Mmmmmmm ... Poutine @ Lafleur’s
Olive & Gourmando is a lovely café in Old Montreal, opened in 1998 by a couple who fell in love while working as chefs at Toqué!, one of the city’s best restaurants. Olive & Gourmando is named after their cats and there are few cozier spots in the city. A busy lunch seats a maximum of 45 people and, if you leaned over, you could probably tap the shoulder of the person two tables away. Casino de Montreal
When customer Donna Nebenzahl popped in to grab some lunch, she soon heard a familiar voice. Sitting less than 10 feet away from her were Julia Roberts and Benjamin Bratt. “She was wearing a flowered skirt and clogs. Her hair was pulled back and she didn’t look made up. Up close, she actually wasn’t anyone you’d notice,” says Nebenzahl. “But that voice.”
Bratt was in town for a shoot and, having rented a nearby condo, had become a daily regular at the café. Nebenzahl recalls that the soon-to-split power couple were sitting near the salad counter where everyone orders lunch. “But nobody even looked at them. Not a glance. Not a peep. You had no sense that they’d been recognized. Then, they got up. They left. And it was like a bubble burst. You could feel the sudden buzz.”
Last time Roberts was in Montreal was late February, to shoot a cameo for George Clooney’s directorial debut, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. A month later at the Oscars, CTV’s Lisa LaFlamme approached her on the red carpet to ask if she had anything to say to her Canadian fans. Roberts’ reply was something to the effect of “Do I even have Canadian fans?”
If this was her comment on Montreal’s apparent nonchalance toward celebrity, she wouldn’t be the first to notice. Dave McMillan, chef and co-owner of The Globe restaurant, has cooked for hundreds of stars, including Robert De Niro and his dog. “Stars don’t get harassed here,” he says, listing this as one reason Montreal draws so much film work. Other good reasons are the Canadian dollar, Quebec subsidies and the variety of architecture that enables Montreal to stand in for just about any foreign city.
Still, Montrealers are notoriously respectful of celebrity privacy. “Every star who’s ever been at The Globe has always told me, ‘It’s, like, bizarre.’ I’ve sat in this booth [where we’re sitting] with Robert De Niro, like, 10 times and he used to say, ‘It’s funny that this restaurant is packed and I see people looking at me, but nobody’s bothering me. When I eat anywhere else, except maybe my own restaurants, Americans have no problem coming up to me and taking a picture and sticking a business card in my face and asking me to sing Happy Birthday to their friends.’ He would sit here and people would just walk right by him and not even look at him,” laughs McMillan.
There are various theories behind Montrealers’ politeness. After decades of negotiating linguistic politics, maybe we’ve become hypersensitive to people’s boundary issues. Or maybe we love food so much, we would never think of doing anything to spoil Julia Roberts’ cinnamon brioche. Of course, no city is 100 percent harassment-free. While Steven Spielberg was in town filming Catch Me If You Can, based on the life of con man Frank W. Abagnale, he found himself the victim of a con. The Masked Avengers, two Montreal radio pranksters who make a living playing practical jokes, convinced Spielberg he was talking to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien over the phone.
At www.radiopranks.com, you can hear Spielberg making plans to et together with our first family, praising Montreal and saying that he doesn’t support the U.S. movie industry’s criticism of Canadian subsidies. Fortunately, you can also hear him taking it all in good stride when he finally finds out he’s been had.
Matthew Hays, film critic for the Montreal Mirror, thinks that we’re more comfortable around celebrity than other North Americans. “With the city’s rent control, struggling artists and ordinary people still live in the trendiest neighborhoods where celebrities most often rent.
The way The Plateau [neighbourhood] is set up, [celebs are] within walking distance of the best restaurants, so they don’t bother with drivers. When they realize how relaxed Montrealers are, they relax their security. So we just see stars more often.”
Whatever the reason, the city is starting to feel like a second home to A-list Hollywood. A few days before my interview with McMillan, the booth we’re sitting in was occupied by Spielberg, Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio, who were shooting scenes for Catch Me If You Can. McMillan takes out a handwritten list of famous people he’s cooked for. It would fill the restaurant three times over.
With his arms full of tattoos, his tough-guy smile and his streetwise charm, the 31-year-old chef could easily play the role of army cook or snag a role on The Sopranos, though he’s renowned for his sublime market cuisine. The Globe itself is a study in chic, though the distressed wood of the bar feels like an old school desk and the leather bar stools may look like they were bought at a tavern auction. But in condescension to high style are the white tablecloths and the billboard-sized mirror that covers one wall.
While many stars eat at The Globe, some end up practically living there. “When Ben Affleck was here, he was always partying,” says McMillan. (It was widely reported that Affleck checked into a rehabilitation centre shortly after his time in Montreal.) “You know, he started really simply, having dinner at the bar. Then the next thing you know, his friends were here. And the next thing you know, when we closed the restaurant, the only person left inside was Ben.
If I was going out after work, then Ben was coming. Or if any of the bartenders were going out, well, Ben was coming. Wherever we decided to go, Ben was coming. Him tagging along was no sweat off our backs. It’s not like we’re going to change our lifestyle. It kind of made us look cool, you know. He bartended here one night for about half an hour. He would mess up on someone’s drink and throw money at them instead.”
But that summer when Affleck was in town shooting The Sum of All Fears will probably be the last time we see him in Montreal. “I’ve heard from a number of industry sources,” says Hays, “that when Affleck was recently given the choice between doing a movie in Vancouver or in Montreal, his agent reportedly said, ‘We don’t want Ben in Montreal. It’s too dangerous.’ ”
McMillan echoes that rumour. “No. I don’t think he will come back. Ever.”
Then, of course, there was George Clooney’s romance with actor and part-time Globe bartender Maria Bertrand. When the two were spotted smooching, tabloid reporters descended on The Globe within days. “We had a lot of fun with them,” laughs McMillan. “They would be asking everyone who works here, ‘Where is Maria?’ and we would point at any woman and say, ‘There she is.’ But McMillan rolls his eyes at recent stories claiming that Clooney convinced her to move to L.A., then dumped her for a Playboy centrefold. Bertrand, he says, had said goodbye and good luck to Clooney well before she decided to go to L.A., for professional reasons.
There was also Billy Bob Thornton, who filmed Levity in Montreal this past spring with Kirsten Dunst at the same time that his then-wife, Angelina Jolie, was filming Beyond Borders. Also seen around town were the other stars doing cameos in Clooney’s film: Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Drew Barrymore.
So even if The Globe is the obvious place to book a table, you never know where you’re going to spot a star. This past fall, Hayden Christensen was seen hanging out at Euro Deli, a local takeout spot on St-Laurent. Samuel L. Jackson’s been seen catching some sun in Hôtel Place D’Armes, down the street from Notre Dame Basilica, the busiest tourist spot in the city. And a friend of mine has a picture in his wallet of Willem Dafoe eating poutine. He was Dafoe’s driver one winter. Every day, they drove by Lafleur’s, a chain of restaurants renowned for its greasy concoction of french fries, cheese curds and gravy. Dafoe was curious about the sign. But when my friend explained to him what poutine is, Dafoe balked. A vegetarian, he wasn’t sure he could stomach it. Then, on the final day, he caved. Talk about the last temptation.
Olive & Gourmando is a lovely café in Old Montreal, opened in 1998 by a couple who fell in love while working as chefs at Toqué!, one of the city’s best restaurants. Olive & Gourmando is named after their cats and there are few cozier spots in the city. A busy lunch seats a maximum of 45 people and, if you leaned over, you could probably tap the shoulder of the person two tables away. Casino de Montreal
When customer Donna Nebenzahl popped in to grab some lunch, she soon heard a familiar voice. Sitting less than 10 feet away from her were Julia Roberts and Benjamin Bratt. “She was wearing a flowered skirt and clogs. Her hair was pulled back and she didn’t look made up. Up close, she actually wasn’t anyone you’d notice,” says Nebenzahl. “But that voice.”
Bratt was in town for a shoot and, having rented a nearby condo, had become a daily regular at the café. Nebenzahl recalls that the soon-to-split power couple were sitting near the salad counter where everyone orders lunch. “But nobody even looked at them. Not a glance. Not a peep. You had no sense that they’d been recognized. Then, they got up. They left. And it was like a bubble burst. You could feel the sudden buzz.”
Last time Roberts was in Montreal was late February, to shoot a cameo for George Clooney’s directorial debut, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. A month later at the Oscars, CTV’s Lisa LaFlamme approached her on the red carpet to ask if she had anything to say to her Canadian fans. Roberts’ reply was something to the effect of “Do I even have Canadian fans?”
If this was her comment on Montreal’s apparent nonchalance toward celebrity, she wouldn’t be the first to notice. Dave McMillan, chef and co-owner of The Globe restaurant, has cooked for hundreds of stars, including Robert De Niro and his dog. “Stars don’t get harassed here,” he says, listing this as one reason Montreal draws so much film work. Other good reasons are the Canadian dollar, Quebec subsidies and the variety of architecture that enables Montreal to stand in for just about any foreign city.
Still, Montrealers are notoriously respectful of celebrity privacy. “Every star who’s ever been at The Globe has always told me, ‘It’s, like, bizarre.’ I’ve sat in this booth [where we’re sitting] with Robert De Niro, like, 10 times and he used to say, ‘It’s funny that this restaurant is packed and I see people looking at me, but nobody’s bothering me. When I eat anywhere else, except maybe my own restaurants, Americans have no problem coming up to me and taking a picture and sticking a business card in my face and asking me to sing Happy Birthday to their friends.’ He would sit here and people would just walk right by him and not even look at him,” laughs McMillan.
There are various theories behind Montrealers’ politeness. After decades of negotiating linguistic politics, maybe we’ve become hypersensitive to people’s boundary issues. Or maybe we love food so much, we would never think of doing anything to spoil Julia Roberts’ cinnamon brioche. Of course, no city is 100 percent harassment-free. While Steven Spielberg was in town filming Catch Me If You Can, based on the life of con man Frank W. Abagnale, he found himself the victim of a con. The Masked Avengers, two Montreal radio pranksters who make a living playing practical jokes, convinced Spielberg he was talking to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien over the phone.
At www.radiopranks.com, you can hear Spielberg making plans to et together with our first family, praising Montreal and saying that he doesn’t support the U.S. movie industry’s criticism of Canadian subsidies. Fortunately, you can also hear him taking it all in good stride when he finally finds out he’s been had.
Matthew Hays, film critic for the Montreal Mirror, thinks that we’re more comfortable around celebrity than other North Americans. “With the city’s rent control, struggling artists and ordinary people still live in the trendiest neighborhoods where celebrities most often rent.
The way The Plateau [neighbourhood] is set up, [celebs are] within walking distance of the best restaurants, so they don’t bother with drivers. When they realize how relaxed Montrealers are, they relax their security. So we just see stars more often.”
Whatever the reason, the city is starting to feel like a second home to A-list Hollywood. A few days before my interview with McMillan, the booth we’re sitting in was occupied by Spielberg, Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio, who were shooting scenes for Catch Me If You Can. McMillan takes out a handwritten list of famous people he’s cooked for. It would fill the restaurant three times over.
With his arms full of tattoos, his tough-guy smile and his streetwise charm, the 31-year-old chef could easily play the role of army cook or snag a role on The Sopranos, though he’s renowned for his sublime market cuisine. The Globe itself is a study in chic, though the distressed wood of the bar feels like an old school desk and the leather bar stools may look like they were bought at a tavern auction. But in condescension to high style are the white tablecloths and the billboard-sized mirror that covers one wall.
While many stars eat at The Globe, some end up practically living there. “When Ben Affleck was here, he was always partying,” says McMillan. (It was widely reported that Affleck checked into a rehabilitation centre shortly after his time in Montreal.) “You know, he started really simply, having dinner at the bar. Then the next thing you know, his friends were here. And the next thing you know, when we closed the restaurant, the only person left inside was Ben.
If I was going out after work, then Ben was coming. Or if any of the bartenders were going out, well, Ben was coming. Wherever we decided to go, Ben was coming. Him tagging along was no sweat off our backs. It’s not like we’re going to change our lifestyle. It kind of made us look cool, you know. He bartended here one night for about half an hour. He would mess up on someone’s drink and throw money at them instead.”
But that summer when Affleck was in town shooting The Sum of All Fears will probably be the last time we see him in Montreal. “I’ve heard from a number of industry sources,” says Hays, “that when Affleck was recently given the choice between doing a movie in Vancouver or in Montreal, his agent reportedly said, ‘We don’t want Ben in Montreal. It’s too dangerous.’ ”
McMillan echoes that rumour. “No. I don’t think he will come back. Ever.”
Then, of course, there was George Clooney’s romance with actor and part-time Globe bartender Maria Bertrand. When the two were spotted smooching, tabloid reporters descended on The Globe within days. “We had a lot of fun with them,” laughs McMillan. “They would be asking everyone who works here, ‘Where is Maria?’ and we would point at any woman and say, ‘There she is.’ But McMillan rolls his eyes at recent stories claiming that Clooney convinced her to move to L.A., then dumped her for a Playboy centrefold. Bertrand, he says, had said goodbye and good luck to Clooney well before she decided to go to L.A., for professional reasons.
There was also Billy Bob Thornton, who filmed Levity in Montreal this past spring with Kirsten Dunst at the same time that his then-wife, Angelina Jolie, was filming Beyond Borders. Also seen around town were the other stars doing cameos in Clooney’s film: Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Drew Barrymore.
So even if The Globe is the obvious place to book a table, you never know where you’re going to spot a star. This past fall, Hayden Christensen was seen hanging out at Euro Deli, a local takeout spot on St-Laurent. Samuel L. Jackson’s been seen catching some sun in Hôtel Place D’Armes, down the street from Notre Dame Basilica, the busiest tourist spot in the city. And a friend of mine has a picture in his wallet of Willem Dafoe eating poutine. He was Dafoe’s driver one winter. Every day, they drove by Lafleur’s, a chain of restaurants renowned for its greasy concoction of french fries, cheese curds and gravy. Dafoe was curious about the sign. But when my friend explained to him what poutine is, Dafoe balked. A vegetarian, he wasn’t sure he could stomach it. Then, on the final day, he caved. Talk about the last temptation.
