The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-07-19
Vain HUNT IN MONTREAL
FOR A GENUINE REMNANT or
FRENCH CULINARY ART.
Two Visitors with Grateful Memories OF
Historic Friendship Search the Market
place and Beyond and the Might Finds
Them still Unsatisled but Much Wiser.

place and Beyond ana uhe Nignt Flhus
Them still dissatisfied but Much Wiser.
MONTREAL, July to.-Fired with grateful
memories Of the historic friendship Of Amer
lea and France, two citizens Of the United
States rose in The small hours Of q July
morning, enatched a hasty breakfast amid
the silence Of a sleeping Adirondack camp.
drove four miles over a mountain road be-
hind o lame horse and took a 8 O'Clock train
for Montreal. They would see that friendly
race In tho home OF It's adoption and have
a taste Of French cooking.
Before the train had crossed the line Il
began to fill up with French Canadian
types, and soon every glance from the car
windows showed farmhouse or village with
characteristic marks of the habitant. It
was not yet rkidmorning when the train
Numbered into Windsor station. It wa
Eve hours since that hasty meal at lawn.
Now for a genuine French breakfast.
The adventures stood on a corner In
quiring their way to the Bonsecours Mar
ket. An Enthusiastically British Canadian
was at infinite pains TO direct the stranger.
but when asked for the best place to break
fast in the market quarter he Looked SUR
prised and said:
Don't think of eating a meal own there.
You really couldn't stand II. Go uptown
and get a civilized breakfast
OF course this was to have been expected
OF the oppressor, but he had been kind, 30
the visitors bade him good-by amiably and
hastened to the Bonsecours Market de-
termined to disregard his advice.
The high, gaunt, classic front OF the
market house dominated a street now
empty of the marketing crowd and a mere
dull desert of shabbiness For fully two
blocks on the side Of the street opposite
Bonsecours. however. almost every other
house was a restaurant or a hotel, with the
name of a French proprietor over the door.
Plainly enough 1t was merely a matter
Of choosing.
A French policeman In his funny narrow
brimmed helmet and comfortable loose
| sack coat was on view. Policemen In
Montreal, even when French. are just as
large at tho equator as their confreres OF
whatever race in New York, and this one
wore the roomiest leather belt in all Canada
Could it be that the strangers detected In his
amiable face, when they asked for the hest
French restaurant Of the quarter. a fieeting
look that resembled the air of surprise with
which the Briton had received TIE came
inquiry? If 30, he made a prompt recovery.
for taking a card out Of his pocket he pre-
sented 1t and pointed toward q white avn
ing a block away, witt the assurance that
the door beneath that awning admitted to
the very best French breakfast within the
precincts Of Bonsecours.
The strangers thanked him and took them
selves out OF sight at the first turn. Dis
concetting as it was to distrust a French
Canadian, they could not escape the feeling
that tho ~policeman's feeting look and the
presence of the restaurant card In his pocket
must be held suspicious. They determined
to take other advice.
Nearly two hours after their arrival they
encountered q we'll dressed and intelligent
looking man many blocks from B~onsecours
and said for the twentieth time that morning
in hollow. hungry chorus:
French restaurant In Montreal2'
French restaurant" he aid with po-
litely concealed. contempt; Aren't any.
l mean none Of your, kind. Looking for
something Partisan. eh2 Take my advice
the Montreal equivalent of a Broadway
lobster palace. Best German cooking
in the Dominion
Have we journeyedto Montreal to eat a
German breakfast?" exclaimed the pair.
~ q Gh WV A'a&' Vsh
humor, and this is what he said.
"You may take my word for 1t, that's
the place you want: i know what l am
talking about, for I'm the manager
guest until hunger brought Il to an end
beneath the white awning In the precincts
Of Bonsecours, the very place pointed out
by the fat policeman. They, skunk in fur
lively, and the less hungry ofthe pair, calling
tionabie vintage, said, :Day-jur-nay.s ao-
centing strongly the second syllable.
The maid smiled vaguely, gave a despair
ing little shrug n went for help:
HShe's going to urn in a fire ALARM said
sStrange.' grumbled the other. show
little these pr~oyincials know Of their great
great-grandfather's language. Maybe l
should have added q Ia f~oor-shet.'"
SHOULD think that might have justified
a police call. a ms cred ered his his. oS Sna aG
middle aged woman who spoke perfectly
clear and rather fluent English. but seemed
to attach no meaning whatever to that
language in the mouth Of another.
Decentralization can-you-give-
us-an omelet - with - fried - potatoes
inside2" said the hungry man in loud and
measured tones.
Ham and eggs.' was the answer.
wee, jambung ct uffs. aveo cafy-o-lay.
savvy vool' interrupted the other traveller
taktIly, ~ WOO wv ioihODs oobsSiSO 80
French he had ever attempted and he
thought it sounded well, but the look OF
mystiaoation on the middle aged face dark
ened to plain despair and the woman van
ished k~itohenward murmuring something
that might have been omelet or might
have been ham and eggs.
IF YOU don't let up on your CURSED Ollen-
dorf wen starve right here In the midst
Of plenty said the hungry man vioiously.
The woman was soon back with q hand
some young man who both spoke and under
stood English. He asked what had been
ordered.
sGod knows was the answer, 'but let II
come along II it's started
II came, and 1t was ham and eggs. Both
were excellent, though the coffee proved
absolutely impotable.
Hunger appeased. the two agreed that
the French culinary tradition must linger
somewhere In a city Of near 400. 900 people,
four-ffths Of Gallo. blood. They would
AXE the afternoon in finding the proper
place to dine. So they explored the French
Quarter and saw miles Of hideous houses.
big and little, built Of the native limestone,
u~nsympathetio and malign In it's cold. sodden
grayness Now and then an awninged
balcony with green plants and bright bloom
cheered the sight, and behind shabby ex-
teriors one glimpsed delightfully."- clean and
ooeey rear premises. ~Unbelievably hideous,
o, vara Tho Htva "a pnily ho,,aoas