin' to beats instead of eating then Moxies was doing something right. 

All in all it was a great night out and a definite thumbs up. 

Score: 4/5 

Art of Performing Aural Sex

The world of Montreal spoken word will come alive tonight as "Art of Performing Aural Sex" spoken word show takes the stage tonight at Le Belmont. The show which started in 2007 under the Madpoetix Production banner and founder Kym Dominique Ferguson features Montreal's up and coming spoken word, dance and comedic talents in a steamy, inticing and sexually rated R show that has now become a Valentine's Weekend ritual.

Tonight, "Art of Performing Aural Sex" features 12 performers to spice up your Valentine's Day Weekend and you can always except a little something from the founder of Madpoetix himself, Kym Dominique Ferguson to keep the crowd energized. 

Keep in touch with Madpoetix Productions events in and around Montreal.

Facebook: Madpoetix Productions

Twitter:  @Madpoetix 

Who : Art of Performing Aural Sex

When: Tonight, Doors at 6pm, Show at 7pm SHARP!

Where: Le Belmont, 4483 Blvd St. Laurent

Cost:  $25.00 (At the Door)

Black History Month 2015

Black History Month (BHM) is here again and I for one am interested to see what events are planned throughout Montreal and beyond. Every February it seems the community comes together to celebrate and tell each other and the world that black history does matter. However, I look my city which has a unique position in terms of its black population and wonder what if. In the French and English context of Montreal we often see two sides or solitudes as the general society calls themselves, differing in ambitions and ideas of how the black community moves in the city. The difference between the two communities often manifests itself in distrust and ignorance towards each other and a crabs in a bucket mentality. There is no doubt that the French black community in Montreal has the linguistic advantage but statistics have shown that is about all it is although over the past several years many young people in the French black community are becoming entrepreneurs, building businesses in the city, becoming local politicians and starting to become part of the cultural mosiac of Montreal. 

The English black community has for years been in the shadows. On a linguistic front, English blacks have obviously faced language issues although more and more are becoming bilingual these days. Others face the struggle of not speaking French without enough of an English accent to not be seen as just an English person in the society no matter how good their French is. English blacks in Montreal like French blacks deal with the struggle of being a minority in a province where race issues are put under a rug and does not share the relative importance as the endless wrangling over separation and language wars. 

So why all this?

I'm very happy that BHM is here so that we can all celebrate our community's contribution and our past in North America. I am happy that there seems to be a conscious effort to combat all the remaining struggles that the black community faces and for that matter all minority communities are facing in Montreal in regards to total inclusion in our society. I would love to see the two linguistic sides of the black community come together more than just for BHM and really pound the pavement for a better inclusion in the society. Black unemployment is still an issue in my city and particularly when the community has produced a high percentage of university grads, just as good or better than the overall society we seem to be underrepresented in a lot of professional fields. My specific issue still lands with our community and through the many Black History Months that I have witnessed, there may need to be a shift in how we view BHM. Maybe it is time to focus more on our present situation, unemplyment rates, black teen unemployment, job skills, black community development, black business development etc. for today's black community. I just witnessed a Caribbean themed restaurant close after only a couple months in business and this unfortunately is not the first time as Caribbean or "Black" restaurants in Montreal for the most part do not do well outside "the hood". No one wants to stop learning about MLK and re-reading his famous speeches but we definitely need to diversify what BHM means and we need the two black solitudes to come together in a more progressive way to ensure that we all have a future say in this society. 

With that said, we should all go enjoy the events for Black History Month but remember to learn more about black history more than what is being given to us during this month. As someone once said, "Black history is 12 months a year"! 

Click here for Montreal's Black History Month events. 

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