When you move away from a city, you stop being able to keep up with its restaurant scene. But after we left Montréal for Vancouver in the early nineties, on a return trip, one of our friends brought us to YoYo Restaurant, a French cuisine establishment at 4720 Marquette.
We liked it so much, and had such a great time, that on subsequent visits, time permitting, we'd try to eat there. I think we wound up going three or four times over the years.
Family visits back east are always whirlwind tours, and I often don't let friends know I'm coming because of the family commitments. We went back this past weekend to celebrate my grand-mère's 100th (!!) birthday, and the cascading series of family engagements threatened to preclude any other nights out. But I carved out an evening, only to discover YoYo's had closed four years ago.
So I put out a call on Facebook for eats suggestions, and got many great ones. The problem: many, many Montréal eateries are closed on Sunday nights, our one free night. One, however, was not: Maison Publique, located on ... Rue Marquette. 4720 Marquette, to be precise.
The food was great. We went with the original friends who'd turned us on to Yoyo's. The only blip in the evening was that as a tapas place, the dishes came up randomly, which meant that the person in our party with severe dietary restrictions wound up watching the rest of us eat for much of the evening, as their dish came last. But aside from that, we had a lovely time with delicious food. I even ran into a former colleague. The circular coincidences were on their way to becoming uncountable.
I am forced to conclude that 4720 Rue Marquette is a fixed point in gastronomic space-time. Next time I go I'll be on the lookout for the foodie TARDIS.