DINNER July 23, 2010

For a second there it seemed like Ahuntsic was set to become Montreal’s culinary hotspot. Mario Navarrete Jr. opening up a third restaurant mere steps from the much-hyped Le St. Urbain on Fleury Street seemed to confirm that the formerly bland neighbourhood was emerging from its coccoon like  some demi-glace stained butterfly. I can understand why chefs are loving the neighbourhood. It’s not too far for people used to eating on the Plateau and has rock bottom rents. If nothing else, Le St. Urbain proved that Montrealers will travel (a bit) for a good meal. And there is a little bit of Le St. Urbain in A Table (which sounds like it may have been named by a three-year old), at least in the manner in which a fine dining destination has been shoehorned into a space made for a depanneur and decorated by Homesense. If that seems a little harsh its not meant to be. The Jun I style forest wallpaper, high backed pleather chairs and unadorned blond wood tables actually make for soothing decor, but  the place doesn’t feel like it was designed to be a restaurant. And it wasn’t, but who cares as long as the food is good.

I came as soon as I could because I am such a big fan of Mario Navarrate Jr.’s other restaurants. He is one of the few chefs in Montreal that really pushes the envelope and makes our food scene more interesting, so if he is involved, I am going to be there. The menu is short, featuring four apps, four mains and a couple desserts and all of it makes you hungry. A $60 five course tasting menu is a good way to get your hands on a big piece of that menu, but we opted for the a la carte. Even before the apps hit the table I’m disappointed by the bread. Not the little potato rolls from Raza or Madre but a mix and match of what looks like a not very fresh Premiere Moisson variety pack.

Most of us are intrigued by the tuna ceviche with mango puree. The fish is quite fresh but basically unseasoned. Our waiter described the puree as a sweet counterpoint to the citrus in the dish. Maybe mine wasn’t sweet enough because my plate tasted like acid layered on acid to the point that I developed a big gob of saliva at the back of my throat. Rocoto peppers lent the puree a subtle heat but it was otherwise very one tone. And while I don’t usually quibble on presentation, my dish was just  a bowl of sliced pink. I’m not a cat. A little garnish won’t kill me. Big thumbs down. The other appetizer we sampled was the duck carpaccio served on a parsnip puree with an amarillo pepper sauce. While better than the ceviche, the meat was sliced too thick (to be carpaccio in any event) and the rubbery pieces of breast meat were awkward to cut. The parsnip sauce and accompanying pepper sauce combined for too much sweetness and the overall impression, while not unpleasant, was not fantastic either. I could easily not eat this again.

The main courses were much more impressive. Plump scallops were beautifully seared and served with whole baby potatoes and lightly pickled veg in what was described as a puttanesca but turned out to be a thin and spicy sauce. A dish with light, clean flavors that was satisfying without being overbearing. Jumbo shrimp were poached and served with a lime and garlic sauce on a green pea mousse with bacon. The shrimp were perfectly cooked, delicate yet firm, and tasty with or without the peas. My only complaint was the bacon which was overcooked and used more as a garnish than as an element of the dish. All in all a good, but not a great, dish.  Nobody wanted to order the fillet mignon, because it looked like such a wintery dish on a  hot summer evening, but we were glad someone did. Served with sauteed mushrooms and chorizo on a squash puree, the beef had a ton of presence and all the elements on the plate came together nicely. Probably the least ambitious of the three mains but very solid cooking.

For dessert, an almost fudgelike chocolate cake was served with dulce de leche ice cream while caramelized peaches (which tasted just stewed and not caramelized) were served in a glass topped with a thick cream. Both were good without being superlative, although I appreciated that neither was too sugary and that the components of the dish expressed themselves well in both cases.

Definitely the least impressive meal I have had at one of Navarete’s restaurants but, in all fairness, A Table had only been open a week when I ate there. I was surprised to later hear that the chef de cuisine had formerly held the reins at Madre. It seemed to me that the menu looked like it might have been taken directly from that restaurant but the execution was night and day (based on my experiences there). An off night? Perhaps, but it will be hard to convince me to skip Madre to try A Table again. Maybe I won’t be going to Ahuntsic as much as I thought.

Have you eaten at A Table? How does it compare to Navarete’s other restaurants? Is anyone else worth talking about in Montreal when it comes to Nuevo Latino? Let us know what you think below.

A Table
124 Fleury West
514.439.1966
www.groupemnjr.com

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DINNER June 26, 2010

Kitchen Galerie Poisson, rumours of which MontrealFoodie had sniffed out in March, is finally here. Cynics might see the name  as a clumsy leveraging of the brand to enter the lucrative (and competitive) downtown lunch market. But the name says what it is. This new venture from chefs Jean-Phillipe St-Denis and Mathieu Cloutier borrows bits from mothership Kitchen Galerie, such as a suite of foie gras dishes (including the “dishwasher” foie gras), the stellar rib steak for two (which when eaten supersized with foie gras and truffles must be one of the top 10 food experiences in the city) and the practice of having the chefs wander out of the kitchen to serve patrons. The “Poisson” is reflected on the menu in a selection of Canadian oysters from the east and west coasts, a choice of daily grilled fish, a selection of caviars, a sampling of deep fried specialties and the pesca-centric choice of salads, apps and mains.

This section of Notre Dame just east of McGill just got a little bit more interesting. Bare light bulbs hang from high black painted ceilings, lending a somber feel and leading one to wonder if the decor has been finalized. Brick walls, a blackboard, shelves stuffed with wine bottles, bulky leatherish chairs and roughly finished wood tables make for a decor that is unexceptional but comfortable. The room is dominated by a tall angular bar which shields the kitchen from the rest of the room and provides seating for patrons on tall swivelling wooden chairs.

KGP has one of those menus that makes you want to order eight dishes. The oysters, served in the traditional manner or by the piece in Bloody Mary, vodka lime or champagne shooters are interesting, but we opt to start with a little something from the frier to accompany our prosecco. We pass on the tempura shrimp, calamari, oyster cakes and fried brandade and settle on the non-seafood option: the escargots. I am surprised escargots don’t feature on menus more given the strong margins they can provide to chefs. When they do, they are generally served in a traditional preparation, so it’s nice to see a restaurant doing something a little different with them. I know fried foods are easy to love, but KGP’s escargots are great. Very lightly battered and quickly fried, they are light, not greasy  and the escargots taste is a great match for the accompanying creamy roast garlic sauce. Our dinner guest showed up for the last bite and we actually decided to have a second order. Top marks for inspiration and for execution.

Grilled octopus is served in a salad of greens and tomatoes with a rustic hummus accented with harissa oil. The meat is nicely cooked and I liked the interplay between the rich creaminess of the hummus and the heat of the harissa. Presentation on this plate is also a winner with the tentacles cut but being kept in a single piece to accentuate their shape. Another winner, although for $25 the large version of this salad feels a little small. The pan seared gravlax is a little less impressive,  though still tasty. Served with a deconstructed leek tartlet and with an abundance of creamy sauce the subtle taste of the little square of  gravlax is overpowered to the point that you wouldn’t know the fish had been cured if it wasn’t written on the menu. A bit heavy and muddled for me, though opinions on this one varied.

The selection of fish of the day included robalo, a Caribbean fish rarely on menus in these parts. The firm, white fillet served on a parsnip puree with grilled asparagus and a tomato compote was satisfying and rustic: a simple dish, but well executed. A serving of squid ink linguini  tossed with grilled shrimp in a spicy, garlicky butter was packed with flavour and the portion size not so big as to put you to sleep.  The only blemish on this pasta dish was the shrimp themselves which were noticeably overcooked. Though not sampled, a creamy basil and roe inflected salmon tartare served with aragula got a big nod from one of my tablemates.

As at Kitchen Galerie, desserts are a bit of an afterthought at KGP. The strawberry cheesecake that was rustled up was about the only ordinary thing we ate.  A soft cherry cake topped with a white chocolate mousse, on the other hand, was surprisingly interesting. The wine list also takes a page from Kitchen Galerie: short and focused with the accent on private imports.

It is difficult not to like KGP and I, for one, certainly plan on returning. I suspect Messrs St-Denis and Cloutier will be very busy in Old Montreal quite soon. I can’t see Montreal not falling for this one.

Kitchen Galerie Poisson
399 Notre-Dame W.
514.439.6886

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DINNER June 18, 2010

It is perhaps not surprising that a place in which people refer to grilling as barbecue would not produce much in the way of barbecue joints. Most Canadians don’t really get what barbecue is or why the boiled ribs they slather in Kraft BBQ sauce and carbonize over a gas grill don’t qualify. Bofinger seemed like a light in the wilderness a few years ago, but its higgledy piggledy expansion has effected the quality of the food which, in my experience, is now more often than not a little  disappointing. Le Boucan, a new restaurant in now-officially-trendy Little Burgundy whose biggest claim to fame so far is that it will be featured on a new Food TV series, promises “a smokehouse inspired menu”  and “Southern style dishes”. Apparently this means barbecue is happening on the premises although nobody seems to be coming out and saying it. The menu also reflects this ambiguity. Mains include barbecue  ribs, chicken as well as pulled pork, all of which can be combined in a “pit boss” plate that feeds two, but also include grilled salmon which isn’t exactly barbecue fare. The division  of the menu into appetizers and sides also seems a little awkward with dishes I would normally consider sides, such as mac & cheese and poutine, offered up as starters and grilled shrimp another menu item that doesn’t seem to belong on a barbecue menu.

The single U-8 shrimp costs $7 and is an exception to the rule that you get a lot of bang for the buck at Le Boucan. It is served in a  jar with raw bell pepper slices pinned onto it and a pool of Le Boucan’s own custom barbecue sauce at the bottom . The sauce itself is pretty good, a Texas-style sauce with a little more heat: sweet, tangy and spicy. I guess the sauce is what ties the dish to the barbecue theme, but my shrimp is overcooked and even if it wasn’t the sauce just overpowers the taste of the shrimp. A plate of nachos also failed to really impress. Served with a “smoked salsa” and sour cream and topped with shredded chicken, bell peppers, green onion and olives, the corn chips were a lot shorter on cheese than most nacho plates. The salsa, a tomato based sauce studded with grilled (smoked?) bell peppers, was also flat with little seasoning or acidity. Not terrible, but not great either.

The homemade barbecue sauce really shined on the baby back ribs, which were probably the highlight of the meal. Although my rack was fairly bony, the meat itself was quite good. The pulled pork on the other hand was pretty ordinary, with the sauce a little too sweet and lacking the bite of the sauce on the ribs. Serving the pulled pork on a guedille, a soft white roll, seemed like an interesting idea when we saw it on the menu but there is just too much liquid in the pulled pork and the bun turns to mush pretty quickly. Mains are served with a choice of fries, potato salad, coleslaw and green salad. The fries seemed to have been sprinkled with paprika and something sweet (which is just wrong). The green salad, though was nice although the vinaigrette, like the salsa, came off a little flat.

Desserts, including a buttermilk tart and a bacon brownie, seemed interesting, but we passed this time.  The service is very friendly, although not particularly quick or professional and the vibe, both indoors and on the terrace, was quite relaxed. I still don’t lmow if Le Boucan qualifies as a barbecue joint, but I would rate the barbecue we ate as good, though not great. I wouldn’t balk at eating at Le Boucan but the only way I could see it becoming a regular on my dance card was if I lived in  the neighbourhood. The search for great local barbecue continues.

Le Boucan
1886 Notre-Dame W.
514.439.4555

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DINNER April 30, 2010

We’ve already seen some interesting restaurants open further and further from the city center (notably Michel Ross’ Mas Cuisine) but Marc-Andre Royal’s new restaurant way up in Ahuntsic was by all accounts bringing fine dining where it had not tread before. Fleury Street, with its mix of  little independent stores and apartments actually has a sleepy charm that is somewhat punctured by the hip (in a Laval way) crowd drawn to Le St-Urbain. The restaurant, located in what once housed a fruit store, looks a bit thrown together. An open kitchen at the back and a wall size blackboard dominate a sizable dining room featuring modern chairs matched with melamine wood tables. Mass produced vintage prints, bits of wine crates, assorted knick-knacks and dim lighting give the room an unassuming but welcoming feel. The best tables line the immense windows fronting on Fleury where one can check out the locals walking their dogs whilst eating dinner. This isn’t a slick restaurant but the space feels relaxed and comfortable. The crowd is eclectic, though tending to older, the  music is varied, the restaurant is packed and mackerel wafts out of the kitchen and throughout the room. In a word, this is the place to  be on Fleury.

In Montreal, where a French backbone, a few local ingredients, a variation on poutine and a chef with a couple of tattoos is often all you need to get critical acclaim, the accent is not on innovation. But Le Saint-Urbain is a rare local restaurant that  tries to push the envelope through the tedium of French bistro-inspired cuisine. First up is a poached egg with pork belly, sunchoke puree and truffle sauce. Initially, the sunchoke overpowers everything else, but the combination of some of the flavours in this dish work really well together. The richness of the egg, pork and puree are set off by the sharp earthiness of the sauce and the acidity of lightly dressed greens and seasonal fiddleheads. The combination of ingredients is confident but the technique is a bit of a letdown: the egg is a little undercooked, the pork charred in a couple spots and the plating a tad clumsy. Interesting, but does not feel fully developed. 

A salad of roasted beets, asparagus, fiddleheads, hazelnuts and Comte sounds like a dog’s breakfast, but once again the kitchen works the ingredients together nicely with a well balanced (and not too acidic) orange vinaigrette and crunchy croutons. A beautiful presentation and a dish that, overall, feels much more accomplished. A huge fried sweetbread, served with a tumble of fiddleheads, braised chard and carrots, features a crisp exterior and creamy interior. However, the  accompanying disc of potato and the jus are underseasoned and underwelming. Another dish that is not bad, without being great. A smoked halibut fillet  served on celeriac puree with asparagus, chorizo and a sauce vierge, lives up to its billing. The fish is reminiscent of the food Royal used to serve when he was in charge of Brasserie Brunoise, although with an added layer of complexity. No complaints but no fireworks either.

Desserts feature a verrine of lemon cream with whipped goat cheese and cardamon puffed rice which gets top marks for being not too sweet and offering up some interesting flavour combinations. Also very good were the piped beignets, like skinny churros, served dusted with cardamom icing sugar on a  slab of granite with a dark, salty caramel. The beignets are light, not greasy at all and the caramel has a great complexity and a nice salty-sweet balance. Perhaps the best part of the meal.

The service is professional and attentive and the wine list, geared towards the affordable and by-the-glass choices, is accessible (even if our waiter’s suggestions were less than stellar). Two can partake in a meal here for $150 (all in, with tip) which, while it might not be  a steal is a lot less than a dinner of this quality might set you back in a more central part of the city. Maybe if I had wandered into Le St-Urbain and had a meal this ambitious I would be a little more enthusastic, but after hearing the local food media wax poetic about Le St-Urbain for the last few months, I have to admit I was expecting a lot more. Mr. Royal has created something very solid in Le St-Urbain and, while it might be brightening up Fleury, it doesn’t seem to be the world beater it has been made out to be. Still, kudos must be dispensed for pushing the envelope and doing it well. That alone is enough for me to gladly return for a second meal.

Le St-Urbain
96 Fleury W.
514.504.7700

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Numerous LUNCHES  March and April 2010

I miss Brasserie Brunoise. It wasn’t the best restaurant downtown, but the food was good, the  prices were right, and there was always a  bit of a crowd just a five minute walk from the office. Since its demise I haven’t found a worthy successor, so it was with great interest that I  heard news of the refurbished Dominion Square Tavern. It promised to serve upscale pub fare in the sort of atmosphere only an Anglophile could enjoy, the whole within a stone’s throw of my office. The old Dominion Square Tavern, renowned purveyor of pig’s knuckles, was a bit rough around the edges and not the type of place in which a sophisticated fellow would likely be found. So stepping into the new place is quite the surprise. Open, bright and  airy, with electric chandeliers, vintage tiling, a long copper bar set off by timeworn lead backed mirrors and the original plaster coats of arms on the wall.  It doesn’t look so much like an English pub as it looks like what a rich Japanese might imagine an English pub to look like. Still, it is a beautiful space: one of those rare places that make you feel a little more hip for being inside  it.

I have been accused of making decisions about restaurants on the evidence of a single meal. And while I have no problem with that, it must be said that my opinion of  Dominion Square Tavern is founded on a bedrock of due diligence. I came back for the aforementioned pulled pork sandwich with a friend. It had the basic qualities of a great sandwich: succulent meat, albeit with a certain sweetness, and a  rich, buttery bun. The accompanying red cabbage salad, laden with dill but otherwise nicely balanced, really made the dish for me as it provided a great foil to the sandwich without coming off as pedestrian coleslaw. A side of fries with mayo also hit the spot. Score another win for the Dominion Square Tavern with this lunch, although $16 for a sandwich and fries seems a bit steep. Desserts were again the low point, with a carrot cake, and its  overly sugary icing, the most humdrum of finales.

My third lunch is when the wheels started to come off the bus. We were six. I ordered the marinated mackerel as an appetizer. Mackerel is a hard fish to love because of its…umm…pungency, but I am generally a big fan. Dominion Square Tavern’s serves it warm on a bed of Boston lettuce with a  maple dressing. I guess I was forewarned as the menu indicated the dish would contain both mackerel and maple syrup but it turns out this is (in my humble opinion) a food pairing that is less than stellar. However, it wasn’t just the odd fishy maple flavor, but the mushy piece of mackerel and the abundance of creamy dressing drowning my salad that turned me off. I didn’t finish my plate, but I did look with envy at my tablemates who had ordered the gravlax with buckwheat blini and sour cream. That definitely looked like the road I should have traveled.

Steak frites is usually my no-brainer dish. It’s actually what I order when my friends make me eat at dubious restaurants because, hey, its hard to screw up too badly. Truth be told I was expecting more from Dominion Square Tavern than some Ottawa chain restaurant but I’m not sure this strip steak really delivered. The herring butter was a great idea and added another dimension to the plate but the meat itself had no character. Cooked rare as ordered but bland and flabby: like a steak your cousin might have picked up from the Provigo and boiled in her Ikea frying pan. Maybe I was influenced  by my maple mackerel experience, maybe it was the sad-looking grilled chicken salad one of my tablemates was forced to eat in front of me, but I have no fond memories of eating this steak. I had eyed the sticky toffee pudding on my previous visits, but even it, a tiny disc of too hard date cake crowned with toffee and served with coffee ice cream, failed to really enthuse me. Desserts do not seem to be the house’s strength.

After the maple mackerel lunch, I was ready to close the book on Dominion Square, but chance and a friend whose raging Anglophilia puts me to shame, led me back for yet another lunch.  I spied the daily special, a confit duck leg served on a cauliflower puree with caramelized onions and a tangle of watercress. And I am glad I did because this was probably the best (and most sophisticated) dish I ate at Dominion Square. The duck itself was moist but not too fatty. The onions provided a hint of sweetness and the cauliflower puree had a beautiful consistency. The watercress and its vinaigrette presented a refreshing acidic counterpoint that brought it all  together nicely. The special comes with a soup or salad, in this case a watercress and radish ditty with a little too much dressing. My only complaint is that, with a glass of wine, lunch comes to around $45 so this isn’t something one can comfortably do on a regular basis.

 I thought I had finished with the Dominion Square Tavern, but I was invited back  for a fifth and then a sixth lunch. Having learned a thing or two from my previous visits, I headed straight for the specials.  Veal bavette is not something you find on most menus, but it was the bearnaise sauce that made me opt for this dish on the fifth occassion. Predictably I loved the bearnaise (who doesn’t?) but the veal suffered from the same dullness as the striploin I had encountered previously. The roasted asparagus served alongside were poor specimens: chewy, grassy stalks and cooked to the point of wilting. On the sixth occassion, I double down and order the bavette again. This time it comes served on mashed potatoes with an HP Sauce infused jus and topped by radish tossed in a little dresing with herbs. It looks like the third time is the charm as this steak is not only a great, flavorful piece of meat, but the plate also comes together nicely, with the sharp crunchiness of the radishes, the creaminess of the potatoes and the lively sweetness of the jus.    On both occassions I had coffee and I didn’t see a bill: so, no other complaints from this fellow.

I have to admit, I had a few too many meals here to say with a straight face that I don’t like the food. But truth be told, the  food isn’t what keeps me coming back. On that level, the Dominion Square Tavern is no replacement for Brasserie Brunoise: it is not as consistent and not as good a value.   On the other hand, when they get it right, as with that last bavette or the duck confit–or even the pork knuckle, you could do a lot worse for lunch. But where Dominion Square Tavern really shines, is a little later in the day, when the lights get a little dimmer, the crowds thin out a bit and you can get a G&T with housemade tonic or indulge in a gin fizz or a gibson. In my mind, that’s when the Dominion Square Tavern is at its best…and when I’m most likely to be heading back.

Dominion Square Pub
1243 Metcalfe
514.564.5056

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DINNER January 30, 2009

San Lorenzo has been open for a while, but I couldn’t get the JJ to eat there with me. I understood why. It looked like all style and no substance. All valet parking, guys with gold medallions and girls with big hair. But reading Robert Beauchemin and Lesley Chesterman’s glowing reviews made us both a little more comfortable.  Beauchemin, especially, is money. If he says a restaurant is good, you can usually take it to the bank.

It’s a bit of an odd space. One of these newish looking spaces with all the charm of a shopping mall. It sports floating ceilings and lots of concrete that someone has tried to put lipstick on with big, old wooden tables, chandeliers, mirrors and tapestry. The overall effect isn’t bad, but the tiny skirt the waitress is wearing and Raging Bull playing on the projection screen  make you think you are much lower on St-Laurent than you really are. Having Christmas decorations still in the wall when it’s almost February is also a bit off putting. The menu is a cheap stapled jobs that you might get in a BYOW on Duluth and the minute it hits my hand I feel an impending sense of doom.

When the waiter brings homemade ricotta, my mood lightens. There is nothing like fresh ricotta and this one is not too wet with just the right acidity but it is offset by the bread: overly toasted, overly buttered and covered in a shitload of dried thyme.  We drink a bottle of wine waitting for the apps, even though there are only three tables in the restaurant. And when the apps arrive they all suffer from the same comical 70s style plating. Each with a bunch of parsley, some tired tasting and refrigerator-cold grilled  and marinated veg and a cloud of paprika and balsamic squiggles. The porchetta slider, which sounded alluring, contains some deli thin sliced pork and cheese on a brioche that crunches like it sat under the salamander for too long. The pale, not quite caramelized onion doesn’t help to pick it up either: nothing to write home about here. Three  little arancini are nondescript, although the tomato sauce they are served on is excellent (but why is there dill all over this plate?) while a beef carpaccio is neither here nor there: just a filler. Quite a bad start really.

But lo and behold, the mains strike a completely different note. Gnocchi with boar ragu is very impressive. Really, some of the lightest gnocchi I have had in a restaurant in Montreal. They are offset by a rich and complex meat sauce. I don’t know where they got the boar, or if it contained any boar at all, but somebody did something right when they made this sauce. Agnolotti stuffed with duck and served in a creamy sage intensive sauce also hit the spot. The agnolotti were well made, the filling very tasty and the sauce had enough depth to stand up to the pasta. Casarrece with rapini, on the other hand, fail by virtue of the vegetables being way overcooked. All the pasta dishes are garnished with enormous sprigs of dill but given that they are generally tasty, I will keep my snickering to myself.

Desserts breing us back down to the level of the apps, although my tablemates don’t all seem as disappointed as me. My panna cotta is served in a ramekin with a thick dusting of cocoa powder and tastes quite gummy. Complimentary shots of grappa from the waiter help to lift my spirits. The service staff at San Lorenzo are generally agreeable and quite helpful. The meal is  a lot lighter on the pocketbook than eating at Lucca, Il Mulino or Primo and Secondo but the food isn’t up to their standard either.  I suspect there have been a few changes since Mr. Beauchemin wrote his review. Maybe he will take another kick at the can and eat at San Lorenzo again, but I don’t think I will.

San Lorenzo

6741 St-Laurent
514.554.1644

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DINNER January 22, 2009

Regular readers will already know the affection I bear for Mas Cuisine. I had the opportunity to dine at the restaurant again recently and wanted to post a brief description of the meal and some pictures. Once again, I was very impressed by the creativity and strength of execution of the kitchen.

Marinated salmon with curried cauliflower florets, raw grapes and pine nuts was an interesting on a number of levels. The silkiness of the fish layered on the rich pine nuts contrasted with the crunchy cauliflower and the sweet, acidic pop of the grapes, the whole bathed in undertones of turmeric, coriander and cumin.Grilled calamari tubes redolent with paprika are paired with crunchy deep fried calamari tentacles and served with chorizo and lightly pickled cucumber on aragula and a cold salad of ratte potatoes herb and shallot. The potatoes provide a canvas for the bold flavors of the calamari, sausage and cucumber and every mouthful is a new taste sensation.

Duck magret is served on a bed of savoy cabbage and romanesco with spicy ratte potatoes, a smooth orange emulsification and an orange infused jus. The flavour of orange is cleverly understated and provides a surprisingly strong foil for the hearty cabbage, potatoes and duck breast. I have to try to make this orange emulsification at home – simply divine.

Seared cod is perfectly cooked with crispy skin and served with a smooth butternet puree and a curious sauce composed of  moutarde de meaux, apple and crab. Jerusalem artichokes and sweet  caramelized cippolini onions complete the dish. Seemingly random but comes together very nicely on the plate.

While desserts are often a letdown, at Mas Cuisine they easily match up to the rest of the meal. Highlights include a lemon and white chocolate souffle with a knockout raspberry sorbet and a not-too-sweet chocolate pecan brownie with caramel ice cream and cocoa sauce.

The wine was a 2007 Cotes-de-Brouilly Chateau Thivin which I noticed is also available for takeout sale at Les Cavistes.  The service is stellar, friendly and with an almost telepathic foresight. Our seats on this occasion provide a window into the kitchen where chef Ross and crew work their magic. But the best part of a meal here is getting the bill and seeing how little the amazing meal you just ate cost you. Mas Cuisine is probably the best fine dining value in the city. Hurry, because nothing this good lasts forever.

Have you tried Mas Cuisine yet? Let us know your impressions. Apart from Simplechic are there other must-visit foodie spots in Verdun?

Mas Cuisine

3779 Wellington
Verdun
514.544.3779

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DINNER January 19, 2010

This year has been busy so far. So busy, that my new New Year’s resolution has become to write abbreviated reviews in the hopes of actually getting some content online. While I have been too busy to write, thankfully I haven’t been too busy to eat. I was invited to Atti by friends on a weeknight in January, which given my current state of affairs means that I arrived late, did my best to eat in less than an hour, then ran back to the office.

I wasn’t expecting much from Atti. Located in the semi-basement of a non-descript concrete mid-rise in an unglamourous part of downtown, Atti is  blessed with an awning that reminds one of a Sizzler steakhouse. So it is not without some surprise to walk into a sharp and modern space, with just-dim-enough lighting, stacked stone walls, walnut-ish panelling and traditional silk prints. A little piece of luxe, calme et volupte–Korean style. The mish-mash of Korean pop in the background and the doorbell on every table to summon the waiters add a foreign touch. Atti actually feels a lot like a young and trendy place in Seoul, which distinguishes it from the Mom-and-Pop feel of Montreal’s leading Korean eateries.

The food also tries to track that modern vein. The menu is entry-level Korean, with nothing too foreign or threatening for the novice. Prices are within everyone’s grasp with few, if any, menu items over $20 and staples like bibimbap, bulgogi, galbi and the like predominating. Atti’s efforts at modern presentation as well,  including non-traditional plateware and fine dining-style plating, also distinguish it from most local Korean joints.

The banchan do not particularly impress. Cubed potatoes fried with garlic and an apple, hard boiled egg and mayo salad are not bad, but fail to raise the heartbeat. The kimchee is good, but a little industrial, lacking that tang of fermentation and draft of heat that take kimchee to another level. Haemul pajeon, the ubiquitous Korean seafood pancake, is available with or without kimchee in the batter. The presentation of both versions is pretty and the crispy pancakes are tasty, although the kimchee version could have packed a little more heat and both could have packed more seafood. Grilled squid is well cooked and served with a simple sweet gochujang based dipping sauce.

The bibimbap, featuring purple rice and served in an elongated bowl is a beautiful contrast in colors and nicely presented, but as pretty as it may be, the dish is largely underseasoned and falls a little flat, even with the gochujang to push it along. The galbi, on the other hand,  is quite tasty. Although the beef ribs are cut a little thin for my liking, they are nicely caramelized and possess a good combination of heat and sweetness. Sure, I’m a cheap date, but what’s not to like about  a plate of ribs? A spicy bulgogi served with rice also hits the spot, as it packs depth of flavour and a lot of heat. Too many Korean restaurants tone down the spice, but this plate reminded me of some of the affordable, fire-breathing meals I ate in Myeong-Dong a couple years back.

Washed down with beer and maehwasu, a lightly sweet plum wine that is the antithesis of soju, I can’t help feeling that my meal at Atti has been nothing but pleasant. Sure, it’s not highbrow Korean and the fare is not exceptional but, though purists may say differently, Atti is at least in the same ballpark as the better Korean restaurants in Montreal, although perhaps not at the same level. There are so few places downtown with a nice atmospehere and good food that don’t charge an arm and a leg that Atti is a breath of fresh air in any event. I find it hard to believe I won’t be eating here again.

Have you been to Atti? If so, what did you think?  Do you have another Korean favourite in Montreal? Leave us a comment below and tell us why you like it.

Atti
2077 University
514.842.2884

Related posts:

1. Dominion Square Tavern
2. Resident
3. Hwang Kum

DINNER December 29, 2009

I don’t really eat tartare in winter. To me it is such a quintessentially warm weather dish that I gloss right over it on menus from October to April. But friends invited me to Marche 27 on this frigid December evening and since its reputation is for tartare (and for having very little else on the menu) I was more or less cornered. The restaurant looks like a high-end lunch counter: refrigerated display cases and  marble topped tables with aluminum chairs dominate the room while antiseptic white tiling rises into layers of colored tiles and finally to blackboards stretching to the ceiling.

While I was waiting I tried to warm myself up with a French onion soup. Big mistake. French onion soup is a funny dish. It’s a simple but it gets  mangled fairly consistently. Like the miso soup in a sushi restaurant, though, it’s an excellent test of a kitchen. And if it was a test Marche 27 would not only have failed but likely been expelled from school as well. I can actually smell something is off as the carcinogenic waft hits me before the bowl hits the table. The cheese is burned and has curled up into a ball as if to protect itself from further injury. It’s not gruyere nor does it have the tensility of gruyere. The broth is heavily wine and thyme flavored but not otherwise offensive, however there is very little sweetness in the onions. But the worst part is that the factory croutons have sesame seeds on them. A shitty soup by any other name…and for $9. Wow.

After the soup, I am understandably leery of allowing the kitchen to engage in any cooking for the main course, which makes eating a tartare in winter all the more palatable. There are a few non-tartare options: hamburgers, ribs, steak frites, but in my mind if I’m ever getting my hands on a Marche 27 tartare it is likely now or never. Marche 27 has a Chinese restaurant approach to tartare: pick any meat, pick any sauce and we’ll put them together. In addition to beef, tuna and salmon, they also offer, duck, venison and smoked salmon (the latter for people who are looking for a starter tartare, I guess). You can have it French style (think traditional beef tartare), Thai style (with coriander, lime and lemongrass), Italian style (parmesan and truffle oil), Japanese style (with tempura, soy and chives) or spicy (with chipotle). The Japanese tartare seemed particularly offensive and I started secretly hoping one of my dining companions would order one so I could prod it with a stick. It also struck me as odd that a tartare restaurant wouldn’t have a basic salmon tartare on the menu but I don’t think you can get there  (at least to my tastes) with the Marche 27 permutations. So I did what any sensible person would have done and ordered the beef tartare, French style with a quail egg for an extra $1.

The tartare was pretty, served simply with the quail egg in the center and little spears of French toast (where was the bread when they were putting that soup together?). It looked better that it tasted though. I like spicy food so I found it fine, but a lot of people would not have agreed as it was quite overseasoned. A Thai style salmon tartare also failed to impress, but mostly because, for my tastes,  farmed salmon is just way too fatty to serve in a tartare. A side of fries were unevenly cooked, some dark brown others almost raw, but there was a certain hominess about them that I liked nonetheless. Sadly, the homemade mayo with which they were served had an off-putting sweetness .

Our waitress was nice enough, but so young I considered asking her for ID when I ordered the wine. The art of service did not appear to come to her naturally, which is just as well as it probably means she will shuffle into another line of work (maybe if she fails her sociology mid-term). All in all a forgettable (even regrettable meal). Tartare is definitely a summer meal but I don’t think I’ll be eating too many sun soaked lunches at Marche 27 come the month of May.

Who do you think makes the best tartare in town? Have any thoughts about Marche 27? Leave a comment below and let us know what you think.

Marche 27
27 Prince Arthur W.
514.287.2725

No related posts.

DINNER December 19, 2009

I only knew two things about Resident: it had been named one of the top five spots for comfort food in the city by Elle Québec and they served a mini-Thanksgiving dinner plate  for one. The first point didn’t seem like much of an endorsement, but the second did. While I would like to claim that it was an insatiable lust for the taste of Thanksgiving that led our group of 20 to Resident on this blustery December evening, the truth is that we couldn’t get into Le Local.  Rather than opting for the humdrum bistro offerings of the group menu at Holder, our little band chose the road less travelled, making our way to the outskirts of civilization (the eastern periphery of Old Montreal) and into the warm embrace of Resident.

And warm it is, with soft lighting, lofty ceilings of copper painted tiles, dark wood and a muted yet trendy soundtrack: the fake  yak  head above the bar is the only uncomfortable note in surroundings an otherwise ideal antidote to the weather outside. Having worked a fair bit in the trade, I always feel bad for waiters who have to deal with big groups. We trickled in slowly, we convened an improptu cocktail near the bar and we sat down to eat around an hour too late, but the waitstaff took it all with a stiff upper lip, if not necessarily too many smiles. In our defence, we were not the worst offenders, as they permitted an aging half-stoned strumpet to traipse around the room disturbing the other patrons for the better part of an hour before finally expelling her. Too much velvet glove, not enough iron fist. In running a restaurant one must always remember not to let the riff raff disturb the patrons–because they inevitably blame the restaurant for it–as I am doing now.

The name of the game at Resident is modern comfort food: simple dishes given a bit of an upscale twist. The burger is made with bison, the grilled cheese contains lobster, shepherd’s pie is made with ground lamb and the hot dog is served with truffle and parmesan fries–you get the picture.  Tempura onion rings with home made ketchup and crab cakes with sriracha mayo lead us off. The only thing “tempura” about the onion rings is the description on the menu, as the stack of bulky fried onions have more in common with carnival food than their Japanese namesake. The onions are encased in a gob of thick beer batter and have an off putting doughy softness instead of a nice crunch. The bigger ones are more like onion doughnuts than rings. I am an afficionado of homemade ketchup and really like the one Resident serves with the rings: not too sweet, with a deep  tomato flavour. After reading nothing but raves about the crab cakes I was expecting something pretty spectacular on the plate. While the two fist-sized cakes are impressive to look at, they are composed mostly of potatoes, with stringy bits of crab that can hardly be tasted. The sriracha mayo is a must as the cakes are pretty tasteless without it and since you don’t have to worry about overwhelming the taste of the crab, it’s a no-brainer. The  cakes are nicely cooked with a nice crunchy exterior and are very reasonably priced ($7) considering how big they are. Then again, potatoes aren’t exactly expensive.

In a cruel twist of fate, the mini-Thanksgiving dinner was not available on this evening. Thankfully, the special was roasted quail with mashed potatoes and a cranberry orange reduction, which was a close enough facsimile for me. The quail had been marinated and had a great depth of flavour which was accented by the perfect cooking, resulting in a succulent flavorful bird. The rest of the plate was not on the same level though, with mashed potatoes that were tasty but a little dry (some might say rustic) for my taste, the reduction  a little too sweet and the appearance of asparagus on a plate in December a bit of a turn-off.  The much anticipated lamb’s shepherd’s pie also failed to impress as much as expected. While pains had been taken with the presentation, the modernish round mold of pie topped with the selfsame veg was too bold a presentation for this unassuming dish. The combination of mash, corn and lamb were  tasty, but nothing more than you would expect from, say, your aunt’s cooking.

There are have been a few theories bounced around about the re-emergence of comfort food in these recessionary times, with some seeing the trend as stemming from a desire of patrons to seek out security in the foods they enjoyed as children. Personally, I think the re-emergence is largely due to the fact that most people don’t know how to cook anymore. People have always gone to restaurants to eat the kind of meals they couldn’t or weren’t likely to make at home and these days that doesn’t just mean Beef Wellington it extends even to the simple dishes on which most of us were raised. I like that more and more restaurants are serving comfort food but I expect it to be at least as good as what I make at home. The food at Resident wasn’t bad (especially considering the prices) but it wasn’t great either and, apart from the quail, I wouldn’t have been too excited to serve any of  it at Casa Thelonious. So, I guess what I’m saying is that if you are a terrible cook, Resident is likely to be a lot more impressive than it is to someone who knows their brunoise from their mirepoix. I don’t think I’ll be back myself but can’t begrudge those who like it.

Did you have a different experience at Resident? Do you have a favorite restaurant for comfort food (either on or under the radar)?  Leave us a comment below and let us know what you think.

Resident
400 Notre-Dame E.
514.844.1466
http://www.residentrestaurant.com/

Related posts:

1. Atti
2. Marche 27
3. Dominion Square Tavern