I’ve updated the Montreal Restaurant List. A couple of places have been taken off the “to try” side, some to disappear forever some to make to the “done and worth going back side.” And there have been some additions to the “to try” side as well. I’ve also added a list of “Must Eat” dishes at some iconic restaurants in town.
Remember to print it up double-sided and keep it in your wallet so that you have it with you at all times when it might prove useful – that or download it to your phone. As per usual if you have any comments, suggestions or ideas, please feel free to email me at zeke@zeke.com. And if anyone is interested, the previous versions have been downloaded more than 2,300 times.
The second beercast/podcast on beer/Zekecast on beer, whatever. This time I’m drinking La Vache Folle Imperial Milk Stout from the Microbrasserie Charlevoix. Again there isn’t an awful lot about it on the internet.
Listen (17:18):
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La Vache Folle Imperial Milk Stout (close up of the head)
I bought mine at Epicerie Unique, 4109 Saint Laurent, in Montreal. Some other links you might like are Denis Reid, the artist who designed the label. The Wikipedia definition of Imperial stout. And then I would like to thank Brad Slyde for the background music.
La Vache Folle Imperial Milk Stout (front label)
The Cole’s notes version: It’s a really nice beer, the taste, smell and look do not go together as you would expect. But all of them are good. More designed to be drunk in the woods or wood cabin during the winter, it is nonetheless mighty tasty at the tail end of the summer. Black as night with 9% alcohol by volume, drink it slowly.
La Vache Folle Imperial Milk Stout (back label)La Vache Folle Imperial Milk Stout (in the glass)
It’s been a while. We jump from version 3.01 to 3.04. Numerous changes all over the place, both on the places to try side and on the worthwhile side. On top of that I also did some changes to the formatting. Hopefully, it will make it easier to read. Zeke’s October Montreal Restaurant List.
Remember to print it up double-sided and keep it in your wallet so that you have it with you at all times when it might prove useful – that or download it to your phone. And if anybody is interested the list has been downloaded about 830 times, so far.
Over at GQ, Jessie Cacciola mails in a fluff piece ostensibly an interview with Fred Morin and Dave McMillan on “cool” things in Montreal.
Unfortunately there are some mistakes. 1a. Wilensky’s serves more than a special. 1b. Yes you can get a special without cheese. 2. Someone in their graphics department decided that the Lasalle Rapids and the jetboating are in Old Montreal, when Dave specifically is quoted as saying “They have jet boating in Old Montréal, but you want to go to LaSalle.” 3. It’s Saint Henri, not Saint Henry, just like it’s David McMillan, not David MacMillan.
Then I’m kind of disappointed, they didn’t mention Au Cinquieme Peche for the seal, Bratwurst Colbeh for the brain sandwich, Chez Boris where you can get savory doughnuts, Chez Bouffe for the offal, Brisket’s for the seventeen different types of ground meat you can get as a hamburger, Dad’s Bagels for the 24/7 Indian food, Lawrence for just about anything on their menu, Paul Patates for the spruce beer, Pierrette Patates for the Michigo, Tripoli’s for the octopus and that’s just off the top of my head.
I don’t know why it blipped on my radar yesterday but this YouTube video of a three year-old episode from the Radio-Canada TV show L’épicerie on Fancy Fast Food Hamburgers was brought to my attention.
They did regular and fancy burgers at A&W, McDonalds, Burger King and Harvey’s noting that in general the fancy burgers were bigger, more expensive, saltier and fattier than the regular burgers while not being significantly better tasting – however they did note that the fancy burger at A&W was slightly better than the regular one.
[Edit 9h25:What a difference 18 months will do, I kind of thought I had seen the episode before, but couldn’t find it anywhere on Zeke Dot Com, so thought I hadn’t written about it. But I was mistaken. I previously wrote about it on a different website, oops! Apologies for the duplication.]
Yet another reason why not to go to a restaurant immediately after their grand opening. Back in June, a bunch of us went to La Belle et La Boeuf. Their grand opening 9sorry you need to be signed in to Facebook to see the pictures) was at the beginning of April, and my rule of thumb is three months to work out all the kinks, get the staff working together as a team and in general have it working as a well oiled machine.
While for most people the experience in June was fine, I ended up having to send back not one, but two burgers (and man do I hate wasting food) because they weren’t cooked properly, and for the most of our evening the service was nowhere near up to snuff. But word got back to management, and I received an invitation for a make over, a second chance, a redo, or if you prefer a chance to wipe the slate clean and start over. They were offering free burgers in order to show us that the previous time had been an anomaly.
It only took us a month to get our act together (and we almost didn’t!) but by then, La Belle et La Boeuf, had passed the three month probationary period and on the surface it seemed like everything would work out. The first sign that things would work out, was that my name had been circled in the reservation book. I wasn’t certain if I should be honored, scared or or if it was merely do alert the staff. I’m kind of used to being noticed and recognized in restaurants, but I do think that this was the first time I had been felt a tinge of embarrassment upon sitting down (I was the last one to arrive, and as a consequence everyone else pointed out and/or asked if I had seen that my name had been circled). I think I was able to stop the blush before it reached my Adam’s apple.
The second sign that everything would work out was immediately upon sitting down, I was asked what I would like to drink. The first time we had been there, they hadn’t received their liquor license. Liquor with my meal, while not a deal breaker, does go a long way to making bad situation easier to handle. Back in June without any liquor, it was kind of like they were flying without a safety net. I got a pint of Okanagan Spring which is distributed here in by Sleeman’s Quebec (aka Unibroue), which in turn is owned by Sapporo.
Okagnagan Spring Beer at La Belle et La Boeuf
Some of my dinner companions decided to go all girly (it’s a good thing that they are all women) and ordered a pitcher of Rose Sangria. Thankfully my manhood wasn’t questioned and no one offered (or forced) me to taste it. I was told on very good authority though that it was delicious, but since I have hair on my chest that I am proud of, sing with the worst tenor voice you have every heard in your life and can grow both sideburns and a mustache (but won’t anymore) I wouldn’t be caught dead drinking something like that.
Rose Sangria at La Belle et La Boeuf
You can judge for yourself.
But we weren’t there for the drinks, we were there for the burgers. La Belle et La Boeuf makes their burgers from 8 ounces of Certified Angus Beef from Alberta that as they point out has never been frozen. They specify the shoulder, I would think Chuck, but translating cuts of beef from English to French is never an easy thing. So take whatever I say with a large grain of salt.
Since this was a free pass, I decided to leave my comfort zone and try something unusual that I would normally never ever order (kind of like the Rose Sangria, but in a meat form). La Belle et La Boeuf offers eighteen (18) different types of burgers ranging on price from $10.95 to $29.95. The low end of the price spectrum gets you a standard issue burger, with lettuce, tomato and onion. As you move through the range of offerings they offer additions like Monterey Jack cheese, fried eggs, peanut butter, Meyer lemon mustard, Brie cheese, an eggplant puree, grilled pineapple and a bunch of other things as well. I’m certain that if you wished you could get a burger with the items in the Calimero (fried egg, smoked bacon, lettuce, onion and mayo) with that of the Goldorak (Mozzarella, pepperoni, merguez, spiced ground beef(?), homemade tomato sauce and fried onions) to make some kind of Manga Super Chicken Robot burger. Or if you prefer the Calimero and the Billy Idol (caramelized onions, grilled pineapple, sunflower greens, blue cheese, guacamole and a dijon mayonaise) into a Funky Chicken burger. Personally, this time I chose a Calimero, there was something appealing about the fried egg, with peanut butter (I’ve been kind of going through a phase recently…). As you might expect I ordered it rare.
Calimero Burger with Peanut Butter at La Belle et La Boeuf
As you can see I ordered mine with onion rings instead of french fries, and behind that behemoth is a quarter of a kool-aid pickle
My dining companions ordered La Boeuf (cheese sauce, jalapenos, red pepper and blue corn chips), the fish burger(!) – she also was the one drinking the Rose Sangria, The OMG burger (double patty, American cheese in both colors, onion rings, extra bacon, tomato, onion, lettuce and a mustard-y mayo), La Belle (Brie and Monterey Jack cheese, fig jelly, arugula and caramelized onions) and a Classic with bacon and cheese (onion, tomato and lettuce).
Half of a very rare Calimero Burger with Peanut Butter at La Belle et La Boeuf
Judging from the time stamps on the pictures I took, it appears that the burgers took about 8 minutes to appear. There are benefits to getting your name circled in the reservation book. As you can see my burger came exactly as ordered and was particularly delicious, or if you will allow me, a particularly sloppy and messy delicious taste sensation that accomplished just about everything I asked of it. There’s nothing like reverting back to my inner adolescent while scarfing down a fairly decadent burger to put a large smile on my face (along with some egg yolk, peanut butter and spicy mayonnaise, thankfully there were napkins available).
While I am not 100% certain that everyone at the table was as happy, sated and satisfied as I was with their burgers, I believe it due more to the fact that I was kind of on top of the world, and in relative terms they were just above the arctic circle. Or in plainer language, I really really enjoyed the experience and I think everyone else only really enjoyed it. In speaking of the experience, I should mention that La Belle et La Boeuf is in a new building (as is everything at Centropolis) that has exposed brick walls, something like a 25 foot ceiling, and has been designed to evoke some kind of retro feel. Although it is not an age, era or period specific feel (or at least I didn’t think it was) more like, “there’s something old, lets put it on the shelves! It’ll add atmosphere.” It appears to be geared to young professionals and students living in Laval (or at least that’s what the crowd looked like on the nights I was there. I wasn’t quite the oldest one in the restaurant, but lets say the next oldest) and as a consequence the music can get kind of loud and there are TVs on the wall. They also have a small-ish terrace that looks out on Centropolis if you want to eat outdoors. My preference when eating outdoors is to eat someplace where there are plants and trees and grass, but that’s just me.
There’s a new and updated list of restaurants to try, and worth going back to on the right over there. Not an awful lot of change from May, because there isn’t an awful lot of space. For whatever reasons, I’ve been going to old and familiar places recently and as a consequence not trying too many new places.
On Tuesday I was invited to go to the Table of Hope. It’s an annual event that raises money for Share the Warmth. This year they raised over $185,000.
The Stage for the cocktails at Table of HopeThe celebrities at the cocktails for the Table of HopeFancy hats at the cocktails for the Table of HopeMore (large) celebrities at the cocktail for the Table of HopeThe goodie bags at the cocktail for the Table of HopeThe food at the Table of HopeThe food at the Table of HopeThe food at the Table of HopeThe food at the Table of HopeThe food at the Table of HopeThe food at the Table of HopeThe food at the Table of HopeThe food at the Table of HopeThe food at the Table of HopeThe food at the Table of Hope
While both newspapers are well meaning they don’t quite get everything perfect. In the Globe they imply that adding salt while you’re making the patty is alright (it isn’t). When you salt before the patty is made your burgers end up looking and tasting like a “solid, rubbery object that would look more at home on an alien autopsy table.” They also think that pan frying on a hot grill is better than a straight grill, and that there is no difference between gas and charcoal (again they’re wrong on both counts). With regards to grill versus pan,
The real secret to the flavor of grilled food… is the drippings. Dribbles of juice laden with natural sugars, proteins and oils fall onto the hot coals and burst into smoke and flame. By catalyzing the myriad chemical reactions, the intense heat forges these charred juices into molecules that convey the aromas of grilling food. These new molecules literally go up in smoke, coating the food with the unmistakable flavor of grilled food. – (Vol2, pg 12 Modernist Cuisine)
Then with regards to gas versus charcoal, a gas grill is never going to give radiant heat as good or effectively as charcoal, and radiant heat is the way to go when grilling.
The title says it all. I’m just surprised that it took this long for someone to do a tumblr of the President eating hamburgers, he’s been president of the United States for 1,217 days already.
