GOAT

I had the luck to be in Montreal this past February for Cochon's once-a-year brunch service. If you can be in the area around February of next year, I would highly recommend making the trek. It was one of the most interesting/fun/filling dining experiences I've ever had. It was $50 per person, all you could eat, all the beer you could drink. It was all communal seating with reservations starting at 10am and going until 2pm I think. My wife and I went at 10:30am and proceeded to be inendated with pitchers of beer and plates of food. Here's a list from what I can remember: Buckwheat pancakes with molassess Soft boil egg with toast for dipping Endive salad with blue cheese and apples Shark soup Pork Loin carved tableside with peppercorn gravy Cured Salmon Baked beans with rabbit (served in a big mason jar with a wooden spoon) Whole pork belly (yes...I said WHOLE pork belly) Maple syrup roasted Quail (served with talons still intact, hanging from pine tree branches connected to a wooden pole...looked sort of like a Christmas tree) The food was awesome and almost everything was done family style. The pork belly was brought out and placed on the table with a steak knive dug into it. Everyone took turns ripping pieces off for each other. People were eating the quail sans utensils, just ro I think the communal seating added to the fun, with everyone talking about the food, sharing the food, passing pitchers of beer. It was a serious food event in a completely carefree environment.

Just returned from a great week in Spain and a very good lunch at Can Roca. Our Menu (doing it from memory...) Snacks: salt cod puffs peanut brittle crunchy black olive balsamic filled tomato red wine vinegar gelee in baby zucchini --nice start to the meal and arrived within minutes of sitting along with a glass of Cava. The tomatoes were served on popsicle sticks and were injected with balsamic. The peanut brittle was more sweet than savory, which I found to be odd to start a meal, but regarless, was quite good. The baby zucchini were the smallest baby veg I've seen, no more than an inch in length, hollowed out and filled with the gelee Trio: pidgeon parfait, foie gras and fig tarlet, raw cockle in sea water --the foie and fig tartlet was delicious and a great pairing. The raw cockle had strong fish flavor which I liked but my wife hated. The pidgeon tasting very much like a pate covered in some sort of gelee that I could not distinguish. First course: Foie Gras Torchon with salad of black truffle vin and sliced black truffles --great dish and a nice sized serving. What is not to love about eating a big slice of black truffle with foie? Second Course: Smoked Eggplant Souffle with sardines and anchovy oil --definitely my least favorite dish. The smoke filled dome made for an interesting presentation (as other diners pictures above can show) but it really wasn't a souffle, more like a pudding and had a really strong fish flavor from both the sardines and the anchovy oil and had nothing to really balance it out. Third Course: Pan Seared Skate (can't remember sauce) --very simple dish but really good. The simplicity is interesting when comparing earlier courses, but again, a large serving of perfectly seasoned food. Fourth Course: Roasted Suckling Pig with grilled melon --my favorite course. Simple again, but crispy skin like the top of a creme brulee with deliciously fatty pork meat...the way pork is supposed to taste like. The sweetness of the melon was a nice contrast and the portion again was suprsingly large. First Dessert: DKNY Be Delicious --very interesting concept. The perfume has a strong apple scent, so obviously the dessert focused on apples. Frozen little balls of apple with a sort of loose apple gelee and edible flowers. The dessert had a strong cinnamon flavor that I did not find in the scent of the perfume, which they provide with the dessert for comparison. Second Dessert: Lactic Dessert --has others have said, this is a great dessert. Variations of "lactic," in this case, sheeps milk. The cotton candy added nice sweetness and interesting texture and the orange "sheet" added some nice citrus. Petit Fours: White Chocolate w/ Fennel seeds, dark chocolate truffle, strawberry and raspberry jellies --nice way to end the meal with the sheet of white chocolate presented stuck in a whisk on a small wooden block. The overall experience was fantastic. Service was on point from the time we sat down to the time we left except for the fact that we waiting so long for the bill we had to call a server over to ask for it. Besides that, the servers were all extremely friendly and accomodating and Joan (the GM) came over and talked to us briefly about the meal.

Does anyone know the difference in number of courses between the most expensive lunch menu (78 I believe) and the less expensive menu, which I think is called seasonal? I made reservations for early October and I am on a tight budget and I'm just trying to figure out if I should go with the seasonal tasting with wine pairings or the more expensive without wine pairings. I appreciate the help...