I had heard of Drogheria Fine and its $5 gnocchi long before I moved into the Mile End, and when I arrived, it was one of the first places I visited.

Always served to-go, it’s not uncommon to spot line-ups huddled around Drogheria Fine’s window to eat their gnocchi with chopsticks out of oyster pails. The menu couldn’t be simpler: gnocchi, spicy or not, with the option of extra cheese, all served from a large bubbling cauldron of the shop’s original export of homemade tomato sauce.

The verdict: It’s perfectly fine gnocchi, but it makes an absolute killing, so much so that public trash cans in a three-block radius are often filled to overflowing with Drogheria’s takeout containers.

So how and why can okay gnocchi become a city favourite to the point that local outlets feel the need to comment on whether or not its $5 price tag will be affected by inflation?

Drogheria Fine’s window pickup format offers a great example of how smart design can help circumvent restrictive Montreal bylaws (specifically By-law 15-039) which outlaw genuine street food to this day and help provide affordable meals to the community. When you offer a $5 meal, you’re not just a business; you’re offering an essential service to the neighbourhood.

This format has many benefits: it reduces overhead costs and attracts attention to the business. The gnocchi brought attention to the tomato sauce, Drogheria Fine's original product.

The best part: selling affordable food options out of a window is a practice many Montreal eateries can easily adopt with minimal investment. This window format is a street food model sustainable during Canadian winters, offering more protection from the elements than a traditional snack stand.

Sale and distribution

Explaining this local mystery starts with looking at another Montreal favourite serving simple, unpretentious food: $2 chow mein, or 2-chow. This simple dish of chow mein noodles covered in a ladleful of peanut sauce is a staple for every clubgoer known to frequent Saint-Laurent Boulevard past midnight, served from the window of Chez Mein.

Chez Mein uses existing infrastructure to keep costs low and provides a service that benefits both the business and hungry Montrealers, and Drogheria Fine is no different: Its success has less to do with its gnocchi and its undeniably attractive price, and more to do with its format of sale and distribution. It is placed in the middle of a walkable, human-scale neighbourhood and makes people wait in line outside to pick up from the window.

Shop windows, like those at Drogheria Fine and Chez Mein, have become the perfect workaround. In other words, the reason Drogheria Fine is doing so well is because it is as close to legal street food as possible in Montreal.

View of Sainte-Catherine Street looking west from the Morgan store, Montreal, QC, circa 1945. | Photograph: McCord Stewart Museum

Street food history in Montreal

Street food in Montreal was once a vital part of working-class life, with vendors selling everything from roasted chestnuts, fruits and simple meals. Even Bagels, one of Montreal’s culinary symbols, has deep roots in street vending.

Chaim (Hyman) Seligman is widely credited with introducing the bagel to Montreal, later becoming one of St-Viateur Bagel’s founding fathers. The bagel pioneer sold fresh bagels from a pushcart along Saint-Laurent Boulevard before upgrading to a horse-drawn wagon, and finally to a converted taxi. Long before the city’s 1947 street food ban, bagels were a staple of informal food stands.

Bagels hung to cool off (left) and Fairmount Bagel in 1977 (right). | Photograph: Alex Dworkin / Canadian Jewish Archives (left) & Jewish Public Library Archives (right)

In 1947, however, the practice was banned by Mayor Camillien Houde. Citing modernization and public health concerns alongside restaurant owners pushing for stricter regulations, this disruption destroyed a vibrant food culture, particularly for immigrant communities, and many street vendors lost their livelihoods.

Though a 2013 pilot project revived street food under strict regulations, food trucks operations are strictly limited, regulated to serving gastronomic dishes at high prices. The emphasis on gourmet cuisine and the necessity to operate within specific zones or only during specific events contribute to higher operational costs for food truck vendors.

These costs are passed on to consumers, which results in menu prices that don’t align with traditional affordable street food. This model is contradictory, as it limits the accessibility of street food to a broader audience, and questions the idea that food trucks offer budget-friendly, convenient meals.

Photograph: Alison Slattery / Two Food Photographers

Let's take this inside

In response, Montrealers have adapted. Some semblance of street food has survived, thanks to thrifty shop owners adjusting to these new rules, thus giving rise to 'dépanneur cuisine' you'll find in a range of spots.

Dépanneur cuisine is a Montreal phenomenon in which deps serve homemade, informal meals alongside their usual convenience store items. Often found in residential areas, these hidden kitchens offer everything from samosas and Chinese stir-fries to paninis, cooked with simple equipment like stovetops and toaster ovens.

Photograph: @lalime_depuis1959 / Instagram

It's an under-the-radar food scene that helps dépanneur owners sustain their businesses while offering locals an affordable, offbeat alternative to mainstream fast food.

While dépanneur cuisine is served indoors, it is always sold to go—its haphazard nature and decentralized distribution method allows them to preserve the essence of street food, as a grassroots expression of Montreal’s adaptable food culture.

Photograph: Dépanneur le Pick Up / @deplepickup

Could we ever see food carts on Montreal's streets again?

The golden age of Montreal street food ended in 1947, but hopeful adaptations show that, with a little creativity, our street food culture could thrive once again. That much is up to Montrealers; whether restaurant owners are able to creatively circumvent the law, and whether citizens are able to make these laws be changed, remains to be seen.

Sale and distribution

Street food history in Montreal

Let's take this inside

Could we ever see food carts on Montreal's streets again?

Local flavours, local touches.

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Gabriel Charles Aimé Matichard

Drogheria Fine’s $5 gnocchi is Montreal’s street food loophole