Montreal is an ever-changing city, especially when you think of its cafés, restaurants and bars. There’s a new mic every month, cool new bars, a cool old bar bought out by a really cool chef…
But what we find coolest in Montreal are the historic hot spots – 100 years old or more, because we’re picky about our vintages. And one of the city’s oldest restaurants is also one of its cheapest: the Montreal Pool Room.
Pool Room, steamers and 100 years of hot dogs
The Montreal Pool Room was opened in 1912 by Filipoff Dakov, a Bulgarian immigrant, in Montreal’s Quartier du Red-Light-the neighborhood of cabarets, all things illegal and brothels. Today, it’s the Quartier des Spectacles.
The Montreal Pool Room is now referred to as a beloved greasy spoon . It can be a derogatory term, except when you love a boui-boui as much as Montrealers love the Pool Room…
The Montreal Pool Room’s specialty is “steamés” – hot dogs with steamed sausage – and fried potatoes.
The restaurant is still number 1 on the list of the best hot dogs in town…
In the restaurant’s early days, that was all there was on the menu, but since then the Pool Room has also offered poutines, burgers and pogos.
The coolest Montrealers of the last hundred years, and those who have visited the city, have eaten at the Montreal Pool Room, including Leonard Cohen (our favorite artist) and Al Capone.
It’s a favorite spot for dads who’ve passed on the love of old-fashioned snacks to their kids-between the diner culture, the nostalgia for a simpler time and the intense joy of eating fries as a kid.
Practical info
Where? 1217 Boulevard Saint-Laurent
When? open 7 days a week from 10:30 a.m. to 4 a.m.
Enjoy your hot dog!