Staying home is hard to do especially with so many entertainment options available this summer. I happened upon a deal for tickets to How to train your dragon Live at the Bell Center in Montreal (20 dollars + fee+ fee+ tax) on TravelZoo…we decided on the 11AM matinee. The show is a play that re-enacts the movie where the dragons are animatronic interacting with real actors. Fortunately or unfortunately they did not fill the Bell Center and decided to move everyone with 300 level seats to the 100 level (woo hoo!) We had awesome seats where we could see expressions of the actors without an aid.
It was a 2 hour show including a 20 minute intermission. The dragons were impressive, the special effects were very innovative using a a moving projected background wall instead of just a moving person to show flight, and distance.
There was acrobatics, dance, music, story and flying dragons, fire and fog. Overall, an impressive display that was true to the story and very entertaining for both adults and kids.
After the show, we needed to find lunch near the Bell Center…lots of chain restaurants..but we settled on Cafe Presto on Stanley St between Rene Levesque and St. Catherine. This tiny italian restaurant with about a dozen tables seemed extremely out of place near the glitz of the high price chain store on St. Catherine street. We were greeted by the owner who looked like an old Italian father. He seated us and verbally went through the menu. The menu is a small select items written on a whiteboard. He even made a custom dish for my son who doesn’t like red sauce.
The food on this menu is traditional Italian. We started with a side green salad which was very simple that contained romaine lettuce a slice of tomato and a very slices of radishes in a olive oil with a splash of wine vinegar. I had the cannelloni filled with veal, my son had spaghetti with sausage with a rose sauce, my husband had penne arrabbiatta sauce. The cannelloni was made from fresh noodle with a fresh tasting tomato sauce. You could taste the basil, tomato and veal in every bite. All this food, with a glass of red wine, a bottle of beer, cappucinno and a lemonade came to 50 dollars.
The sausage that came with my son’s spaghetti was very meaty and lightly spicy; very tasty sausage. The arrabbiatta sauce used the fresh tomato sauce base but with that spicy kick that would build the more you ate.
A visit to Montreal in the summer is never complete without a visit to Kem CoBa for ice cream/gelato and a dozen bagels from Fairmount Bakery. The soft serve ice cream from Kem CoBa is to die for something you can not get elsewhere.
Our food adventure for the Saturday is not over as my son wanted poutine for dinner. We were just driving by St. Albert and decided to go get fresh curds and poutine. The poutine we got from the lunch bar beside the St. Albert cheese factory did not overwelm the fries with too much gravy. The curds were squeaky (as they should be). The fries were ok but could be thicker and crispier. The gravy was not salty and just added to the dish.
