High quality, affordable sandwiches? Starbite Resto has it

• Name + address: Starbite, 92 Montreal Road

• Diet: meat, modest vegetarian

• Prices: $7-$16

• Wheelchair accessibility: No

• Licensed: No

• Website: www.starbiteresto.com

After 15 years as an executive chef, Salim El Afouz felt the need for a change. In December of 2024, he opened Starbite, in part to set his own pace and to work more closely within a local community.

Although the fare is familiar, burgers, sandwiches, the daily soups, you may not want to think of this as fast food. Salim takes his time making everything, including his sauces, from scratch and to order. 

His restaurant comes at a time when Canadians are anticipating some economic upheaval and Salim’s timing could not have been better. He offers very good versions of North American classics with quality ingredients from suppliers like Art is In Bakery and L’Original Packing. You also need to respect his pricing. It’s almost a public service.

Salim brings his extensive kitchen experience to bear even on the presentation of his cheeseburger and it’s certainly the first time at a modest eatery that I’ve had such a photogenic burger presented to me. It even came with a deep-fried pickle spear on top. An attractive sandwich for just $10.

The beef had been hand-formed and tasted naturally seasoned meaning this was not a commercial/frozen patty. Salim's very decent burger sauce was sharply acidified cutting through the richness of the “real” cheddar he uses on his sandwiches.

As seems to always be the case, the sauce had been too liberally applied. At this point I’ve given up hoping that someone will get it right and going forward I’ll be calling for this “sauce” to be served on the side rather than on the burger.

As with the burger, Salim understands that the appreciation of a sandwich has not just to do with the fillings and their proportions to each other, but also the bread. His bread is delivered by Art is In, a business that requires no introduction. The ciabatta for his signature steak sandwich was a good call.

He prepares his own tomato pesto and the beef is sliced thin and comes with crispy onions.  There’s a little sweetness to the pesto putting it in the direction of a BBQ sauce but with more subtlety. Everything was in proportion although I had wished for a little more of that beef in the sandwich. We know the cost of beef today but adding a bit more for an extra dollar or so would have made for a more satisfying bite.

A kielbasa sandwich was not what I was expecting. Frankly, I’ve not seen this sandwich anywhere. Yet when you grow up in German culture, you grow up eating charcuterie from all over Europe from Spain to the Caucasus. Kielbasa was a normal part of either the breakfast or dinner table. 

Salim’s sandwich involved slices of award-winning L’Original kielbasa lightly grilled to extract more flavour and topped with white cheddar, caramelized onions and too much of that Starbite sauce. 

My interpretation, given how well mustard goes with pork, would have been to leave out the sauce and replace it with a good and sharp mustard. Simple, classic and delicious. It was a good sandwich and would have benefited from tweaking.

Starbite is offering Vanier residents elevated casual dining options at very reasonable prices. The fact that Salim is going out of his way to use fine local suppliers, is something we can all support.