Aux Vivres
4631 Boulevard St. Laurent
Cuisines: Vegetarian
About
Excellent vegan fare is lovingly prepared for you at Aux Vivres, a clean and modern favourite spot for local vegetarians for over 20 years now situated on Boulevard St-Laurent at the foot of the Mile End. Aux Vivres started in a tiny 5 table snack bar in The Plateau by a collective of-- for lack of a better word-- hippies. But the food was great, and as Aux Vivres grew in popularity it took over a second room and expanded terrace, and then eventually a shift happened and the people who steered the restaurant decided to take it in a much more professional and open route that could be inviting for anyone of any lifestyle, who happens to like vegan fare. That is when they moved to their new location which is well designed, clean, smart, but still serves the food for which they're famous. There is a wide variety of soups, stir fry, Dragon's bowls, and many items with home-made seitan (for the uninitiated: seitan is a wheat based meat texture that you get from rinsing a ball of dough under water until there's nothing left but the gluten. It chews just like chicken). One of the real specialties at Aux Vivres is their sandwiches, while it's easy to find a "bagel cream cheese and lox" anywhere in Montreal, Aux Vivre's "vegelox" is so spot on that you would swear you're eating salmon. And they make a BLT sandwich that I will confess to eating probably over 100 times commencing around 1998. It's obviously not made with bacon, but some in-house secret smoky deliciousness, which I know involves broiled shaven, strips of coconut, but that and its delectableness are all I know. They also have great deserts including vegan truffles which melt in your mouth. Aux Vivre has really grown up, still as delicious as ever, and it radiates with a buzz of a great kitchen and an attentive staff who are not just people at a random McJob but who really believe in what they're doing and are happy to be able to bring it to you.
