WATCH: We all love Poutine Week and who can forget Burger week? But it seems these are not enough for Montreal. A group has now come up with Steamy Week. Rachel Lau has more.
MONTREAL – It’s pretty cold this time of year, so one group of Montrealers is asking everyone to get…steamy.
“It’s a really quintessential Montreal food,” said Clea Desjardins, one of Steamy Week‘s founders.
“It’s something that people are kind of weirdly proud of even though it’s so humble. They have their favourite spots for the steamy, they have their favourite toppings.”
Steamy Week has no affiliation to Burger Week or Poutine Week, but there’s no denying it’s all about Montreal’s infatuation with food.
“They’re irresistible,” said Stephanie Friedman.
“It’s the bun, it’s the hot dog, the way it’s cooked. I can’t resist.”
Desjardins insists steamies are so much more than just your average North American hot dog.
“Steamy week’s all about the greasy spoons,” she told Global News.
“You can’t go to Macdonald’s and get a steamy, you can’t go to Burger King and get a steamy.”
Steamy week not only celebrates some of Montreal’s best stadium food, it also sheds a spotlight on some of the city’s oldest, dearest and most local greasy spoons.
“They’ve been around forever and they’re known around Montreal and they have the best food,” said Jeremy Friedman.
For Montreal’s most beloved local restaurants, this is war, well a friendly food battle.
“There’s always the fun competition with a bit of truth to it,” said Louis Stavropoulos, the manager at Green Spot.
“There’s always a little bit of ‘eh, mine’s better than yours.'”
Steamy Week means a lot to the restaurants who are struggling.
“It’s very good for the local economy and for the restaurants that are having a hard time right now,” said Stavropoulos.
“It helps, it gives a push.”
In this new age of social media, Desjardins says she loves how excited Montrealers are to share.
“People are really getting around #semainesteame or #steamyweek, just tagging their photos, making their comments and getting out there and saying ‘this is my favourite spot for a steamy, what’s yours?'” she said.
“The steamy is not going anywhere and I think Steamy Week is here to stay too.”
Montrealers are taking the idea of tweeting and instagramming pictures of what’s on their plates to a whole new level.
“People are coming in and as soon as we bring their plates, the smart phones are out and everybody’s snapping, everybody’s snapping,” said Stavropoulos.
Steamy Week is on until January 29.
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