Friday, January 30, 2009

Lemeac, Montreal

I looked on Chowhound to find a place for dinner on Friday after New Year's.  We had wanted to go back to Le P'tit Plateau, but it was closed for a long holiday.   So we settled on Lemeac in the Outremont neighborhood.  It was described as a French bistro, but less trendy than Montreal's famous L'Express.  

Indeed, we were probably among the youngest people eating at the place that night.  We started out with bloc de foie gras as our appetizer.  It was accompanied by a pineapple compote which went really well and cut the fattiness of the foie.

I got their housemade blood pudding as my entree.  It was delicious - the texture of the blood pudding was soft and exquisite, and it was accompanied by a celery root puree that complemented the flavor of the blood really well.  The acidity of the sauce helped as well.

Redneckhunter was a little underwhelmed by his dish, which was confit of duck leg, accompanied by fingerling potatoes and wild greens.  I guess it was just not that exciting.  

We were too stuffed to order dessert.  One other thing to note about this restaurant, and about Montreal culture, is that instead of the early bird special that you'd expect to find in a restaurant whose clientele's average age is 50, Lemeac had a late night special.  After 10 pm (22:00), they had a 2 course $22 Canadian prix fixe menu.  


Lemeac
1045 Ave. Laurier Ouest
Outremont, Quebec
(514) 270-0999

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

La Banquise, Montreal

We were confident that La Banquise would be open so close to New Year's in Montreal.  What better hangover food is there but poutine!  We got the Elvis poutine, with ground beef, onions, mushrooms, and green peppers; and a "Michigan" hotdog (Montreal for chili cheese dog).  Redneckhunter thought the sauce was really more like spaghetti sauce than chili, but really it's just semantics - still delicious regardless of what the dog is smothered in.  

La Banquise
994 Rue Rachel Est
Montreal
(514) 525-2415



Bread and Chocolate, Montreal


Redneckhunter and I went up to Montreal earlier this month for a long weekend.  Single digit temperatures would not deter us from our annual foodie trek.  Because it was early January, we didn't get to Le Fromentier for Montreal's best baguette, because it was closed. We were quite happy anyway with a loaf of 36-hour risen French baguette from Au Pain Dore.  We also gobbled up a buttery angel cookie with mittened hands on the street.  

We also picked up a mini loaf of chocolate bread and a tart from Chocolats Privilege.  The bread was delicious with cashew butter.  

Au Pain Dore
Multiple locations

Chocolats Privilege
7070 Ave. Henri-Julien
(514) 276-7070





Monday, January 26, 2009

Happy Chinese New Year!

In honor of this week's New Year's celebrations, I thought I'd recap our last family holiday meal which was Christmas dinner.

Among the many delicious courses were braised pork knuckles, chicken steamed with five-spice rice powder, marinated pigs ears, cold jellyfish salad with onions, daikon and beef stew, steamed duck stuffed with eight-treasure sticky rice, egg dumplings and more.










































Friday, January 09, 2009

Super Taste, NYC Chinatown


One of the staple dishes in Chinese cuisine is the beef noodle soup.
My cousins told me to try out a small shop in Chinatown in Manhattan called Super Taste which specialized in Lanzhou style, or hand pulled, noodles.
They had different options on the menu, but I opted for the house special, which is the only one that is served in a metal bowl (everyone else gets disposable bowls). It was chock full of stewed beef, tendon, tripe and veggies in a pleasant beef broth.
The noodles were sublime and delicious. They had a nice tender, but not too soft, and they held the flavor of the broth well without diminishing their own subtle flavor.

26 Eldridge St
(between Canal St & Division St)
New York, NY 10002
(212) 625-1198