“We want to be the number one vegetarian restaurant for non-vegetarians,” says Lola Rosa co-owner and manager Pascal Hourriez. A native of France, Pascal is not a chef by training, but as a young man on family vacations, his grandmother made sure he tasted the best of the two and three-star Michelin restaurants that populate Europe’s culinary community and gave him a taste for vibrant, hearty, and fulfilling food.
“We deliver comfort food most of all – lasagna, nachos, hamburgers made vegetarian, including tofu and chia seeds, but marinated in our own homemade barbeque sauce. Big servings of nachos that people can share with a beer or a drink… these are the kinds of foods that satisfy people and bring them together, give them a quality experience, and can also show them that we don’t need to depend on mass-produced or factory-farmed meat to get flavour and joy out of our food.”
Lola serves locally grown potatoes with maple baked beans, cooked for eight hours (yep!) in a spicy tomato sauce with red onions. Not your conventional poutine, but well worth a try!
Lola Rosa's two locales (on Milton or Park Avenue) offer a wide variety of unfussy and comforting vegetarian dishes. With a brunch menu (think samosas, burritos and frittatas) that pairs particularly well with a mimosa, it's a destination worth considering for Valentine's Day. If it's a romantic dinner you're after, their veggie burger, vegetables and raisins curry or the ratatouille polenta won't disappoint.
Lola Rosa is well known for their vegetarian comfort food, which vegetarians and meat eaters both adore. One of their most popular dishes is their famous Lola Nachos, available in a full or half portion. The balance of nachos, mozzarella, black beans, tomatoes, peppers, avocados and onions is simply perfection. They are a must try if you find yourself near the McGill campus.