Dandy is a charming all-day café and restaurant in the heart of Old Montreal — the kind of place that flexes easily from a quick morning coffee and pastry to a long, boozy brunch. Come by for a delicious breakfast or lunch, grab coffee and something sweet to go, or settle in for the afternoon: brunch is served every day from 10 to 4, and the cellar backs it all with an ambitious, ever-evolving natural wine list, many by the glass. The spirit is refined yet comforting — polished cooking without the fuss — which makes it as good for a business lunch as for a lazy weekend catch-up over a carafe.
It's the work of owner Michael Tozzi, who came to Dandy the traditional way: he studied hospitality and culinary arts, then worked his way up through the ranks, starting at the acclaimed Le Club Chasse et Pêche before leading the kitchen team at the beloved Old Montreal bakery Olive + Gourmando. In early 2018 he took the leap into his own dream, and Dandy was born. That pedigree shows in the food — a menu that keeps one foot in genuine comfort and the other in refinement.
The all-day brunch is the heart of it, and it's a lovely read: a smoked salmon toast on thick house bread with dill-pickle cream cheese and a poached egg; ricotta pancakes in a maple brown-butter sauce with lemon cream; the Endless Summer Breakfast of avocado sourdough, fried egg, house tzatziki and a charred-pepper salad; a buttermilk fried chicken sandwich with apple rémoulade on a house brioche bun; a fresh cavatelli pasta fresca with sausage; and a crunchy sesame chicken salad, alongside homemade granola and Marilyn's Lunch Special of grilled halloumi on house focaccia with creamy muhammara. Sides run to smashed fingerling potatoes with aioli and crispy bacon, while the pastry case tempts with maple butter tarts, an apple-caramel bostock, cinnamon rolls, brownies, and cookies.
To drink, the coffee program covers all the essentials — espresso, cortado, latte, macchiato — plus maple, chai, and matcha lattes and a peach-and-ginger iced tea. And when brunch tips toward boozy, there's a tidy list of classics to match: a mimosa, a proper bloody Caesar with a salt rim, an espresso martini, a Sbagliato or St-Germain spritz, and a pichet du moment for the table — with that ambitious natural wine selection always available on request. Warm, stylish, and genuinely versatile, Dandy is one of those Old Montreal addresses that quietly does it all, from first coffee to last glass.