New blog, hurrr! Introductory post that no one will read.

So. A food blog. It's a bit sad to realize that the only thing that will get me to start blogging is food, but hey, to each his/her own. I need to get back in the habit of writing, and what better to write about than food?

Now, I realize that there are a lot of already well-established blogs that deal with the restauranting scene in Montreal, but I figured I would approach this from a different angle. Many of the blogs I visited seem to be written by people who already have established careers, and thus have the means to frequent high-end restaurants and the ability to drive to random corners of Montreal. But what about the poorer students whose only means of transportation are the public transit system and their own two legs? Being a student myself, I know how difficult it is to eat out frequently while on a budget, or to get to some of the smaller neighbourhoods in the city.

The second reason why I want to start an official blog is because I already have a pseudo food blog on facebook. Well. It's really just a photo album with a detailed description, but there's enough content in there to be able to make an actual blog. So I'll probably start by moving those posts here. If you find it odd that a lot of my posts are dated before my introductory post, it's because I'll date my posts to the time I visited the restaurant.

Also, yes, I am grading the restaurant, much as professor would pull marks out of a place where the sun don't shine and slaps them on an unsuspecting student's term test. Or paper, for all you art students. Except, I'll try not to pull my grades out of my hiney; I'll pull them out of my tummy instead. Having no professional background in food, I can only grade foods based on what my tastebuds and stomach enjoyed or didn't enjoy. So yeah, maybe you'll completely disagree with me, which is cool. Different people enjoy different things, right?

Here is a little legend for my grading scheme. Please note that any + or - is something in between, where + leans towards better and - leans towards worst.

Accessibility:
A - Metro + <15 minute walk
B - Metro + 15-25 minute walk
C - Metro + >25 minute walk, or metro + bus
D - Give up, man. Unless you have a car, you might break something trying to get there.

Service:
A - Friendly and memorable
B - Friendly and standard. The cookie cutter of service.
C - Civil and average. Sometimes forgetful and abrupt.
D - Insulting and offensive

Food:
A+: I may have died and gone to heaven omg.
A: Delicious! Amazing! Hallelujah!
A-: Wow! Really really good!
B+:  Mmmm... Very good!
B: Pretty good!
B-: Good, solid-quality food.
C+: Average, generic food.
C: Average, generic food with some weird quirks.
C-: Not too great.
D+: This is kinda gross.
D: What, did you pick this out of the trash, slap it on a plate, garnish it with ass and then serve it to me?
D-: I'm pretty sure this isn't... food. It's inedible.

Okay, I realize that this particular legend might not be very helpful, but at least it gives you an idea of what goes on in my head when I grade the restaurants.

Price (numbers include tax and tip):
$ - <$15 (This is awesome!)
$$ - $15-$25 (Okay, this isn't too bad. I can afford this.)
$$$ - $25-$40 (Ngh. Dent in my wallet. And my heart.)
$$$$ - $40-$60 (Holy cow, what am I doing? WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME???)
$$$$$ - I just might have to carve out all my internal organs AND chop off all four limbs in order to pay for this meal.

I know, I know, this is very dry and boring post, but hey. I gotta get all of the housekeeping business out of the way first. Hopefully, my later posts will be much better. Now, onto the food!