A Visit to Montreal

[Puros Y Vino]

This past weekend the wife surprised me with a trip to Montreal. My second favourite city in Canada and fast becoming my first. Why? Fantastic food scene. And proper, indoor smoking lounges.

Every time I go to Montreal I make it a point to stop at my favourite restaurant. Au Pied De Cochon

A veritable feast of rural Quebecois home cooking, on steroids.

From the outside, you'll notice no signage whatsoever. But you can smell the bread baking just before 5PM opening time.

We start off with some drinks. I get a cold, tasty Pied De Cochon beer. My wife grabs a Bellini style cocktail made with freshly squeezed orange juice. Emphasis on the fresh.

Our first dish arrives! This restaurant is famous for it's foie gras. For many years I scoffed at trying it. Once I did I was hooked. This dish is called: Plogue à Champlain It is buckwheat pancake, with home prepped bacon, cheddar cheese, maply syrup and topped with a good hunk of foie gras.

Dipping your bread into the remaining sauce is a must. It's what we call "scarpetti" in Italian. Which means "little footsteps".

My wife chose a salad as her starter. Yet it was no regular salad! It was a meal unto it's own.

Blue Cheese, Apple & Endive Salad

We shared our starters. While she was hesitant to try foie,she enjoyed it. The salad itself was monstrous.

Our mains arrive!

I try to sample something different every time I come here. So this time around I went with "Duck In a can". It's a duck breast and foie,stuffed into a can. The can is placed into a pot of boiling water then brought to your table where it is opened and served.

My wife went for the "Happy Pork Chop". And as you can see. Definitely something not to be sad about. It was loaded with onions and mushrooms surrounded by a wine sauce.

Here's the can for the "Duck in a can"

When the waiter was rhyming off some of the specials, gnocchi was on the menu. I was thinking to myself "boring, I'll pass. Bring on the foie". After seeing a few people order it, I want to go back and try it. The way they served it was dinner theatre at it's best. This restaurant does excess as an art form. When plates arrive, diners look at the nearby tables to see what others bought.

The gnocchi were brought steaming hot to the table and placed into a cavity in a huge Parmesan wheel. The server adds oil, fresh pesto, morels and clams into the hole. The ingredients are tossed like a salad, ensuring all the goodies within are coated with cheese. Once done, the server scrapes the "tainted" cheese walls and places it on to the dish.

In all, an excellent meal once again. I wish Toronto had something similar. While this restaurant is not cheap, it has great "bang for the buck". Food and portions like this back home would have cost me 3 times as much. If you're ever in Montreal, stop by this restaurant. Then make your way over to the LCDH for a smoke.

[Strada]

You should have let me know you were coming, we could have gone for a smoke or two...

[JoeyGunz]

looks like a fantastic evening out my friend

[CUBANO]

Good surprise. It looks like you'll had a great weekend.

[Lotusguy]

Man, I really need to schedule another business trip to visit Future Electronics

[LLC]

Man, I really need to schedule another business trip to visit Future Electronics

If you do let me know when and I will try to schedule a business trip for the same time.

[shlomo]

Business trips sound like fun. Sometimes. You guys are lucky you can schedule them yourselves.

[Lotusguy]

The problem is, too many of them

[Phillys]

I know this is an old thread, but Au Pied de Cochon is one of my favorite restaurants in Montreal. Martin Picard the chef is a colorful character and his food is top notch, the man is truly passionate about food. 

He also has a cabane a sucre (sugar shack?) north of Montreal, We wanted to go this year but it is already fully booked for the season (spring). 

[havanaclub]

Next time I visit relatives I gotta hit this place up. Thanks for sharing.


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[BrightonCorgi]

We go all the time, but with all the road construction, I am thinking twice about going this season.

For some restaurants we like:

Le Club Chasse et Pêche

Maison Publique

Main

 

[Phillys]

Another favorite is Joe Beef, damn that place is good. There are so many great restaurants in Montreal, strong culinary culture.  

[BrightonCorgi]

On 3/12/2018 at 9:36 PM, Phillys said:

Another favorite is Joe Beef, damn that place is good. There are so many great restaurants in Montreal, strong culinary culture.  

We've been wanting to go there, but getting a reservation is impossible.  Thought about just walking in, but wasn't sure if we'd be out of luck just showing up.  We went to their "sister restaurant" that was really good.  Big time hipster kind of place which I forget the name of.

[Phillys]

3 hours ago, BrightonCorgi said:

We've been wanting to go there, but getting a reservation is impossible.  Thought about just walking in, but wasn't sure if we'd be out of luck just showing up.  We went to their "sister restaurant" that was really good.  Big time hipster kind of place which I forget the name of.

Liverpool House? That's a really good place also, can't go wrong. 

As for walk-ins at Joe Beef, good luck but could happen I just wouldn't expect it to happen on a given night. They do however have an app on the site for same day reservations (due to cancellations), but it's a gamble. You have to book well in advance to get a table but WELL worth it if you enjoy meat and foie gras.

 

Just checked and they have a 6:45 tonight! aside from that next availabilities are in May.

 

[BrightonCorgi]

44 minutes ago, Phillys said:

Liverpool House? That's a really good place also, can't go wrong. 

Yes, it was Liverpool House!  That place was dim lit to put it mildly.  Might as well be pitch dark and save a few candles...  We enjoyed our meal there and would go back.

[shlomo]

8 hours ago, Phillys said:

Liverpool House? That's a really good place also, can't go wrong. 

As for walk-ins at Joe Beef, good luck but could happen I just wouldn't expect it to happen on a given night. They do however have an app on the site for same day reservations (due to cancellations), but it's a gamble. You have to book well in advance to get a table but WELL worth it if you enjoy meat and foie gras.

 

Just checked and they have a 6:45 tonight! aside from that next availabilities are in May.

 

Not sure how or where you are looking, but I just got reservations for this Saturday night  at 7:30 about 3 minutes ago...It's tough to get reservations, not impossible!