text: Those of you who grew up in the Mile End might remember the old Nouveau Palais as the s era vintage diner that served up greasy cassecroute level food in the middle of the night to soak up whatever moonshine you were fed at your favorite watering hole It was a typical Greek establishment blonde French career waitress shitty wine that burned your cortex within minutes and greasy tasty voluminous food ie hot chicken sandwiches burgers frozen strips of gyro heated up and thrown on a defrosted pita etc Nothing wrong with the place and where else are you going to go when you are trashed at AM and starving As a bonus they had jukeboxes built into the tables so you could hear some obscure ACDC or Zeppelin song while you were at itnnWell it is been taken over and revamped and it is not obvious from the outside or inside until you see the menu which mind you is deceptively simple until you pay close attention I had a fried chicken sandwich which sounds very ordinary but was extremely extraordinary juicy as all hell thick searing hot spiced perfectly and dressed to kill with razorthin cucumber slices I think and maybe roquette bits in there I ate it so fast I am not even sure The Macaroni and cheese was light and airy and the aubergine hoagie was sensational Wow Talk about a Trojan Horse In reverse cuz you know the Greeks left and it looks like it is now owned by some hipsters but hipsters that fry up a MEAN piece of chicken And I hear there is hangar steak and some other meaty bits on the dinner menunnThe rest of the decor which is completely unchanged from the old management looks a bit tired and worn but that may or may not be the point The more I looked around the more I realized this place was ugly cute like a Boston Terrier The service is laaaaid back but NOT lazy just relaxed as if you are over at someone is house It is so unpretentious so cool and so breezy I am going back for dinner next weeknnBig score for the Mile End this place Along with all these new spots in progress Comptoir Waverly Bar Melinas Phyllo Bar Rialto Restaurant Zigoto reboot things are looking up for old Parc Ave