Montreal’s Le Pickup Brunch Takes On Hurricane Irene… And Wins
Written by: Carly Steven
Depanneur Le Pickup
Well we are definitely seeing the effects of Hurricane Irene here in Montréal – I feel like we might be washed away at any moment. Seriously, it has not stopped raining all day, winds are gusting up to 100km per hour and, when we went out earlier – before the whole thing had really even properly kicked off – our umbrella was actually attacking rather than protecting us.
The hurricane, which was downgraded to a tropical storm as it swept over the northern New England states, was so vast it brought heavy rains to Montréal by noon while the main force of the storm was still several hundred kilometres south and several hours away.
Environment Canada issued a wind warning for Montréal and the surrounding area on Saturday, saying residents should brace for northeasterly gusts… on Sunday and into Monday in a corridor from Montréal toward the lower St. Lawrence. A rainfall warning was added on Sunday morning.
Quebec’s public security ministry has advised people to tie down any garden furniture that might be at risk of blowing away and stock up on enough water, batteries and food to last them for the next 72 hours.
By 1.30 this afternoon around 19,000 homes were already without power. And now, Hydro-Québec is reporting that ‘at least 180,000 customers lost power in the city and beyond, including Montréal’s NDG and the West Island, the Montérégie and the Eastern Townships’.
It’s wild outside now and JM and I have no intention of leaving the apartment. I have cereal, JM has pasta. We’ll be fine. Although given our total dependence on the internet I’ve no idea what we’ll do if we lose electricity. We might have to talk instead of just sending emails.
Depanneur Le Pickup (Credit: Popcorn Plays)
Things weren’t looking quite so desperate earlier this morning when I rugged up with my two right-footed furry boots and we headed off to our 11am rendez-vous at Dépanneur Le Pickup.
You only have to have spent a very short period of time here to know that brunch in Montréal is not so much a meal time but a religious institution to which the city populace is faithfully devoted. And yet, as unfathomable as it might seem, JM and I have never partaken of this sacred pilgrimage.
So I was slightly embarrassed but very grateful when my work colleague Asmaa suggested we meet her and her husband at Le Pickup at this not-quite-breakfast not-quite-lunch hour to chat about all things Toronto. It’s only ten minutes from our apartment in Little Italy and is actually half local dépanneur, half kitchen diner that also seems to host cookery classes and sausage-making workshops.
By sheer coincidence CBC’s Sunday morning radio show All In A Weekend, had pastry chef, pickler and preserver Camilla Wynne on air this morning talking about a masterclass she’d held at Le Pickup all about the now in season stone fruits and how to make preserves at home.
One of the first things she mentioned was dill carrots, which immediately made me think of Russia and the liberal amounts of dill that accompanied every meal when we were there last year. There was even dill on top of the blueberry compote and salmon gravadlax omelette I had during our Pickup brunch. I especially enjoyed the sweet potato roti – a lovely orange surprise.
All the food, in fact, was fantastic. And our server attended to us with a wonderful mix of friendliness, aggression, camp and good-natured humour. He didn’t have to work too hard though to convince us into sharing a blueberry cobbler – which is basically sugar, flour, butter, cinnamon, a whole heap of fresh berries and a generous dollop of what I think was clotted cream.
The most exciting thing about Le Pickup however is probably the setting. Other than the row of retro bar stools along the antique counter, actual sitting-down-and-eating space is imaginatively created; squeezed in amongst the shelves and racks of the establishment’s more mundane produce.
We took up a slightly damp picnic pew in front of rows of cereal boxes and tubes of Pringles, while Asmaa only had to stretch out her arm to open the fridge door and pull out a bottle of orange juice. Behind the counter, a shelf of old-fashioned glass jars containing nostalgia-inducing sweets like candy necklaces and jelly false teeth and fried eggs, shared wall space with a couple of industrial-sized grills on which various brunch items were being roasted and fried.
It definitely had the air of being a local institution; everyone seemed to know each other and there was a relaxed familiarity in the way staff and customers interacted. Without realising it, we managed to spend almost two hours there. By the time we left, meteorological conditions had taken a noticeable turn for the worse. But with warm crepes, cakes and coffee in our bellies we manfully took on the elements and were blown home in what felt like no time at all.
Incidentally, while writing this post I came across the website (Popcorn Plays) of Le Pickup’s resident baker Natasha Pickowicz, who also happens to have written quite a bit for the Gazette. She has some really beautiful photos and it’s definitely worth taking a look.
[Photo credits: Dépanneur Le Pickup & Popcorn Plays]
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