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

Cochon, Philadelphia

This weekend, we were all in Philly to check out the Popped! festival, so we decided to try out Cochon, a French bistro on the south side of town. First off the place was BYOB, so Redneckhunter picked up a 6 pack of Yuengling from a place called The Dive a few blocks south.
We split a pair of appetizers. Of course, we had to get the sweetbreads served with haricot verts and red peppers. They were delicious. The sweetbread was delicately prepared and the veggies were really fresh.
Alas, they were out of the fried chicken livers, so we opted instead the seared scallops with a frisée, lardons, asparagus and fingerlings salad, which was good, but not as good as our other appetizer.
For entrees, we all tried different items and shared the wealth. Mine was deemed the best of the three. I got the pork shoulder over lentils duPuy, roasted Brussels sprouts, and topped with a poached egg. Omigosh, the pork was so tender and delicious, and with the egg yolk spilling over it, it was heavenly. The sprouts were good and I particularly liked the flavor and firmness of the lentils.
Fougoo ordered the duck breast with white bean ragoût, baby carrots, and pomegranate gastrique. The duck had a nice crisp skin on it. Fougoo particularly liked her white beans.

Redneckhunter got the stuffed pork loin with mushroom duxelle, potato gratin, and roquefort sauce. The shoulder was clearly the superior dish, but the gratin was very good.

For dessert, we got both the molten chocolate cake with ice cream and the creme brulee. Both were pretty great- we finished them completely.
All in all, Cochon was not expensive and the food was fantastic.


801 E Passyunk Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19147
(215) 923-7675