Brooklyn – A café in Mile End

I recently met an extremely preggo friend for lunch at Brooklyn – a cute little café in Mile End.  How pregnant was she?  She was having contractions every ten minutes.    People were staring.  But, the trooper she is, she insisted on getting out of the house.  I think when I was that far along, getting out of bed was considered exercise for me…  But what about Brooklyn? First off, it’s in a part of Mile End that I would describe as up and coming.  Think warehouse-y.  But, it really was up and coming (as opposed to up and coming being code for a dump with potential) and you could see the rejuvenation everywhere – I think probably in part spurred by the closeness of the Ubisoft offices down the road.  The café was of the very cool hipster variety.  I went to order and then stopped as I looked around….  those tables in the back didn’t look like they were for eating on… and they aren’t.  Turns out, it’s also a furniture store of the mid-century modern variety.  The kind of stuff we used to indulge in, before, when, I worked…

So, the only places to eat are stools with ledges to eat off of (not sure ledge is the right word – but you know what I mean).  Not ideal, but it worked.

The menu is pretty short, but sweet and the food was good.  My friend had the chorizo and kale soup (not on the menu) to start which I tried and it was delicious.

For my main I had the stuffed aubergine dish, which ended up to be strips of aubergine rolled around…?  Some sort of pesto-y mixture, and another delicious mixture which I think had red peppers and feta.  It also had a lettuce mix, and a lovely little mushroom and olive salad.

My friends sandwich of artichokes, spinach and melted cheese was according to her ‘one of the best she had in a long while’ and she was thinking about it all night.  She also was in semi-labour though so perhaps that was in play…

I also had a tart of lavender and honey(?) that was amazing.  Yum-ola.

If I lived around the corner (or worked at Ubisoft) I’d probably be back often.  But, I don’t so I’ll have to go when I can and without baby as the expensive furniture and stool seating is not conducive to kiddos.

Decor: Hipster cool

Service: Efficient.  We were there right at lunch which I consider peak time.  There were a few people getting food to take away, and I think all the stool seating was taken (there are maybe only 20 seats?) but we didn’t wait long for our food.

Price: Well priced for the ambiance/food/service.

Good for: Lunch with a friend.  Coffee.

Baby Friendly: Leave the bambino at home.

Brooklyn, 71, rue Saint-Viateur East, Montreal, QC 514-564-6910

ps There seems to be quite a bit of controversy about the use of an Indian Headress on their sign.  I don’t really know what to think of it.  Coming from the prairies where you do see that kind of thing (albeit, usually being used by natives) I wouldn’t have thought much of it.  What do you think?