As much as I love living in Pointe St Charles, there are things that I miss living in the Plateau. One of these is the proximity of Mile End and particularly St-Viateur St. I loved visiting the street and relaxing there amongst the old cafés, St-Viateur Bagels and the different shops and bakeries. One of the old neighbourhood classics which I never got to visit was Boulangerie Clarke which closed in 2015. Fast forward to a couple of months ago and imagine my surprise when I read that Clarke’s has been revived and not only that but it is now only a few blocks away in my ‘hood! There is definitely a need for a good sandwich shop in PSC so this is a very interesting new addition to the neighbourhood.
The old spot in Mile End was a bakery that also did bread on top of sandwiches and pastries. This new version has eliminated the bread but added coffee to make it more of a café than the original. In the display counter, there is a variety of salads and pastries available. All the sandwiches are made to order and run the gamut with different Italian coldcut options as well as smoked meat and grilled chicken.
Having been a few times, I got to try a couple of sandwiches. Each sandwich is done up with a fresh loaf of bread and dressed up with tomato, lettuce, cheese and dressing (mayo, mustard, dijon or dijonnaise). There are also a bunch of extras you can add – eggplants, marinated peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, etc.. Portion wise, the sandwiches are solid and hearty. I love the bread – it has a airy and chewy texture but holds up firm to all the items in the sandwich. The meats are sliced by order and I find you can always tell the difference when that is done versus pre-cut. Once, I went with the Calabrese – nice heat – and then with the Italian Sausage – which is cut in a patty format to best with the sandwich. Both were excellent and exactly what you would want from a sandwich shop.
From the pastry side of things, of course I needed to try a cannoli. The cream filling was excellent – rich and smooth. The shell was a little softened compared to an ideal crunchy one as the shells were pre-filled versus made to order. Still an excellent cannoli to enjoy.
Point St-Charles was missing a good Italian-style sandwich shop and Clarke Café has filled that space perfectly. It is a much welcomed addition and I seriously hope that they can establish themselves in the same way the old version did in Mile End for 35 years. I may not be a coffee guy but I am certainly a sandwich guy – as such, I will stopping by pretty regularly. Hopefully the rest of my neighbourhood does as well.
Cheers!
Clarke Café
2483 Centre
514 938 5554
Ramblings from the Complex Mind of a 30 Something 
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