Patati Patata

Since at least from the early 80’s, I have seen this place being in business at this location. At the corner of St-Laurent and Rachel in the Plateau Mont-Royal district in Montreal. We call it The Main. The portion of St-Laurent boulevard that is filled with restaurants, bars, stores and groceries. A great place to meet up, talk, chit chat, study for hours, go on for a date, or just to be alone with a good meal at this small fast-food place. To me, it was kind the center of the universe when I was growing up.

When I was a kid, I was not fond of tomatoes, pickles, onions or even lettuce in my hamburgers. When my mom was tired, or got home late from work, or was unsure what to prepare for supper, she would allow me to go downstairs the apartment building and get a hamburger. I was about 6-7. It was literally, a minute walk from my apartment’s main door to the front door of the joint.

My mom would tell me that if I did not want any extras in my hamburger to ask for a plain hamburger. So just the buns, and the patty. I will not lie. At that age, I loved it! By the time I was at the place giving my order, I had forgotten what to say exactly and the words that would come out from my mouth were ‘’hamburger plane’’. The cook would then correct me. ‘’You mean a plain hamburger.” I would say, ‘’Oh yes!’’ When I think about it today, I laugh.

Throughout my elementary and high school years, at least once a month, I would get something to eat from that place as a take-out or I was there eating.

Before moving out from that neighborhood when I was about to start college, I was very close friends with Victor. Victor was with me since kindergarten. With time, and with us nearing the end of our elementary years, Victor’s sister, Sandra, started to hangout with us. She would bring her own friends and I had my set of friends with Victor. It was quite fun. Those were the days when we would sit at the dining table at that joint, and just talk, laugh, listen, share our thoughts…without constantly looking at our smartphones. It was before the age of technology.

Victor and I, were two years ahead of Sandra in school. The only reason I got to know Sandra well is because she was Victor’s sister. Victor was the athletic, confident, honest and protective type of person. Myself, I was more the introvert, intellectual, silent and loner type. Two different personalities but we had a great bond. 

When we started high school, our parents would allow us to eat out on Friday evenings at this burger place. I was from a 60-second walk from there and Victor, was maybe a5-mimute walk from the joint. We would go eat around 6 PM. Good greasy food. It was not healthy food but when you are a teenager, your body can handle it and, in my case, gaining weight was out of question. I could eat two Big Macs for example, not move a muscle, and be hungry four hours later…and not even a pound added to the scale.

As years went by, it was not only Victor and myself, Sandra would join us on Fridays after school and a few other students from our school. It was a great place to meet up. The owner of the place would know our names by then, and we were almost finishing high school. It felt like we were a big family.

After high school, Victor decided to join the Canadian Armed Forces. He wanted to make a world a better place. Fight for freedom to bring peace. I was going into science program, a pre-university program to afterward enter engineering. I was not too shocked with the decision of Victor but I was scared, sad, and angry. He was my best friend at that time and he was this kid I got to knew since we were five.

We sat on a Sunday gloomy day at our favorite spot on the Main. It was dark, cloudy, cold, rain had set in, and I knew this was my last meeting with Victor. I am not sure when I will see him the next time, or if there will be a next time. Victor was being very optimistic, cheering, smiling, and seeing the good things in life. Zero negativity. He kept telling me that nothing will happen to him in Afghanistan. I started to change my mindset and Victor taught me about the laws of attraction and introduced me to the book The Secret. I began using those ideologies and principles in my life because of my best friend. To be honest, it is helping me, even today.

Then Victor told me that he will be back soon after his first mission. He was not sure how long he will stay in the army but he had plans of perhaps to continue in the police force in the future. Work at the local police station of in the Plateau Mont-Royal. Help the community where he grew up. I admire him so much. To me, he was like a brother that I always wanted. I was the only child to my parents.

Before we left the restaurant, Victor told me something I was not expecting. He mentioned that his sister, Sandra, had a crush on me. I was kind of baffled but happy to hear that because I always thought she was cute and she had a good heart. I never made a move on her out of respect for Victor. Victor told me to keep an eye on his sister when he will be gone and told me that if I wanted to date her, I had his blessings. I felt like honored at this point. I told Victor that I am a very shy person so by the time you are back from your first tour, I might still be trying to figure out on how and when I will ask Sandra out. I did promise that I will look out for her and make sure she is doing well.

I was hoping now, that my best buddy returns home soon, he did not leave yet, and I am already feeling down…

Our promise is that we will meet up here next time he is back to Montreal, at Patati Patata, and have a great poutine, and catch up on lot of things.