by ALICE AND YANKA

In 1937, the National Socialists (Nazis) staged the most virulent attack ever mounted against modern art with the opening on July 19 in Munich of the Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art) exhibition, in which they brought together more than 650 paintings, sculptures, prints and books that had until a few weeks earlier been in the possession of 32 German public museum collections.

Among those castigated artists labeled as "degenerate" and whose works were exhibited at Entartete Kunst were Chagall, Otto Dix, Grosz, Max Beckmann, Kokoschka, Kandinsky and Klee.¹

In La Pointe on a fine day at 11 a.m., the newspaper announced that admission for the MOMA (Museum of Modern Art, New York City) is now $20 (U.S.). Neo-National-Socialism? This you should debate à La Fine Pointe, where for twenny loonies you can get two plates of breakfast de bûcheron and coffee ad nauseam avec petits cups de crème et lait à volonté. Included, but not tested that morning, are "mezzanine, musique continuelle, ambiance décontractée and soupers dansants."

Dimanche, and we want a banquette but they're all full. They are beautiful and orange and spacious, and on 'em the sunshine is dancing like a cowboy quand le méchant lui tire des balles sous les pieds. Les serveuses? Elles courent comme des dingos avec leur percolateur bouillant de café tord-boyau. Ours, notre waitress, is Andrée and we love her even though all she does is s'excuser sans cesse de nous négliger parce qu'il y a un groupe de 20 en arrière. Indeed, the place is bustling comme une usine de bustlage. Glasses break and people applaud and cheer - all this before, well, early. And there are the madness kids, too, drinking extra-tall glasses of jus d'raisin avec des pailles; ils sont hystériques de joie et se tortillent partout and no one cares.

A few moments before our plates arrive, a neighbour announces she cooked last night: an entrée of watermelon, goat cheese and balsamique. On a le mal de melon en ostie, but our fantastic breakfast plates save us from dying right there. Spécial #2 comes with crêpe, two eggs, sausage cut in half ("elle est bonne, pas mal bonne"), du bacon excellent ("pas de rigoles de gras, jussse du bon bacon"), ham (a round slice of pink meat "toasté des deux bords!"), unwanted fèves au lard and patates just-right. For jabbing, a slice of watermelon and a piece of tomato. Beurk.

The Spécial à La Fine Pointe ($8.25) has less animal than the Spécial #2: only two huge yolkless eggs. Keeping them company are un bol de fruits assez phénoménal avec kiwis, bananas, fraises rouges, cantaloup, ananas, etc, des bines aussi (most probably from a can but ça passe le test) and white toasted Weston bread soaked de bord en bord with butter, which makes us very happy. C'est aussi bon que brûler en enfer.

The pièce de résistance is a crêpe, not a pancake, thin and quite dense and slightly sweet, wrapped around who knows how many sausages and filled with bright-orange melted cheese. C'est assez fucking phénoménal. Et pour un beau trip à $5, we suggest the "Pain Doré Tantan - trois tranches de pain doré saupoudré de cannelle / Tempting French Toast - three slices of French Toast sprinkled with cinnamon on powder" [sic!]. Ouiiii!

¹ Degenerate Art: The Fate of the Avant-Garde in Nazi Germany / [ed.] Stephanie Barron; with contributions by Peter Guenther [et al.], 424pp.

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La Fine Pointe
ADDRESS: 1791 Centre, Pointe St-Charles
PHONE: 931-2904, 932-7770, 932-9847
WEB SITE: www.bar-resto.com/finepointe.
Check out the breakfast photos.
PRICES: Standard 2 eggs with meat, potatos, toast and coffee: $4.55
HOURS: Mon–Wed 5:30 a.m.–midnight; Thurs 5:30 a.m.–1 a.m.;
Fri–Sat 5:30 p.m.–3 a.m.; Sun 7 a.m.–midnight.
BEST FEATURES: Andrée la serveuse et toutes les serveuses.
CLIENTELE: Regulars (old and young), families (dysfunctional and not),
couples (toute la gang). Et monsieur Jacques avec son verre de vin.
ALCOHOL: Oui! There's even a monthly wine with super descriptions like "séduit le nez par son fruité."
RATING: Warms the heart and blocks the arteries like a charm.