Joe Beef, Montreal

On Canada Day, the whole TIGBG crew got together in Montreal for an unforgettable dinner at up and coming restaurant, Joe Beef. We figure we’d try a different approach to our posts and turn this into a discussion about our meal.

fougoo: First off, before getting into the food, the atmosphere at Joe Beef is absolutely charming. Even though we had a little mix-up with the reservation, the staff were accommodating, and we were lucky enough to get a spot in the corner of the garden. Dining out there in the early evening sunshine, with plants, flowers, herbs, and vegetables all around us was just a perfect setting - as if you were invited over to your fabulously bohemian friend’s house for dinner on their patio. Our waiter was helpful translating the menu posted on the chalkboard, offering suggestions, and letting us know what was fresh and where it had come from.

brooklen: By our dumb luck, we got the best seat in the house; on one side of my seat I was smelling the smoker, on the other I was getting whiffs of basil. There was thyme growing out of the tree stump at the end of our table!

1000yregg: We were so fortunate to be sitting in the backyard of Joe Beef for dinner on such a perfect summer evening. Redneckhunter selected a 2007 Castiglion del Bosco Rosso di Montalcino, a versatile wine for the evening's dinner.

fougoo: We ordered french fries for the 2-year-old BrookLEN Junior, but everyone ended up stealing from the poor kid - they were crisp, garlicky and delicious!

brooklen: Poor Junior spent all of Montreal subsisting on french fries... he didn’t inherit his daddy’s palette (yet)...

fougoo: our cousin, stephen, managed to eat a foie gras Double Down all by himself! I was totally satisfied with my one delicious salty, fried, rich, creamy bite.


1000yregg: I was actually a little hesitant to get the foie gras Double Down, feeling it would be too much, but since we had a good sized group, I knew we had to. It was wonderful. The batter was deliciously spiced and crispy like fried chicken skin, and the lobes of foie gras were beautifully fatty and rich. Even the honey under the “sandwich” was awesome. I understand how my cousin could want more, and yet I also felt very scared for him.

brooklen: Ohh, the Double Down. Stuff of legend, though I have to admit, it won’t be the dish I remember forever. I think the sauce had a touch of honey, to give it that Southern-fried flair.
fougoo: As 1000yregg and redneckhunter devoured the Double Down, I focused my attentions on our other foie dish, a foie gras confit with rhubarb, which I preferred - a perfect summer dish - the tartness of the rhubarb melding nicely with the smoothness of the foie.

brooklen: Yes! I believe foie gets a lift with a little sweet; a Northern chutney of Pie Plant. Even the jellied fat was summery. Might be my favorite of the dinner.
fougoo: we ordered the Smorgasburg toast when we heard that they smoked all the seafood on it just feet away from us in the back garden. It was a nice dish -- a bit hard to share among so many people, but really a perfect appetizer if I had to order something for just myself -- a nice variety of fish and shellfish, an oyster, whitefish salad.

brooklen: My first oyster of the trip; not icy cold as we Americans tend to take ‘em, but it was graced with a touch of herbs that seems to be the Quebec style.

brooklen: The cavatelli with morels was simple in appearance, but the cream sauce was perfectly rendered. I might have fallen in love with morels on Canada Day.

1000yregg: The lobster spaghetti was my choice on the menu, and boy was it good. The lobster was huge, and the lobster sauce was rich and strongly flavored. As clean up guy for the table, this was the plate that I finished first.

fougoo: I marveled at 1000yregg’s prowess as he finished up claws bigger than my own hand, large chunks of lobster tail, and bite after bite of sauce-heavy pasta. If they bottled that lobster sauce, I would have bought a jar to take home and savor.

fougoo: The porchetta with summer vegetables was my menu choice and I’m glad it didn’t disappoint. We probably didn’t need another meat dish, but I did love it. The pork was fragrant with herbs, not overly salty (as it sometimes has been at Porchetta in NYC), the perfect marbling of fat, just melted in your mouth. The waiter chided us for not finishing all of the skin, but by this point 1000yregg (who had cleaned up the lobster spaghetti) was saving room for dessert.

brooklen: The secret side-players on this dish were the veggies; gorgeous chard, and perfectly cubed beets. This was also the brightest sauce of the night- what was in that green stuff?

fougoo: Agreed - the green sauce was awesome! Parsley perhaps?

fougoo: I couldn’t believe how much schnitzel we got - two huge flat platter-sized pieces, along with a mountain of potatoes and veggies.

brooklen: The girotte mushrooms made this dish, not to be outdone.

fougoo: Our waiter had recommended the cheval (horse) with red wine sauce when we told him we were die-hard carnivores, but it was actually our least favorite meat dish. The marrow, however, was one of the largest portions I’ve ever seen. Redneckhunter always says that marrow is the Frenchie litmus test of whether someone is worthy of French cuisine or not. I have to say, after seeing 1000yregg pull out a massive glob of marrow onto his plate - jiggly and goopy like a mound of snot - the fact that we all thought “ooh, yummy!” at this stuff that would probably turn other people’s stomachs says a lot.
1000yregg: It was a little disappointing. Horse seems to be a leaner meat, and ours was a little dry. We guessed it could have sat while our other items were being made. I’d still try it another time. The veal bone marrow was spectacular and a huge portion. As with the porchetta, the side veggies, spring onions, were wonderful.

1000yregg: As a counterbalance to all this protein, we also ordered a Parc Vinet salad. The Parc Vinet refers to Joe Beef’s own garden located in the back of the restaurant. One of the waitstaff told us that he had hand picked the vegetables in our salad that evening, a wonderful medley of lettuce, fennel, and radishes.

1000yregg: For dessert, I was glad we got the Bavarian cream with rhubarb. It was very seasonal, and not overwhelming, especially following our amazing meal.

fougoo: by this point, 1000yregg and I had to keep up our 3-day streak of rhubarb desserts, though I have to admit I was too stuffed to eat more than one bite. Bavarian cream was nothing like the American “Bavarian Creme Pie” filling - a lot more subtle, but than most things un-American are...


fougoo: While we were dining, we were a little jealous seeing chef/owner David McMillan talking to some of the other diners and showing them the smoker. But as we were leaving the big man himself stopped 1000yregg because he had noticed all the picture-taking, and asked if we’d let him know when they were posted online. He showed us a soon-to-be “secret” table in the adjacent alleyway.

1000yregg: Chef David McMillan chatted with us for a while after dinner. He said despite all the press about the foie gras Double Down, he had not eaten a whole one by himself until recently with David Chang, who was in town the previous week working on content for Lucky Peach.
He said he wanted to be known for other items on the menu such as his vegetables. It was generous of him to talk with us, and I know that we're going to go back on our next trip to Montreal.

2491 Notre Dame West
Montreal, QC
(514)935-6504

Le Quartier Général, Montreal

On our first evening in Montreal, Fougoo, Redneckhunter, and I went to Le Quartier Général, a recently opened bistro serving contemporary, seasonal Quebecois cuisine.
The space was bright and clean, and the scene was casual. It's "Appportez votre vin", or BYOB. Redneckhunter selected a great bordeaux Chateau Duhart-Milon-Rothschild 2007 from the wine store at Marche Jean-Talon earlier that day.

You can order items a la carte from the board, or for a modest amount, one can get "la table gourmande" which includes the appetizer and dessert.
We ordered three different starters. Fougoo got the Pieuvre grillee, grilled octopus, with edamame and veggies.

I ordered the escargots with Bayonne ham. It was cooked in a white wine lemon broth that reminded me of when you get mussels. It was very good.
Our favorite item was Redneckhunter's beef tartare. The restaurant sources their beef from Colorado, using the 1855 brand of beef. It was light, beefy, had just the right amount of fat and so delicious.

Out table ordered two main courses. Fougoo, opting to conserve her red meat quota for the trip, got the Lotte de New Brunswick, or monkfish. It was coated in Chinese five spice and serve with small bok choy.
Redneckhunter and I ordered the Lapin de Stanstead, rabbit from the UK. It was cooked beautifully, served on a parsnip puree with some carrots. The rabbit had a unique flavor in itself- reminding me of the texture of duck.
For our desserts, I had the cheesecake with blueberries, and Redneckhunter had the nougat glacé à la pistache (pistachio).
Our favorite though was Fougoo's Marquise au chocolat, a light dark chocolate cake served with blackberries and a gooseberry.
We had a delicious, simple and inexpensive meal at Le Quartier Général, which was important before the much richer meals we had in store.

1251 Gilford
Montreal, QC
(514) 658–1839

La Brioche Lyonnaise, Montreal

For breakfast in Montreal, we relied on the Fodor's recommendation of La Brioche Lyonnaise on Rue St. Denis. It was a straightforward continental breakfast, but it was gosh darn delicious. I had a large bowl of cafe au lait and a brioche with raisins. The dish also came with basket of french bread that demanded smothering with butter and jam.
Redneckhunter loved how the creams come with percentages of milkfat- no non-dairy crap here.

Au Pied de Cochon, Take Deux

I must say eating at Au Pied De Cochon was the best meal I've had this year. When I told my friend Ajeet, the foie gras freak that I was eating there, he insisted I get at least 2 dishes with foie gras, and by golly we got three. He also recommended I take Lipitor a few days before the meal, but instead, I hope the Bordeaux wine we had sopped up the fat from the meal.

Fougoo has already described the meal, but I thought I'd include my two cents. I would agree that the feel of the restaurant was really nice. Unlike Montreal's L'Express where I ate a few years back - the waiters at Au Pied de Cochon were not assholes. They seemed to even admire our offal-laden order.
Above is a pic of the Cochonnailles platter - basically all pork by-products including blood, liver, and sausage. We actually ordered this thinking it was another dish. . .maybe this is why we got the respect of our waiter.
The dish on the right was the Kidneys à la moutarde. I must say- I now understand why kidney is good to eat. My previous experience was with an "ammonia-flavored" kidney pie I had in Vegas- not so good. This dish, on the other hand, was flavorful, and the texture of the the kidney was firm and light.


Duck in a Can. This dish was a work of art. All the ingredients are canned, and the can is then cooked.
They brought this can with a can opener to the table. When they cracked it open, the delicious aroma was orgasmic.











They then poured the contents onto a bed of mashed potatoes and toast- the steam rising up from out of the can. Genius. So simple a concept resulting in amazing flavor. Our table pretty much finished this dish first.











Our dessert finale was the Pouding Chômeur, literally translated as a poor man's pudding. It was a sponge cake, like a biscuit, floating in a maple syrup soup. As I understand, this is a classically Canadian dessert. With my glass of whole milk, this was a great capper to our three hour meal event.

Au Pied de Cochon, Montreal

1000yregg, redneckhunter, his brother, and I took a post-Thanksgiving jaunt up to Montreal. Our mission was to eat at Au Pied de Cochon. After watching Bourdain eat something like 14 courses of pork, duck, and foie gras dishes on No Reservations we were obsessed with trying this place, and it lived up to its promise -- it was truly amazing. I think the others will agree that this was one of the most memorable meals we've ever had.

We began with three starters: foie gras poutine (above) -- the traditional Quebecoise comfort food of frites smothered with gravy and cheese curd, only this one was by far the best we'd ever had, not only because of the added richness of the foie gras, but because the cream-laden beef gravy was phenomenal; a charcuterie plate with sausage, several kinds of pate, blood pudding, pickled beets.

The third starter was my favorite: venison tongue with tarragon. This tongue displaced the tongue tacos from Tortilleria and Tacos as the best tongue I've ever had. So soft and tender it melted in your mouth served au jus and with a delicious mustard. I left the boys to devour the poutine and ate most of the tongue on my own.

Then we had three main dishes: the house specialty pied de cochon (pig's foot) with foie gras -- crispy thin skin covering falling-apart nuggets of pork and fat and softened gelatinous cartilage with foie gras served over garlic and cream mashed potatoes.


We also had canard in a can. This was my favorite of the main dishes -- the flavors of duck, foie gras, butter, red wine, garlic, and thyme blended so magically while steamed in that can -- it was such a surprise. 1000yregg literally gasped at the wonderful aroma that escaped when the waiter popped the hole in the can.

Our third main dish was kidneys with mustard. I'd never had kidney before, so I think I've discovered that it's not my favorite organ meat. The springy texture is not my thing -- I like chewy like tripe and soft like sweetbreads, and I adore gelatinous like tendon, but springy not so much... I know that 1000yregg was a fan, and a huge fan as well of our dessert, which I was too full to eat more than 2 bites of, so I'll let him wax poetic on those and other items in our meal.

One last thing - the atmosphere of the restaurant was another key to the utter joy of this meal. With the welcoming warmth of a brick oven and the welcoming warmth of the wait staff, not a hint of pretentiousness at all to this place. And with such good-looking stylish French waiters, I didn't even mind their overly touchy-feeliness.

High Tea at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise

Just a short post about high tea at Lake Louise -- gorgeous view, such an elegant setting for a civilized pasttime. It's all about the teeny sandwiches and desserts. My cousin's husband said, the sandwiches are so good, I'd want to just eat a big one, but I think there's something about the 2 bites that makes it perfect.

Tim Horton's

When we were up in Canada, we went to Tim Horton's, the largest fast food chain in all of Canada - eat it McDonald's. They sell primarily doughnuts and coffee, and despite the fact that Wendy's owns them, it's clear that the Canadian customers aren't there for Frosty's or chili.
The doughnuts were super-fresh, and despite the long wait, were well worth it. I loved the chocolate-banana cake doughnut as well as the maple frosted raised doughnut.
Canadians get homesick for Tim Horton's much in the same way I missed Dunkin Donuts when I live in Vegas. Horton's, dare I say, might be better than Dunkin Donuts.

American Gooseberries

In Canada, I discovered a new fruit. It showed up on top of a piece of chocolate banana pie at Canmore's Sage Bistro, a small yellow fruit with a tail of leaves. It looked like a small cherry with a texture of a tomato, but it's flavor was a little sour. It was a gooseberry, a fruit found in cooler areas on the west coast of North America.
I read up on the fruit, and there is a European version that looks more like a plum, but I really liked this fruit, so when we had a buffet at Hotel Lake Louise, and they were found scattered with the dessert platters, I ate a couple of them and got extras to have other people in our group to try.

Elk Filet at the Maple Leaf Grille

In Western Canada, eating out means beef, bison, or game meats. When we ate at the Maple Leaf Grille in Banff, the chef's Game Meat selection of the day was this Elk Filet wrapped in bacon.
Cooked medium rare, this slab of delicious animal was my favorite dish when we were in Canada.
I quite enjoyed the sides of beets as well. The Maple Leaf was another great Chowhound recommendation.

Maple Leaf in Banff, Canada

1000yregg and I went up to our family get-together in Alberta, Canada. (So I'll try not to duplicate posts with him.) One of our big dinners out with the clan was at the Maple Leaf in Banff.











Starters included my cousin's husband's artfully presented scallop and shrimp ceviche with champagne sorbet. My dungeness crab gazpacho was spiked with gin and chili oil -- I loved it -- just brought a nice tangy bite. And my boyfriend's a big believer all around in cooking with liquor.

Then my cousin's husband (who's not a big meat eater) went on to wild Atlantic salmon, and I had lamb shank served with a ragout of root vegetables and gnocchi. While it was good, to be honest it didn't compare with the falling-off-the-bone succulent lamb shank that used to be made at my beloved Jersey dive ethnic Aladdin's Palace. I preferred 1000yregg's bacon-wrapped elk filet, but I'll let him tell you about it himself.