It’s 7:30 a.m. at Arthurs. One at a time, the cooks throw open the front door (seeing as the back one is locked with a spoon) and plod past the walk-in fridge, then down to the basement to change into their stained kitchen clothes. Clomp-clomp back up the stairs to light the gas and click-click on the burners. Cutting boards, knives, and mixing tools get snatched up from the dish pit, and it’s time to get started on the prep list. At 8:00, the opening servers start sauntering in, tying on their aprons and tying up their hair as they murmur about last night’s happenings. It’s 8:45 when the coffee pots get to brewing and the glass domes showcasing the sprinkle cookies are clinking back into place.
Before anyone knows it, it’s 9:00, and the first customers are filing through the sage-green door of 4621 Rue Notre-Dame Ouest. The restaurant rapidly swells with the sounds of servers chatting with customers, music flowing from the AUX, latkes bubbling, and cooks calling out bills. The printer continually tch-tch-tches with new orders: Smorgasbord, Sandwich Déjeuner, Eggs & Salami, Avo Toast, Almond Oats, Syrniki. Some mornings it feels as if the whole of St-Henri has come for their daily dose of eggs and toast. Even by 11:00, when they have the whole lunch menu to order from, many diners continue to opt for oeufs brouillés. By the time the last customers are seated, around 3:00, the line cooks are whistling along with Popeye, their arms bulging from a long day of whisking.
Arthur always said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It would be convenient to say that we’ve run Arthurs on this principle. What’s closer to the truth, however, is that we’ve remained a breakfast (and lunch) restaurant because, in the beginning, we were overwhelmed by the long hours, small staff, and big menu. One of us wanted to create an entirely new repertoire for the dinner service, and the other absolutely did not. There was our staff’s well-being to consider too, and the amount of pressure they’d have to undergo. All things considered, we probably could’ve found a way, but then COVID came around. So we’ve stuck to eggs, and there’s not too much bad we can say about that. Breakfast is, after all, still the most important meal.
Copyright © 2025 by Raegan Steinberg, Alexander Cohen & Evelyne Eng. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
