Say Hola to Córdova, St-Henri’s New Bar With Spanish Snacks Coffee Spot [Updated]

All-purpose café-bar Córdova has finally arrived on Notre-Dame West in St-Henri, with coffee, tapas, conservas, and in the near future, cocktails.

As reported last summer, Córdova comes from a trio of owners — Anthony Benda, owner of Café Myriade (and arguably the first person to bring third wave coffee to the city), Aaron Polsky (who appeared on CTV’s MasterChef Canada and runs the blog Foodie Date Night), and Elayne Teixeira-Millar. The venue’s bright design work comes from Sabrina Barazin of firm The Grey Sofa.

Update (Apr 9): Córdova now has a bar permit and will be open late, seven days a week — the cocktaila on offer are firmly classics. Think Old Fashioneds, Negronis, and Sazeracs — there’s also cheap quilles of Labatt on the beer side. White wine on tap, and a Basque cider (keeping with the Spanish approach) will be on offer soon.

Despite Benda’s involvement, Córdova is certainly not Myriade St-Henri — the establishment is far wider in scope than a café, although there is a strong coffee program, with Benda looking west and using beans from Calgary’s Monogram, Vancouver’s 49th Parallel, Ritual Roasters in San Francisco, and hit Portland (Oregon) roaster Heart. For the busy Sud-Ouest resident, the café also accepts coffee orders by text from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily.

Instead, it’s aiming to cover many bases, to be a reliable “fixture in the community”, in Polsky’s words. While there’s no full-scale kitchen, there’s a solid menu centred around conservas, high-quality Spanish and Portuguese preserved seafood bites, from mussels escabeche to octopus in olive oil. There’s a selection of Spanish cheese and charcuterie, including manchego and jamon iberico, as well as a range of tapas, from no-nonsense favourite tomato bread to marinated olives, a soft-boiled egg with boquerones (anchovies), and beyond.

It’s rounded out with a weekly selection of desserts, too.

Córdova is set to be a bar operation that leans towards well-done classics with some affordable beer and wine operations; the team are still waiting on a bar permit for to be approved in the coming weeks (in the meantime, Córdova is keeping café hours, from early morning until early evening). Take a look.

SDC Les Quartiers du Canal/Official

SDC Les Quartiers du Canal

STATUS — Córdova is open at 4606 Notre-Dame West from 7 a.m. to late weekdays and 8 a.m. to late weekends.

• Córdova [Official]
• Córdova Will Be an All-Purpose Cafe for St-Henri [EMTL]