Where to get the best heirloom tomatoes in Montreal? »Summer 2011 »
Last year at Jean Talon Market we had the delight of going to Monsieur Tomate, a stand on the west side of Jean Talon Market close to Première Moisson, he had one of the best varieties and selections of heirloom tomatoes I had ever found in Montreal, you would pick and chose as you see fit and the staff was so lovely and pleasant. I made the best tomato carpaccios with his produce.
'Lo and behold this year he is not there anymore... I went around in circles for an hour in the market in a daze really looking for Mr Tomato and was wizout ze luck as they say. Anybody can help point me back on the right path, the road to pure tomato enlightenment? Perhaps his heirloom babies are not ready yet? Yet that would surprise me, it is already close to mid August...
....so here I am a pouting as I sigh, pondering my heirloom tomatoLESS fate...
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TheSnowpea
Aug 21, 2011 01:50 PM
Back from JTM, and we stopped at that tomato place. I think it's called Mont Rouge (a sign that's on the back of the stand when you're coming from the west side).
Got a large basket of mixed heirlooms (10$), another of black cherry toms (10$), and 3 giant bunches of basil (for 5$)
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It could just be that the harvest is taking longer this year due to the poor May we had, my heirlooms at home have produced a few fruit in the past week but I don't see any significant yield for another week or so. It seems that even regular field tomatoes are only now barely being harvested by the farmers. Birri had a sad collection of field tomatoes 2 weekends ago so I gather any significant harvest will be around the corner. You can email or phone JTM admin @ http://www.marchespublics-mtl.com/Eng... M. Tomate doesn't seem to be on their list of vendors unless he goes by another name. The small organic stand at the SE corner may eventually have some heirlooms but I couldn't tell you how good their selection would be. Let us know what you find out.
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re: ios94
I will update this thread for sure! And call Marchés publique Jean Talon also to find out. Thanks for the info!!!
Do you remember Monsieur Tomate from last year? They were on the south west corner, not directly on the corner but in the alley on the way to Premiere Moisson, they also sold all the canning grade tomatoes.... I agree this is probably a harvesting issue but nonetheless I want to find a replacement.... I need me some heirlooms and I need them bad! :)
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Premiere Moisson
3025 Rue Saint-Ambroise, Montreal, QC H3J, CA-
re: cpdp4u
I can't say I remember them, unfortunately the vendor signs are not very prevalent.
Maybe you mean this guy? Although based on this discussion from a few years ago, he seems to come and go.
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re: ios94
They're baaaack! I just bought myself a $5 basket of nice field heirlooms, several varieties included in my vari pack and they look sooooo delicious. The stand is in Jean Talon south west side, close to Premiere Moisson and the only thing that is different is the Monsieur Tomate monicker is nowhere to be found. I am so glad they are back!!!
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Premiere Moisson
3025 Rue Saint-Ambroise, Montreal, QC H3J, CA-
re: cpdp4u
Joy! I was just talking about how I wanted to find a good selection of heirlooms this year, and I'm going this afternoon. In your variety pack were they all cherry/mini tomatoes, or did you get a variety of the big juicy ones too? I've found all different kinds of cherry tomatoes this year, but haven't seen a good variety of large heirlooms.
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re: cpdp4u
I am sending a tomato emissary with an extremely unfortunate sense of direction/locating themselves to JTM. Can someone be VERY specific about the location of this stand? Is he there every day? Is it mostly cherry tomaotes (I want big ones!)?
Anyone who says that the emissary with no sense of direction is me, is lying.
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re: montrealeater
Just south of the Premeire Moisson, he's on the far west side of the market. I almost walked past him, but all he has is a ton of different types of tomatoes, look for the big baskets of roma tomatoes out front, the heirlooms aren't right out front, at least when I was there, they were off to the side. We went on a late Weds afternoon, and he was there, so I'm guessing he's there all week, just not weekends.
And I can confirm, they are big ones, not just cherry tomatoes. Look for a basket with lots of the cherokee purples or big bright/deep red ones. Of all the tomatoes in the variety pack, we liked those best. Perfect with some basil and fresh mozzarella yum!
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