162 replies to this topic

[iharrison]

Ploye de Champlain, cipaille, "hot doy" and foie gras pizza ... again and again and again ...

[gus_tatory]

venison tartare, appetizer size, with frites and home-made mayo... drool.

this makes me sound soo boring, but i order that--no matter what else i order--every time i go...

[MaeveH]

I second the cromesquis (a must!), plogue de champlain, and I'd also suggest the boudin/foie gras pizza. And for next year (when they're in season again) the fried zucchini blossoms are lovely.

[Simon Patrice]

venison tartare, appetizer size, with frites and home-made mayo... drool.

this makes me sound soo boring, but i order that--no matter what else i order--every time i go...

Is it really an appetizer size or will I be full for the whole night?

As for the cromesquis I had forgotten to write them but I also think you cannot go there without eating some.

Edited by Simon Patrice, 07 November 2006 - 02:02 PM.

[Bon Appetit Cookbooks]

Last time I was there, we had the Potee
It was awsome. The Boudin was amazing.
Had the Foie Gras Hamburger which was very tasty.
Next time it'll be the Pied stuffed with Foie...will have to really prep the body for that.
One of my favorites was the Foie Gras and Salmon Maki from the summer.
THAT was the best.

[iharrison]

I had the cassoulet last night ... wow.

Leftovers in the fridge

[Simon Patrice]

I had the cassoulet last night ... wow.

Leftovers in the fridge 

What's Martin Picard's take on cassoulet. Could you describe the dish a bit? Is it new of this year?

Thanks!

[iharrison]

I had the cassoulet last night ... wow.

Leftovers in the fridge 

What's Martin Picard's take on cassoulet. Could you describe the dish a bit? Is it new of this year?

Thanks!

They serve it in the same clay bowl as the cipaille. The cassoulet is chock full of white haricot beans, quite saucy and porky. A confited duck leg was immersed in the bowl and sticking out rather nicely.

[Daniel]

I had the cassoulet two weeks ago.. I really enjoyed it too. Actually I will put my review of the restaurant here.. I felt that it was sweeter then any version I have had.. I think he made it really a local dish by perhaps adding maple syrup to his beans..

We started with the Foie Gras Poutine and the APDC Salad..

Hand cut french fries, with cheese curd, a Poutine Sauce with Foie Gras, Eggs, and Cream blended in.. And then topped with this huge chunk of Foie.. I am thinking it weighed somewhere around 3 ounces.. It was the type of thing where we split this dish and we found it difficult to finish the Foie.. And the sauce was just so rich..Mind you I made this dish the Tuesday I got home this week..



The salad was bitter greens with the foot of the pig (meat and cartiledge)mixed with mustard and breaded and fried.. This was something very similiar to a salad I had in France.. I wonder if it was wrapped in Suet.. I have the cookbook so will double check.. But when you cracked opened this hot fried square, the meat and collagen had liquefied and spilled out.. It was delicious.. There were walnuts as well.. However, if I have one criticism, however small, its real.. They put these really sickly looking tomatoes on the plate.. Granted, good luck finding a tomato this time of year, but then dont use them.. I have seen ok looking cherry tomatoes, or find something else.. I didnt eat them..



This is the liquid coming out..



For our main we split the Cassoulet.. Again, there were so many choices, the Duck in the Can, Foie Gras stuffed pigs foot, really, anything from the menu sounded awesome.. Our waiter suggested the Cassoulet, a special that is normally not on the menu.. Mind you, at this point, I was so Foie'd to my Face, I was ready to go to bed.. It was delicious.. Sweeter then I am use to.. I am willing to bet he used maple syrup in the dish.. Making this a truly Canadian dish.. It was really good.. The duck was leg sticking up was perfect.. There was all sorts of really tasty sausage.. The sweetness through me off for a little, but I adjusted quickly..



At this point, we got a new waiter.. The guy who forgot our pre-app left with out saying good bye or just letting us know.. We got a really cool waiter.. In fact, at this point we had ordered coffee and some shots of Jameson.. He brought over a Shaker with three shot glass and decided to take a few shots of this drink he made.. It was really good.. We then went to coffee, whiskey and

This was that maple syrup pudding.. Fantastic.. I made this the Tuesday I got home also..



Bite:



The place was really great.. I love his food, I love his vision, I love his boldness.. But besides being daring or different, the food is really good.. We sat and had a few more drinks after dinner.. And on our way out we purchased his cookbook.. Which by the way is the most entertaining cook book I have ever seen...It was surreal to think, we woke up in New York this morning, worked almost a full day and here we are in another country with people speaking French all around us by dinner... So cool.. It was now about 130 am.. We went back to the hotel and hung at the bar for a little and read the cookbook we just purchased.

[Simon Patrice]

I went back to APDC on thursday (birthday gift, yayyyyyy!!!) It was probably one of the best times there for me. For aps, I had the cromesquis (delightful as usual), the venison tartar (great texture) but the highlight for me was a new dish they were making that night which wasn't on the menu. Foie gras à la moelle. From bottom to top of the plate: salsifis poêlés, trompettes de la mort mushroom with port on top of them, a marrow bone, a large crouton, 100g. of foie gras, a poached egg still very runny, slices of 4 year old Ile-aux-grues cheddar, a tiny bit of lemon zest and some chives. Add a bit of cranberries around the plate topped with the fat rendered(sp?) by the foie during its cooking and you've got a perfect dish.

I, of course, finished the night with the usual pouding chômeur.

So many thanks to Martin Picard and his staff for another great night!

[gus_tatory]

I went back to APDC on thursday (birthday gift, yayyyyyy!!!)... edited for brevity
So many thanks to Martin Picard and his staff for another great night!

Happy Birthday Simon Patrice, and that sounds like you had an awesome meal...

[Latelier]

I just bought the new PDC cookbook from a local shop. I noticed that it's not available at amazon and the like so I'll post a review shortly for the benefit of out ot towners...

[FlavoursGal]

I was at PDC for the first time last week. WOW!!! My daughter, not the most adventurous eater, had the beets with goat cheese, which was great, and the magret de canard with sauteed mushrooms, very good as well.

I had (don't laugh, but I thought it was an appetizer when I ordered it, and only realized when I was leafing through the PDC book later that it's a main course!) the Plogue de Champlain, which I absolutely adored! It's a stack with, from bottom up, a buckwheat pancake, sliced potatoes, smoked bacon, melted cheese, topped with seared foie gras, with a sauce made of maple syrup and glace de canard. Truly an amazing dish (and I'm not usually fond of sweet sauces).

For main course (since the Plogue was my entree!!!), I had the Duck in a Can. It was great, but oh, so rich! By this time I was kind of foie gras-ed overdosing, so I took a doggie bag and ate it for lunch the next day - COLD!

For dessert we had the Pouding Chomeur and the Creme Brulee.

What a wonderful, laid-back evening we had. The service was charming, and we were seated in the perfect spot - able to view the goings-on in the kitchen and at the wood oven.

When Chef Picard happened by, I told him he was a genius. His response: "I'll give you my mother's phone number, and you can tell HER that!"

By the way, I did buy the book ($60), and it's like no other I've ever seen. It's truly a delight to read and to browse through. The photos and the layout are fabulous.

Edited by FlavoursGal, 24 November 2006 - 06:01 PM.

[iharrison]

I just bought the new PDC cookbook from a local shop. I noticed that it's not available at amazon and the like so I'll post a review shortly for the benefit of out ot towners...

Do it in Food Media & News ... there's a running thread about the book there.

[davecap]

We had another great dinner there this past weekend.

We started with the cromesquis - two orders! Man are they the best.

We also had the tomato tart - great flavor coming out of the wood buring oven. We also had the beet and goat cheese salad. Huge portions - just like everything else there. Great flavor again.

For dinner my wife had the pork chop with the mushroom sauce - great rich sauce perfect for a cold night in MOntreal. The Fred Flintstone chop bone was hanging over the edge of the plate. I had the duck in a can - was very tasty - though the duck was a little tough. We get there so infrequently that I forced myself to wolf every bite down.

My daughter had some bread and butter - she loved it - ate almost the whole basket herself - and was putting the butter on by the spoonful. She was content to sit there and watch everyone and drink some milk.

We had also ordered some of the fries, but they were underwhelming - not as crisp as I would have liked.

No wine - just a couple of tasty beers - Saint Ambrose (sp) pale ale. I was in the mood for a beer after driving, but I think wine would have been a better choice.

Overall, a very tasty meal. I think the pricing is very reasonable for what you are getting, especially with a little help from the exchange rate.

[Eric_Malson]

I just returned from a weekend in Montreal, and Au Pied du Cochon was definitely the culinary highlight of the trip.

I went with my friend Kathy, who plays violin in the Montreal Symphony, and enjoys a wonderful food experience as much or more than I do (!). We started with the plogue à Champlain appetizer, which is a buckwheat crepe with bacon, sliced potato, cheddar cheese and foie gras, with a sauce of jus de viande and maple syrup (!). Main course was pied de cochon, but, as noted earlier in the thread, it wasn't just the pig's foot, but the whole shank, run under the broiler and served on a huge oval platter with a saute of probably a half dozen vegetables, mashed potatoes with roasted garlic and cheese curds (a kind of mashed poutine) and a cream gravy. The whole delicious mess was topped with a couple of slices of seared foie gras. A Morgon Vieilles Vignes red was, for me, the perfect accompaniment. (There are some really serious wines on their list, but of course as poor, starving musicians--well, maybe not quite starving after that meal--we couldn't possibly afford them!)

The meal was capped by the best dessert I've had in ages, the pudding chômeur, a baked pudding of cake in the center surrounded by a bubbling maple syrup and butter sauce. The whole meal was totally over the top--sort of a riot of flavors, none of which seem like they should work together, but somehow do.

[Chris Amirault]

Any updates? Must haves? Must avoids?

[Jake]

I should be able to tell you after the coming weekend!

[rcianci]

Any updates? Must haves? Must avoids?

APdC has a new website featuring a current menu (more or less) with prices.

Au Pied de Cochon

Summer is the time for their magnificent seafood platters.

If you get the Guédille (lobster roll), ask them not to melt any aged cheddar over it. IMO, the super sharp cheese overpowers the lobster and salt-cured foie gras.

Edited by rcianci, 06 June 2007 - 08:24 PM.

[Chris Amirault]

Say more about the seafood platters.

[rcianci]

Say more about the seafood platters.

Plenty has been written about them already. Picard and staff go to heroic lengths to establish private supply lines for their seafood. The results are pricey but wonderful. The platters are huge multi-tiered affairs with raw and cooked seafood. Sweet and meaty clams, fresh like I haven't had in over 35 years, oysters plump and briny and tasting simply of the sea, oddities (to me anyway) like whelks and periwinkles, cooked mussels, crab legs, lobster claws, crayfish, raw shrimp, succulent soft shell crab tempura.

[fchrisgrimm]

Chris, depending on when you are going...

Foie gras pizza is a great ap. The apple tart with foie gras is sublime.

On one trip I did get the stuffed pigs foot, but it is huge. That said, I don't think I've ever not gotten pork.

[rcianci]

The apple tart with foie gras is indeed fine. The Cochonnailles platter, with pate, terrine, cretons, sausages, pickled egg and sometimes pickled venison tongue is also very, very good.

Getting back to seafood, the PDC monster lobster, stuffed with fresh vegetables and served with hollandaise enriched with tomalley and roe is fantastic. Also, if they've doing it this year, I can recommend the lobster poutine. Fries, cheese curds, lobster gravy, topped with lobster claw meat.

[EmilyG]

I'm planning an early July drive up to Montreal, mainly to eat at APdC. Am I going to be able to get reservations, or am I too late?

Anyone know what the PDC grilled cheese is?

Thanks in advance for any info. I can't wait to go!

[Snackhappy]

I suggest you cal them. They would know more than us what their booking situation is.

514.281.1114

[Chris Amirault]

Do call: we just made reservations for mid-July with no trouble at all.

[EmilyG]

Thanks, Chris. I will be sure to post about my experience in order to whet your appetite.

[Chris Amirault]

Say more about the seafood platters.

Plenty has been written about them already. Picard and staff go to heroic lengths to establish private supply lines for their seafood. The results are pricey but wonderful. The platters are huge multi-tiered affairs with raw and cooked seafood. Sweet and meaty clams, fresh like I haven't had in over 35 years, oysters plump and briny and tasting simply of the sea, oddities (to me anyway) like whelks and periwinkles, cooked mussels, crab legs, lobster claws, crayfish, raw shrimp, succulent soft shell crab tempura.

Thanks for this. I've been snooping through the website and can't get a sense of the differences among those seafood platters. Are they simply about different amounts of the same items, or do some have things others lack?

[rcianci]

Thanks for this. I've been snooping through the website and can't get a sense of the differences among those seafood platters. Are they simply about different amounts of the same items, or do some have things others lack?

My PDC seafood platter experience was a couple of years ago. My impression then was that all the platters varied greatly based on availability of product. Please know that there's an element of spontaneity if not downright chaos involved in dining at Au Pied. Picard once said "The fewer your expectations, the better your (dining) experience." Perhaps someone with a more recent experience could give you a better answer than this or perhaps your question would be best answered by your server at the restaurant.

Edited by rcianci, 16 June 2007 - 06:01 PM.

[Chris Amirault]

Picard once said "The fewer your expectations, the better your (dining) experience."

Picard was a smart man. Thanks.