stash

roozle and I have just returned from a well-balanced trip to Montreal: full of scenic vistas, historic interest, art galleries, fireworks, architecture, festivals, unpaved back roads, and most importantly a tremendous variety of excellent food. The best was Stash: a Polish bistro named for its founder, Stanislaw Pruszynski, and whose placemats advise the diner that "Everything tastes better with wódka, even wódka". We agreed and got shots of Wyborowa which was very tasty.

roozle had the Roast of Wild Boar menu, and I had the Primer menu. The barszcz was thin and delicate, and the salad hearty, which was the reverse of what I expected but quite delicious. roozle's meat and red cabbage worked well together but I thought the bigos and placki complemented each other perfectly and the other tastes from the krokiety and meat and cheese pierogis made for a more interesting meal.

The dessert was the weak point of the tables d'hote; the fruit squares were nice enough but not really very interesting. Perhaps something on the a la carte menu would have been better.

Stash Cafe
200, rue Saint-Paul Ouest
Montréal, QC
+1 514 845 6611
Open daily 1130-2330
Reservations not really as necessary as the web site would have you believe

tour trivia

The winner of today's stage, Juan Mauricio Soler H., is wearing number 219 -- the highest number in the tour. The first two digits represent his wild-card team, and the last digit is his position on the team. Ordinarily the team of last year's winner gets to ride with bib numbers 1 through 9, and the 21st (wild-card) team rides with numbers 201 through 209. But with the controversy over Landis' performance last year not yet resolved there is no defending team this year, and the team numbers start one higher than usual.