🍦 Wontons, Wigs and a Woman who Built a Company off Mushrooms

Bonjour-hi to you today mon ami / amie,

Walking down the street, I spotted a guy in what I was certain said "GAY CHEESE" on his sweater. Being the supportive ally I am, I flashed him a big smile and enthusiastic thumbs up. He looked confused until I got closer and realized his shirt actually said "SAY CHEESE."

In this week’s issue…

🏙️ City News: From library glow-ups to public budget drama — the civic tea is hot.
💗 Feel-Good: Kids shaved their heads, strangers ran for hearts — Montreal's got heart this week.
🤲 Non-Profit: Paint, sip, and help grant a child’s wish — yes, this fundraiser is as magical as it sounds.
🍽️ Food: Wontons, pho, and ice cream that slaps — your cheap eats cravings = solved.
👩‍🔬 People of MTL: A punk-rocker turned mushroom innovator is building the future of fashion from fungi.
🤫 Confessions: This week’s guilty read? A best-seller thriller and a snack binge.
🎟️ Events: From aerial swings to friperies and noir sci-fi — your weekend plans just got weird (and wonderful).
🎶 Live Music: Jazz, flamenco, alt-pop, and country soul — pick your poison, or try them all.

Edited by Eleanor R.

CITY NEWS

🏙️ What's Happening Around Town

Bibliothèque Langelier reopens after two months of structural repairs. While they proudly tout the "redesigned children's area," I suspect they've just rearranged furniture and vacuumed once.

Montreal's Finance Commission is holding hearings on May 21st about next year's spending priorities. They're actually taking time to hear residents' opinions at Hôtel de ville. It's one of those rare moments when citizens can voice what matters to them before the money gets divided up for 2026.

FEEL GOOD

💗 Stories That Make Me Fall In Like With This City

1. Last Saturday, hundreds gathered at Parc Maisonneuve for the 6H En Cœur fundraiser walking, running, or cycling for six hours while the rest of us grumbled in coffee lines. They raised over $290,000 to support children facing open-heart surgery, which typically lasts six hours. Overall, a symbolic show of solidarity for these young patients and their families. Donations are still welcome until this Saturday, May 24th.

2. At Laval's Jules Verne Elementary, students and their teacher transformed haircuts into hope, shaving their heads for the Raise Craze MUHC Fundraiser. The initiative has raised an astonishing $11,000 for pediatric cancer research. Their donated hair will become wigs for children, while funds support genetic sequencing technology. Teacher Mathieu Bélanger's participation, despite his own chemotherapy journey, reminds us that courage wears many faces—sometimes, beautifully bald ones.

3. Mile End en fête (May 23–25):
   Live music, DJs, art, breakdancing, and probably at least one kombucha stand. Come celebrate Montreal’s quirkiest neighbourhood doing what it does best, being too cool to care, but throwing a party anyway.

NON-PROFIT

🤲 A Cause Just Cause

Paint, Sip & Make Magic Happen: A Make-A-Wish Fundraiser

The Osteria MKT is hosting a special event on May 23rd at 6 PM—an evening where every brushstroke makes a difference.

It will be a Paint & Sip night in support of sweet Emma, in partnership with the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Tickets were $85, covering not just a creative night out, but also helping to grant a life-changing wish for a child facing a critical illness. Guests received all painting supplies, four delicious bites from the Osteria kitchen, and a sparkling glass of prosecco to get the creativity flowing.

Although tickets are now sold out, we believe in shining a light on smaller, less visible causes like this—because they matter, too.

If you want to see more intimate and smaller causes like this reply to us.

FOOD

🍽️ Food & Drink Buzz

Last week you asked for more Cheap Eats, and we aim to please.

🥟 Roi Du Wonton
Where wonton soup dreams come true.
If you’ve never had Le Roi Du Wonton’s soup at 2125 rue St. Marc, you’re missing out. The wontons are made to order—tender and juicy—and the broth is rich and savory. Honestly, I’m still thinking about that first bite. Whether you’re nursing a hangover or just craving something satisfying, this place has you covered.

🌿 Restaurant Nguyen Phi
Pho that’ll make you wonder if it’s too good to be true.
I could swim in that broth. Restaurant Nguyen Phi in front of Kent Park on Côte-des-Neiges has been serving up one of the best bowls of soup in Montreal for decades. The broth? Earthy, bold, and hearty. If you're in the mood for a solid bowl of pho this rainy week. You won’t regret it.

🍨 Crèmerie Meetha
Spicy, creamy, and downright addictive.
Crèmerie Meetha in Parc Ex gives you that "I can't believe how good this is" moment with every scoop. Whether it's the tangy Mango Rasmalai or the rich Peda with pistachio, saffron, and cardamom, their flavors are anything but basic. Don’t even get me started on the Gulab Jamun. You’ll want to run, rain or shine, to try this one.

Got more? Reply to this email and tell us!

PEOPLE OF MONTREAL / GENS D’ICI

Stephanie Lipp

“Startup life is like taking a vow of poverty and trying to stay inspired anyway”

“Startup life is like taking a vow of poverty and trying to stay inspired anyway,” Stephanie Lipp says, half-joking, but she’s serious about what matters: mission, materials, and momentum. Her company, MycoFutures, builds next-gen textiles from mushrooms—and it all started with a failed grow bag in Newfoundland that refused to break.

In 2019, she and her partner left the GTA and moved to a 4,000-person town in rural Newfoundland, hours from the nearest city. “It was a total culture shock,” she says. “But I joined an entrepreneurial community, started growing gourmet mushrooms, and suddenly I was part of something much bigger.”

Then came the bag. A failed mushroom grow that wouldn’t break—despite axes, hammers, even a lawnmower. “We realized it had tensile strength like nothing else,” she recalls. That bag sparked a pivot. Stephanie and co-founder and partner Leo began researching mycelium-based materials during a pandemic-era accelerator. “Suddenly, we weren’t just growing food. We were prototyping leather.”

Stephanie Lipp never set out to be a founder. Her background is a patchwork: fashion photography, punk rock musician— a frontwoman with a mohawk and suspenders— housing nonprofits. “Honestly, working in affordable housing taught me more about startup life than anything else,” she says. “You learn to manage budgets, pitch stakeholders, and find a way when there isn’t one.”

“Fashion is a universal language. Look at any single person throughout history and whatever they are wearing will communicate their class, culture, and time period. So why are we still using materials that destroy the planet?” Stephanie asks.

Now based in Montreal—thanks to a chance encounter at Startupfest with Katherine Hamooth, CEO and founder of SRTX, that led to lab space, an in-house marketing team, and their first institutional customer—MycoFutures is scaling up. Their mission: to build materials that are biodegradable, durable, and beautiful.

What keeps her going? Her roots. “My Filipino side taught me about joy in scarcity and generosity in hard times. That’s the culture I want to build here—one that works hard, dreams big, and shares.”

For Stephanie, materials are just the medium. The real work is reshaping how we live, wear, and create.

You can get your very own mushroom bag here.

🤫 Bookshelf of Shame

Spill the tea on what you’re really reading—guilty pleasures, surprise obsessions, or books you never finish. We all have a secret shelf. 👀

📝 This week in bookshelf of shame:

“I walked into a bookstore a few years ago hoping to pick up something deep. Well, I ended up in the thriller section, and there it was—The Silent Patient.

It was on The New York Times Best Seller list. I thought, "Alright, maybe this will be good." As soon as I took it off the shelf I felt guilty. I was going to be judged for not picking up something more “serious.”

When I got home, I started reading, and yeah, I was hooked. Turns out all I really wanted was a good plot twist and an excuse to eat snacks.”

You can get The Silent Patient and more at Drawn & Quarterly, 176 Bernard Ouest.

Got a secret shelf read? Reply to this email and let us know.

EVENTS

🎟️🎪 Weekend Plans That Don't Suck

FRIDAY (May 23)

SATURDAY (May 24)

SUNDAY (May 25)

🎨 Acrylic Painting: Signs of Spring
Visual Arts Centre | 10AM – 4PM
Spring never looked so good.

🍰 Profiteroles and Éclairs with Stephanie
Le BakeLab | 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM
Learn to make choux pastry and transform it into cream puffs and luscious profiteroles.

🖼️ Introduction Course to Stained Glass
Les Affûtés – Mile-Ex | 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM & 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Craft your own masterpiece—because who needs a window when you can make one?

🥁 Les Tam-tams du Mont Royal
At the base of Mount Royal | Every Sunday (unless it’s raining!)
Grab a coffee, shake off your week to the beat of your own drum.

LIVE MUSIC

🎶 Music & Nightlife

For those still possessing the energy for after-dark activities:

FRIDAY (May 23)

🎤 Malcolm Todd – The Wholesome Rockstar Tour
Le Studio TD | 8:00 PM
Smooth R&B/pop vibes from a rising star on tour.

🎹 Matt Herskowitz Trio
Diesel Onze | Shows at 7:00 PM & 9:30 PM
Because who needs sleep when you have jazz?

💃 Flamenco Extravaganza
Le Balcon | 8:30PM
Women set the stage ablaze.

😂 Just Joking Comedy Show in Montreal
Melrose Resto | Every Friday at 8PM
Start your weekend with laughs unless you’re into doing absolutely nothing.

🎶 Dylan Gossett – The Back 40 Tour 2025
MTELUS | 8:00 PM
Country soul meets Montreal.

🎧 Livingston – The Story Continues Tour
Théâtre Beanfield | 8:00 PM
Alt-pop anthems and big emotions, stage-ready.

🎸 Homebrew Remedy + Dan Livingstone (band) + Smoke Spell
Foufounes Électriques | 8:00 PM
Folk, roots, and blues collide in this down-home triple bill.

SATURDAY (May 24)

🎶 Mari Sild Muusika – Nordic Jazz-Pop & 4Soul Grooves
La Petite Marche | 5:00 PM
Catch an early show with the soulful vibes of 4Soul and the Nordic jazz-pop fusion of Mari Sild Muusika. $10 cover. If you missed it, catch Mari’s fascinating interview here.

🎧 Austin Millz – The Radiance Tour
New City Gas | 9:00 PM
High-energy DJ set for electronic/house music fans.

🎤 Fine Food Market Album Release Show
L'Escogriffe Bar | 8:00 PM
Indie/alternative album launch party.

🎶 Klangkarussell – Live at SAT
Société des Arts Technologiques (SAT) | 10:00 PM
European electronic duo, known for melodic house.

SUNDAY (May 25)

🎶 The 'Come Now Is The Time To Worship' Tour
Westmount Baptist Church | 7:00 PM
Uplifting worship music concert featuring Brian Doerksen and Marika Siewert.

OUTRO

Well, I had fun. Did you? If you found something useful, please share it with someone you know. If not, share it with someone you can't stand. Maybe that person who eats on the metro or your roommate.

Until next week,

If you have any suggestions on stories to cover, new restaurants or events then please reply directly to this email. We read every. single. email. 🥲

So uhh..