Behind the scenes: San Jose Sharks hold surprise team meal at Del Friscos

It has been a long time since Canadiens legend Larry Robinson lived in Montreal, but thanks chiefly to his agent and close friend Donny Cape a connection has been maintained with our city.

Cape and Robinson became pals and business partners back in the 1980s. Robinson and his family resided in West Island Kirkland, not far from Cape’s Dollard des Ormeaux home. They ran an auto repair shop together called Dingy. Even after  Robinson left the Habs to play for the Los Angeles Kings and then coach there, the bond between the two men and their families remained. It is sad and almost scandalous that the Habs never reached out to bring Robinson back here as part of their coaching staff. He spent most of his time behind the bench as a head coach and assistant with the New Jersey Devils. Prior to the 2012-2013 lockout season he left the Devils to become an associate coach with the San Jose Sharks. Habs new head coach opted in favor of Jean-Jacques Daigneault to run the defensive corps.

As Robinson’s agent, Cape has handled all of his merchandising, appearances, endorsements and contracts. Very quietly, Robinson spends parts of his summer staying at the Cape home. One of the oufits he endorses is Del Friscos, the popular restaurant at the Galeries des Sources in Dollard. Commercials have been running on TSN 690 Radio for years, with Robinson insisting that this his “go to” place when he comes back to Montreal.

 

The Sharks players (with Donny Cape front and center) strike a pose.

Well, Robinson is indeed a man of his word. When the Sharks came to town to play the Habs on October 24, Robinson arranged for the entire team to have a meal at Del Friscos the night before. “It was wild,” Cape told me. “Last year Larry told me he was going to do it and I thought it was impossible. Well Larry went ahead and rented a bus and indeed  brought the entire team and coaching staff. Naturally they loved the meal. The bus was a half hour late to pick them up to return to the hotel,  which turned out to be very lucky for the customers as the players stuck around, signed autographs and posed for pictures.”

The Sharks coaching staff, with Robinson third from the left and Cape far right.

Needless to say, Del Friscos owners John, Terry and Jimmy were a pretty proud trio.

Del Friscos is known for serving creative Italian American cuisine in a cozy and welcoming ambiance.  The menu offers everything from traditional Italian pastas, to a variety of fresh salads,  signature veal and wood-burning oven pizzas.  
 

 

The legenday Joe King passes away at the age of 90

In his last email to me just two weeks before he died, Joe King signed off as “the ageless one.”

Joe King

King, a well known  Jewish journalist, author, communications guru, fundraiser and former member of the Canadian Royal Air Force, passed away suddenly on October 26 at the age of 90. He was a tireless worker until his last breath, each day refusing to accept the word “retirement” and undertaking one different project after another. I must say, even at 90 Joe left us way too soon.

A native of Toronto, King’s professional career took him to the four corners of the world, but particularly to the Middle East (19 visits in war and peace). His major publications included a trilogy on Montreal Jewish history (From the Ghetto to the Main,   Baron Byng to Bagels and  Fabled City), The Jewish Contribution to the Modern World  and  The Case for Israel as a handbook and DVD.  

King may have been best known for the decades he spent as the communications director for the local Jewish Federation of Community Service. Then known as Allied Jewish Community Services, King reportedly retired in 1988. He subsequently resurfaced as a communications advisor for several organizations and then assumed the role of executive director of the Canadian Friends of Tel Aviv University.  He remained at that post until about 15 years ago, moving on to dedicate himself to writing books and giving lectures. King was a familiar site around town, walking the streets with his small brief case. His press releases went out fast and furiously, usually written at 4 a.m.

The Jewish Public Library’s archivist-emeritus, Eiran Harris, once wrote that “every Jewish community should have a Joe King book written about it.”

Dubbed  the “Historian of Jewish Montreal,”   King poured 40 years of research into his book book From the Ghetto to the Main.  In 30 chapters, his research has turned up sensational findings on the Canadians who schemed to prevent Jews from escaping Hitler’s Europe while assisting war criminals to enter Canada. In one instance, he found that, when the French government sent a warship to bring a convicted (in absentia) killer of Jewish children back to justice, he was tipped off by a Canadian prime minister and fled.

King’s career began with The Canadian Press News Agency and then their broadcasting division, Press News, with a time-out to serve in the Royal Canadian Air Force in World War II. He was a pioneer in television public affairs broadcasting and, at CJCHTV, Halifax, originated with the support of Senator Findley MacDonald, the hour long television news and public affairs telecast. He was one of the first public affairs broadcasters on Canadian television, a co-founder of the CTV station in Halifax (CJCH-TV), and came to Montreal in 1960 to work at CFCF Radio and Television, in part because of the city's much larger Jewish community.  King  met and interviewed some of the most important individuals in history, Canadian, Israeli and world. He researched, wrote and hosted a television documentary, Cosmonaut and Capitalist, with the world's first spaceman Yuri Gagarin and Cyrus Eaton, who sought to build bridges between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Only last May King launched a trio of handbooks, a “mini-reference library”  in the fight against anti-Semitism and the campaign to destroy Israel. Federal cabinet minister Jason Kenney attended as a guest speaker.

“Joe was a remarkable man of prodigious talent,” commented Beth Israel Beth Aaron Congregation’s Rabbi Reuben Poupko. “His breadth of knowledge and experience was breathtaking. The Montreal community has suffered an immeasurable loss, and the Jewish People a brave defender.”

Federal Citizenship Judge Barbara Seal, who worked with King at the Canadian Friends of Tel Aviv University, said, “Joe was a source of great knowledge. He loved nothing more than imparting this knowledge to others. His kindness and generosity was evident in the pride he took in the achievements of others and celebrating their successes.”

Former Quebec Justice Minister Herbert Marx and his wife Eva were close to King. “We remember Joe for his dedication, hard work and imagination, all laced with his delightful sense of humour and fun,” said Herbert Marx. “ We got to know him when he was executive director of Canadian Friends of Tel Aviv University.  As such, he led groups to Israel and we were fortunate to be part of his missions.  He always did much research and planned our trips meticulously.  We remember many special visits, but one stands out. We went to Jordan and viewed the promised land from Mount Nebo, where our forefather Moses stood to view the land of milk and honey, a land he was forbidden to enter.  It was a landscape and a sight we all remember.  As well, every morning when we boarded our sight-seeing bus, Joe read to us excerpts from the Montreal Gazette, keeping us up to date on home news from the previous day.  He also always carried a carefully wrapped gift for one or another of our Israeli hosts.  Joe was thoughtful, caring, well-informed; these were gifts that did not need wrapping.  His many books and articles will live on after his sad passing, but Joe  as a person was a treasure in our community and he will be sadly missed.”

Anne-Marie Withenshaw returns to 92.5 The Beat

92.5 The Beat has announced the return of Anne-Marie Withenshaw and All-Access Weekend to the lineup Sundays from 10 am to Noon beginning Sunday, November 3. All-Access Weekend is distinctive to Montreal radio combining a recap of the week’s biggest entertainment and local stories with a look ahead. Along with Montreal’s feel good music, it includes interviews with the “in-the-now” celebrities from the world of TV, Movies and Music.

 

Anne-Marie Withenshaw

Withenshaw is an award-winning TV and radio personality and one of Montreal’s broadcast industry’s most respected and recognized professionals.  The new mom is drop dead gorgeous, 100 percent bilingual, full of personality and very well connected. Withenshaw  got her start as a VJ on MusiquePlus then travelling the globe for Quebec’s longest running entertainment show, “Flash”. During her 5 years as a reporter and then host of the show, she attended the Grammys, Oscars, Cannes and Sundance film fests and interviewed hundreds of personalities and newsmakers. Since then, she hangs with the Habs on TSN, RDS and NHL Network USA as the host of the much talked-about “Your Canadiens”, has eaten her way through Quebec with celebrities on Guide Restos Voir, and co-hosts ARTV's flagship TV-critic-gabfest C'est Juste de la TV.

 

Program Director, Leo Da Estrela says, “We are thrilled to have Anne-Marie back from her Maternity leave and in the lineup.  She is a perfect fit for the personal nature of radio, particularly on Sundays when listeners can spend time with her catching up on all the entertainment stories of the past week and to what’s hot and happening in the week ahead. Anne-Marie’s charm and personality, coupled with the best music mix in Montreal, will prove to be a winning combination and a must listen each Sunday."

 

Here is a great interview with Anne-Marie.

Holly and Brett from The Amazing Race Canada: the inside story

It has been almost two months now since  married Montreal pediatrians Brett Burstein and Holly Agostino were eliminated in the seventh leg of CTV’s The Amazing Race Canada. Depicted by the show as villains from the get go,  the couple sat down with The Suburban  at the Montreal Children’s  Hospital during a break from Brett’s shift in the emergency room and Holly doing rounds to share their thoughts and provide some insight into some of the behind the scenes mysteries viewers are not privy to.

Here I am with the "Amazing" couple.

CTV’s first-ever season of  The Amazing Race Canada was a ratings success, attracting more  3.6 million viewers for the final episode in which the father and son team of Tim Sr. and Tim Jr.  took home the $250,000 grand prize.   Brett, 33, and Holly, 32, met 10 years ago at McGill Medical School. He is from Toronto, but came here to do his undergraduate work and never left; she  was raised in West Island Pointe Claire.

The couple laugh at how the camera portrayed them right up until their elimination in  Iqaluit, Nunavut: bickering, hiding maps in an airport store and Holly suffering numerous meltdowns. “We were unfairly portrayed,” said Brett. “The storyline was written before we even showed up. We were definitely  brought there to be rooted against.” 

Added Holly: “It definitely was tough to watch,” said Holly. “We watched each episode live and 20 family and friends around the TV with us.   Going through the race, I know that I had many moments where I was really on the verge of fully losing it, but in the end we still succeeded.  So, I had left the race really feeling that, you know, we had done our best and we had done a good job.  So, to see it edited, you know, I mean I did have those breakdowns.  It’s true, but there was a lot of effort that went into it before that happened, so yeah, it’s a bit tough to watch, but I mean, overall we’re still, you know, very happy with the show and happy we had the chance to participate.”

Added Brett: “I think one thing that maybe people don’t know through the editing process is how important for us the race was to do, to be able to contribute  charitably back to our hospital that has already given us so much,” said Brett. “ If we won the Amazing Race Canada, it would not have even cut  our educational debt in half.We were committed to giving 25 percent of the prize to the hospital.  We love where we work and we love that they sort of supported us the whole time.”

One of the more memorable challenges saw the teams trying to find  toys in  six-feet-deep lentil bins.  “ I can’t do it,”   Holly said in the episode. “I have no more strength in my legs. I’m spent Brett . . . I’m going on one hour sleep. I can’t dig in this pit anymore.”

With more than two hours and 20 minutes having passed since Holly and Brett arrived at the lentil challenge, they made the decision to incur a two-hour penalty and not complete the challenge.   “ For me, I know that emotionally the game actually almost became easier after the lentil bin,” said Holly.

Working with the hospital’s Foundation, Brett and Holly started a blog called  Amazingcause.com which also allowed people to make donations. In the end, $21,000 was collected.

So what is it like behind the scenes of the show?  They applied to become competitors last February and were only notified they made it two weeks before departure after first submitting a video, doing a screen test and undergoing medical and psychological evaluations. Since nobody was to know where they were going, the cover story was a five week trip to China. A week prior to filming,  they were literally cut off from the world as  training camp began. They were not allowed to use any kind of phones.  The teams could not mix socially. When they stayed at hotels, the rooms were stripped of phones, televisions, radios and even things to read. A guard was posted outside their door and they could have one hour a day of exercise in solitude. They could not even use a washing machine, instead ringing clothing out in the hotel sink. “It really was like being in prison,” Holly laughed. “But when we were filming, people figured out this was The Amazing Race Canada. Our cover story was the show was called The Marathon, but through social media our pictures were all over the place before the program even aired.”

Each team had a camera and sound operator following them, lugging 50 pounds of equipment. “We always had to make sure they kept up to us,” Holly said. “And when we arrived at the airport, if there were not four available seats on the plane we could not go.”

Once home, the couple had to keep quiet about the outcome or face a $1 million fine.

After being eliminated from the race, Brett and Holly remained with the group and actually did a dry run of the final leg in Toronto to assist production with the timing of the episode.

The couple presently reside downtown near the hospital. Holly attended Northview Elementary School  and Lindsay Place High, moving on to John Abbott College and then McGill. Her dad Andrew is a high school teacher on the South Shore while mom Louise works with special needs children. She has a sister, Erin, 28,  an actress who appeared on the CBC sitcome 18 to Life.

Brett says when he was 11 years old he decided that one day he wanted  to become a pediatric cardiologist. He did in fact complete his PhD in cardiology, but says his passion remains in the emergency room. Holly focuses her attention on adolescent medicine.

Growing up in the Toronto neighbourhood of North York, seven years ago Brett and his younger brother participated in a Birthright Israel trip. “It was an incredible  experience I will never forget,” he said.   

Brett and Holly said quite directly that they have remained good friends with all of the teams, except exercise gurus Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod. “We visited the Tims in Halifax,”  said Brett. “Most of them have come to Montreal already and stayed with us.”

Oddly enough, the couple do not find themselves being  recognized  a lot in Montreal. “In Toronto, yes,” said Brett. “And when we went to see the Tims in Halifax, we were all mobbed.”

You can see my video interview with them here.

Dic Ann's opens first ever "hamburger emporium" in downtown Montreal

Dic Ann’s, the storied hamburger chain which was launched by the husband and wife team of Dick Potenza and Ann Collechia nearly 60 years ago, officially opened its first ever downtown  location on  St. Catherine Street near Forte Avenue on October 15. When I visited the place at noon on day three of the new operation, lineups were out the door already. Lloyd Brown, who brought us the first NDG Dic Ann’s on St. Jacques seven years ago, initiated the “Centre Ville” project as well. That now makes 15 Dic Ann’s restaurants in the  Greater Montreal area. Marché Central and the Old Port (a food truck) were added to the mix last summer.

 

Lloyd Brown at the new locale.

In a few short weeks, Brown will make an unprecedented announcement where Dic Ann’s Centre Ville is concerned. Let’s just say that there will be something added to the offerings that no fast food hamburger spot has done here before.

First of all, what a superb location this is.  This was once a pet store. Located right across the street from LaSalle College and only blocks away from both Dawson College and Concordia University, this is already attracting a strong youth clientele.  However, the area itself has recently been rejuvenated and there is a lot of traffic from shoppers and  businesses. As he did on St. Jacques, Brown has installed one of his Bonatarte dessert emporiums here featuring great pies, pastries, cupcakes, brownies,  smoothies, bubble tea, milkshakes and a full coffee bar. A small breakfast menu will be introduced soon.

 

Lineups already at the new locale.

There are 40 seats in the new location (and 40 ready for a terrasse next summer), which is a mixture of old (retro) and new décor. Above the  traditional menu, featuring  pricing for the famous burgers, hotdogs, poutine and fries are LCD panels. Brown has even installed thematic tables: four for  sports (Impact, Expos, Canadiens, Alouettes), three for entertainment (Jazz and Just For Laughs Festivals and the Grand Prix; two of Dic Ann’s nostalgia; and one for La Place (the electronics store Brown ran for years on St. Laurent Blvd.

I do tend to be in this area often and its is great to have an alternative to McDonald’s.  Dic Ann’s the trademark flat hamburger patties are made fresh each morning from 100 percent beef and of course there is the famous hot sauce to look forward to.

Pasquale Massa waits on his order.

I saw several recognizable faces when I was there, including the owner of Côte Saint-Luc’s highly popular Quality Fruits store, Pasquale Massa. He has known Brown for years  and carries Bonatarte products.

A delicious order of a burger and fries.