The original plan was to head to a place called Schwartz’s, but after a suggestion from a well-respected teacher, Leanna Russell and I decided we didn’t want to be yelled at during finals week. So, at around 5:00pm Leanna, myself, and a couple of close friends decided to take a break from our work and look towards getting some food in our very hungry bellies. After a 16-minute walk, we made it to our destination. A shop with a bright neon sign that flashed the word “OUVERT” caught our attention and welcomed us inside. As we entered the place was completely empty. I was getting a bit nervous that the place was closing down but a woman walked out of the back room and gave us a smile and a wave.
“Hello! Welcome! Are you just four?” She said as she walked closer.
As we all nodded she gestured to the back of the restaurant where all the booths sat and said, “Go ahead and pick any table you like, I’ll be over in a minute.” We made our way over to the booth and picked one that seemed comfortable. From there I was able to get a look at the whole restaurant. You know those cafes you see in movies? The ones that the main character goes to when they hard having a hard time and need a place to escape late at night? Or the one that a detective goes to after a long day and needs to wind down? That’s basically what this place was. It all became amazing to me as the waitress came back and as we ordered gave a half-hearted “Yep” and took the menus from us. It was like having a grandmother ask what you want for dinner and they not quite agreeing with your answer. The strangest thing was I thought it was hilarious. She was so sweet and you could tell that she has done this all day, so she was probably getting pretty worn out as the day went on. Then these four loud college students walk in and she has to wait on them. Either way, I loved having her as a waitress.
Once the food came I realized fairly quickly this was a joint that my brother would absolutely love. My burger came over and sure enough, it was meat upon meat upon meat. It was absolutely delicious. What made the meals even better was the ability to be there with friends and laugh and chat over this amazing meal. It reminded me of a dinner that I used to go to with my friends in high school. The dinner back home had the same personality as The Main, right down to the hand-drawn photos from kids on the walls. My friend and I used to meet every weekend at this dinner to catch up and talk about homework. I remember one day when we got there and the waitress recognized us and said, “Oh! You guys are back again! Man, let me tell you, the students at Masco (the public school nearby) sure are dedicated to their work. I was the same way when I went to Masco. Glad to see they are keeping up the hard work!” We didn’t have the heart to tell her that we were both homeschooled and weren’t public school students though.
The more I spent time in The Main the more I realized that if I lived in Montreal, I would be known as a regular here. I would go as much as I could with friends, even just for a nice cup of coffee with a family owned twist. I must admit that I am a little sad that this was the last place that we were able to visit. I wish I had known about this place sooner so that I could have gone here more.
But as they say, hindsight is 20-20, and I’m just an American tourist waiting to go home.