Hello Little Lebanon

>> Mouth-watering grilled meats,
breakfasts and more at Ville St-Laurent
hotspots Abu Elias and Balila

by A.J. KINIK

I’d been hearing tantalizing rumours of a Lebanese grill somewhere north of the Met for some time. Word on the street was that this was not your typical electrically radiated, gyrating meat-on-a-stick joint. Not only did they have the choicest meats on offer, they knew how to work a charcoal grill.

So I mustered together a reconnaissance team, complete with a certified Beiruti Grill Guide, and we took the wheels up to what our guide referred to as the Little Lebanon section of Ville St-Laurent. Lo and behold, as we raced along Sauvé onto Côte-Vertu, the landscape suddenly got thick with Lebanese restaurants, pastry shops and grocery stores.

Right in the heart of that stretch of Côte-Vertu, underneath a massage parlour, of all things, you’ll find Abu Elias, a combination butcher shop, grocery store and grill. The grocery section sells a small selection of Lebanese delicacies, like flatbreads topped with zaatar and cheese, savoury turnovers of all kinds and kibbeh, the meat-stuffed patty that’s considered by many to be the national dish. But the real draw here is the meat counter, with its arsenal of brochettes, its massive barbecue and talented team of grill-masters. These guys are good, grilling everything to perfection, but Abu Elias’s trump card is the quality of its meat. Not only is it prepared according to strict Halal guidelines, but, as opposed to the overwhelming majority of boucheries in Montreal, the guys at Abu Elias do everything themselves, and it shows. Their grilled meat sandwiches—including filet mignon ($2.99), kafta ($2.49) and sojouk ($3.49), a spicy Armenian-Lebanese sausage—all-dressed with pickled cucumbers and turnips and a wonderfully pungent garlic sauce, are quite simply out of this world. So good and so cheap, in fact, you’ll find it nearly impossible to have just one.

If that isn’t good enough, right across the street from Abu Elias you’ll find Balila, another up-and-coming Lebanese hotspot. Balila’s got a range of sandwiches too, but what sets this place apart from most other Lebanese restaurants in town is that they specialize in Lebanese breakfasts. What’s more, our guide swore by them. So we did the only sensible thing: We got up bright and early the next morning and headed straight back to Little Lebanon to sample the goods. When we arrived at Balila, things were pretty quiet (it’s not clear that Lebanese breakfasts have caught on with the larger public yet), but we had the comforting sights and sounds of Al Jazeera to keep us company.

What exactly is a typical Lebanese breakfast? Well, apart from the morning news, Balila’s version consists of a number of scrambled egg dishes, including varieties with minced meat and sumac, a complimentary plate of pickled vegetables and other condiments, and an assortment of tasty bean dishes: foul, with fava beans, garlic and lemon, their signature hummus made with whole chick peas, and, our personal favourite, fatteh, a yogurt-based dish with roasted almonds, toasted pita chips, garlic and chickpeas.

Abu Elias is more of a take-out than anything else, so you may have to take your sandwich to go or eat it right outside, but if you’re a lover of Middle Eastern grilled meats, it’s an essential trip. Balila has all the style of a shish taouk joint, but they serve their tasty Lebanese breakfasts all day, and if you’re looking to break out of your bacon and eggs rut, this might just be the place for you.