The Best Thing I Ate This Month

The Best thing I Ate This Month – August 2026
Le Louis Cyr

Le Louis Cyr, Ma Poule Mouillée, 969, rue Rachel Est, Montréal, QC.

Every time I go to Montreal, I make a promise to myself: this time, I am going to try somewhere new.

Montreal has an almost embarrassing number of great restaurants. I have a list. I have recommendations. I have friends who send me messages that begin with, “You have to try this place.” There is no shortage of places to eat.

And yet, sooner or later, I find myself at Ma Poule Mouillée eating chicken.

At this point, it is less a restaurant visit than a failure of character.

Ma Poule Mouillée has been serving Portuguese charcoal grilled chicken in the Plateau Mont Royal since 2013. It is famous, there is almost always a lineup, and nobody seems particularly concerned about keeping it a secret. You stand outside with everyone else, watching people walk out carrying enough food to feed a small wedding, and think, yes, this is probably where I belong.

The chicken is the reason.

Charcoal does a lot of heavy lifting here, in the best possible way. The skin gets smoky and deeply seasoned while the meat stays juicy, and then there is the sauce. The restaurant makes a big deal about its house spicy sauce, and for once the promotional copy is not lying. Chef Tony Alves has said that anyone can grill a chicken, but it is the sauce that makes the difference.

He is right. (more…)

The Best Thing I Ate This Month – July 2026

I have a complicated relationship with nostalgia. It usually shows up wearing a greasy paper hat and calling itself pizza.

For years in Ottawa, pizza meant one of two things. Chains doing their best impression of melted sadness, or what people insist on calling Ottawa style pizza, which is usually a dense, heavy crust that feels like it was designed to survive a winter storm and a small building collapse. It is filling in the same way a brick is filling. I grew up on it. After sports games, late nights, whatever was happening when nobody cared what they were eating, it was there. But it was never something you went looking for on purpose.

Then something shifted. Slowly, quietly, and without asking permission, better pizza started appearing around the city. Not perfect replicas of New York, but places that understood what made those slices memorable in the first place. Pizza should be light enough to fold, sturdy enough to hold, and delicious enough that you briefly reconsider your entire personality after the second slice.

The first time I went to New York, I finally understood the mythology. The slice makes sense there in a way it never fully explained itself anywhere else. It is not trying to impress you. It is just good at being itself. Since then I have been chasing that feeling without expecting to ever fully catch it.

Which is why I keep ending up at Schoolhouse Pizza.

Schoolhouse Pizza has figured out something important. It is not pretending to be a shrine. It is not over explaining itself. It is just doing the work, quietly and consistently, in a way that feels closer to New York than most places that advertise that connection.

I went to the New Edinburgh location, though there is also the Preston Street spot at 348 Preston Street in Ottawa. The space does not demand your attention. The pizza does.

What I like most is that they let you split a pie. This should be standard everywhere and yet it is still treated like a favour. It means you can live two lives in one meal, which is about as close as food gets to generosity.

I ordered the Classic New York Pepperoni and the Tomato Pie.

The pizza arrives split down the middle, giving you two personalities on one 18 inch pie. One half is the Classic New York Pepperoni, built on tomato sauce, mozzarella, and cup and char pepperoni. The bottom has that proper structure, not too thick, not collapsing under pressure. It bends the way it should. The pepperoni curls and crisps at the edges, pooling just enough oil to remind you that restraint is not always the goal. It tastes like something I have been trying to remember rather than something I am discovering for the first time. (more…)

The Best Thing I Ate This Month – June 2026
Philly Classic cheesetseak

Philly Classic from Skinny George’s Smash Burgers, 2241 Saint Laurent Boulevard, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Skinny George’s Smash Burgers operates out of Milano Pizza at 2241 Saint Laurent Boulevard. Which is where things begin to get complicated.

The sign outside says Milano Pizza, because it is Milano Pizza. There is also a Skinny George’s sign because it is also Skinny George’s Smash Burgers. Some people are eating pizza because, naturally, this is a pizza place. Others are eating smash burgers because it is also a burger joint.

And twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, it becomes something else entirely.

That’s when the cheesesteaks come out.

Not with fanfare. Not with a sign. Just handwritten notices taped to windows and counters, which in this case you probably should count as signage.

The phones ring like a telethon. These sandwiches are made in limited quantities, and every order is announced like an auction.

“Seventeen left.”

A few minutes later.

“Sixteen left.”

Suddenly it feels less like ordering dinner and more like trying to get World Cup tickets.

The atmosphere behind the counter appears chaotic. Phones ringing. Orders flying. Staff moving with what seems at first glance like chaos, though appearances can be deceiving. Everyone knows their role. Nobody seems worried. The operation hums along with the confidence of people who have done this hundreds of times.

At one point, a customer shouted toward the counter while heading to the washroom.

“We’re still here!”

Without missing a beat, someone behind the counter shouted back.

“Stay as long as you want. You’re family here.” (more…)

The Best Thing I ate This Month – May 2026
Hai Phong crab spring rolls from La Nhau Viet Kitchen & Bar

Hai Phong crab spring rolls from La Nhau Viet Kitchen & Bar, at 108 Murray Street, Ottawa, ON

Every month there is usually one dish that refuses to leave my brain. Not the most expensive thing. Not the most elaborate thing. Just the thing that keeps resurfacing days later, nudging aside newer meals and reminding you who actually won the month.

This month, it was nem cua bể, the Hai Phong style crab spring rolls, at La Nhau Viet Kitchen & Bar in Ottawa’s ByWard Market.

A friend had read an enthusiastic online review, which I decided to follow as a guide. Normally, I prefer making my own mistakes, but this seemed like a reasonable exception.

One of the first dishes to arrive was the spring rolls. I thought little of it. Spring rolls rarely announce themselves as the best thing you will eat all month. Then these arrived.

(more…)

The best thing I ate this month – April 2026
Pizzeria Badiali, Vodka Pie, spicy vodka rosé sauce, fior di latte, pecorino, padano, Sicilian

Pizzeria Badiali, Vodka Pie, spicy vodka rosé sauce, fior di latte, pecorino, padano, Sicilian

This has been a rough week in Red Sox Nation. Our favourite coach is gone. Five others followed. The losing, naturally, stayed right where it was, dependable as ever.

So I did what any loyal fan with questionable judgment would do and made a quick trip to Toronto to see my boys play. I am a Red Sox fan until death do us part, and likely well beyond, which means I willingly walked into a stadium full of Blue Jays fans knowing exactly how this story ends.

But first, a small act of self-preservation.

Before subjecting myself to nine innings of emotional erosion, we went to Pizzeria Badiali, the neighbourhood pizza shop that has been hyped into near legend as the best slice in Toronto. There is always a lineup, which usually means something between excellent and overblown. We preordered, because even hope needs structure.

We ordered the Vodka Pie, a 16 inch situation with spicy vodka rosé sauce, fior di latte, pecorino, padano, Sicilian oregano, plus a generous side of green garlic ranch dip. At this point, subtlety had already left the building.

And then the pizza arrived, and everything else, including the upcoming baseball game, briefly lost relevance. (more…)

The Best Thing I Ate This Month – March 2026
Beef Birria Tacos, Cadmans Montreal Bagels, 150 Montreal Rd #109, Ottawa, ON, Canada

Beef Birria Tacos, Cadmans Montreal Bagels, 150 Montreal Rd #109, Ottawa, ON, Canada

There are restaurants that reinvent themselves with a certain amount of theatre. Lights dim. Music swells. A chandelier threatens to drop just to prove someone has a sense of drama. And then there is what happens inside Cadman’s Bagels in Vanier, which does not so much transform as quietly decide, somewhere around 5 pm, from Wednesday to Sunday, that it has had enough of just being a bagel shop.

No curtains are drawn. No one announces a second act. If anything, the room looks faintly confused about what it has become. But the kitchen knows exactly what it is doing. For a few nights each week, it turns out Mexican and Indian food with the kind of confidence that makes you question what else in your life has been hiding in plain sight.

The best thing I ate this month came from this unlikely double life. Birria tacos. Three of them, because anything less would be an insult. They arrive looking modest, which is the first trick. Shredded beef, slow cooked until it gives up all resistance. Mozzarella melted into the folds. Onion and cilantro scattered like they belong there, because they do. On the side, a cup of consommé that seems to understand its role as both supporting actor and scene stealer. (more…)

The Best Thing I Ate This Month – February 2026
SpicyMAN, 958 Merivale Rd, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Authentic Sichuan and Northeast Chinese cuisine.

SpicyMAN, 958 Merivale Rd, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Authentic Sichuan and Northeast Chinese cuisine.

The Best Thing I Ate This Month is usually about one dish, one bite that refuses to leave your mind. It is not designed to survey an entire menu. But this time, any attempt at restraint felt dishonest. I found myself thinking about this meal for days afterward. I told people about it unprompted. This is not my usual habit. I am typically an eat it and move on kind of guy. This lingered.

SpicyMAN sits next to a barbecue spot in a stretch of Merivale that feels more practical than picturesque. You could miss it. Open the door and you are greeted not by a dining room but by a mountain of stairs. No explanation. Just a climb. So many steps that my friend, already inside, texted to ask if this was truly the place.

Climb them.

At the top, the space opens wide and bright, all exposed ceilings and visible pipes, an industrial expanse that feels unexpectedly airy after the awkward entrance. It is unadorned but confident, as if to say the spectacle will arrive on the plates.

(more…)

THE BEST THING I ATE THIS MONTH – January 2026
Skillet-Fried Chicken

Skillet-Fried Chicken recipe by Bon Appétit Test Kitchen, Bon Appétit magazine, February 2012.

The Best Thing I Ate This Month
Skillet Fried Chicken, the Bon Appétit recipe that never lets me down

There are fancier things to cook this time of year. Dishes with pedigrees. Garnishes that require tweezers. Sauces that simmer for hours only to reduce into a glossy whisper you can barely taste.

And then there is fried chicken.

Not just any fried chicken, but the skillet fried chicken from Bon Appétit, a recipe I have been cooking for more than a decade. It has been with me so long it no longer reads like instructions on a page. It feels more like muscle memory. Like tying your shoes. Like calling someone you love without thinking twice.

Every year, I make it for my annual Southern Dinner with friends, a loose, comfort heavy spread that leans Southern in spirit but fully Canadian in execution. The table is gloriously crowded, bottles, bowls, and elbows fighting for space like nobody bothered with a seating chart. This chicken is the centrepiece. Not the mac and cheese. Not the dessert. Not whatever sad green vegetable I toss in to look like an adult. The chicken. (more…)

The best thing I ate this Month – January 2020
Lost in the Woods Pizza, Art-is-In Bakery

Lost in the Woods Pizza, Art-is-In Bakery – Maple fennel sausage, caramelized onions, cremini mushrooms, sun-dried tomato jam, warm honey, whole milk Mozzarella, basil, sesame crust.

A family member had been steadfastly hounding me to try Art-is-In pizza. Ottawa pizza? Meh. I’m admittedly a pizza snoot. Nothing comes close to New York pizza with its thin, foldable crust, ooey-gooey mutz and slices as big as your head. In my opinion, it’s peerless.

Then I tasted Art-is-In’s Lost in the Woods pizza. What do you know? New York pizza might have a long lost Canadian cousin, eh? (more…)

The best thing I ate this month – April 2016

Don’t be fooled by the amateurish photograph. It was dark. A discerning eye will be able to see through the pixelation and easily surmise that these pork chops are haute cuisine. Not shocking since they were from Montreal’s Joe Beef, currently ranked as the #4 restaurant in Canada (but #1 in my heart).

At Joe Beef more is more. This place is not for the faint of heart. But is it all too much? Au contraire mon frère. The intensity of the experience of an expertly seared piece of meat should not be dismissed out of hand. Biting into the crusty exterior led to the pale-pink tinged and tender interior which imparted a rich, meaty flavour.  These pork chops were seductive. It is not mere hyperbole to say that they left me mesmerized. And they were most definitely the best thing I ate this month (and maybe ever).