Montreal Restaurant Recommendations

[cheryl]

Snowdon Deli is not in the same league as Schwartz's. It's not as fatty, but it's not worth running there for (although personally, I prefer Lester's, which is not too far from St. Viateur bagels).

As for Joe Beef or au Pied, you will definitely need reservations at whichever one you choose, if it's for Saturday night.

[davecap]

By the way is Au Pied du Cochon, the foot of the pig? - you got it!

I forgot to mention while we were there, we saw a duck confit dish- a huge amount of food - they bring out a can of duck confit, that I think they make themselves, and open and pour it on your plate and it looked amazing. I am not giving it the description it needs, but may be worth a try.

Have a good trip!

[Daniel]

Thanks.. We have also heard good things about Lesters.. I think a pastrami/poutin crawl might be in order.. We really liked Europea too.. How would these places hold up to Europea?

Edited November 3, 2006 by Daniel (log)

[Daniel]

By the way is Au Pied du Cochon, the foot of the pig? - you got it!

I forgot to mention while we were there, we saw a duck confit dish- a huge amount of food - they bring out a can of duck confit, that I think they make themselves, and open and pour it on your plate and it looked amazing.  I am not giving it the description it needs, but may be worth a try.

Have a good trip!

←

Haha.. Thanks Dave.. Opening a can of food and plopping it on the plate is the first image that comes to mind.. However, as you say, I am sure thats not how it went.. Its just very funny to imagine it.. Maybe I can do a Joe Beef for lunch and a Au Pied du Cochon for dinner..

[Campofiorin]

I don' t think that any of the two is opened for lunch especially on the weekend.

[Daniel]

Hey Daniel, the place you're referring to for foie gras poutine is Au Pied de Cochon on Duluth true québécois cuisine with a definite flare. For you regular poutine search no more, La Banquise is the place, it's located on Rachel street between St-Hubert and Christophe-Colomb.

As for your sat. dinner, you might be interested in Joe Beef in St-Henri that dies really well with local products and also excels at fish and seafood. I'm also very keen on Jolifou on Beaubien (corner of Cartier) where the food is french with a definite mexican twist. Prices are good.

Also, I don't know if you've ever been but Marché Jean-Talon is IMHO a notch above Atwater but it depends what you're looking for. Many butcher shops a couple of good local cheese shops, Marché des saveurs where you'll find Québec "terroir" products as well as local wine, honey wine, beer and ice cider, some italian shops, a saussage shop, a polish baker and so on.

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French with a Mexican Twist.. I dont know if I am ready for that. But I would be into trying those other markets.. Thanks for your suggestions..

[rcianci]

By the way is Au Pied du Cochon, the foot of the pig? - you got it!

I forgot to mention while we were there, we saw a duck confit dish- a huge amount of food - they bring out a can of duck confit, that I think they make themselves, and open and pour it on your plate and it looked amazing.  I am not giving it the description it needs, but may be worth a try.

Have a good trip!

←

Haha.. Thanks Dave.. Opening a can of food and plopping it on the plate is the first image that comes to mind.. However, as you say, I am sure thats not how it went.. Its just very funny to imagine it.. Maybe I can do a Joe Beef for lunch and a Au Pied du Cochon for dinner..

←

Actually, that's exactly how it goes. They bring out a big can. Open it with a can opener and dump it over a crouton spread with celery root puree that's waiting on your plate. The duck breast and foie gras are canned in-house. Martin Picard, the chef at APdC, has quite the sense of humor.

Also Joe Beef doesn't serve lunch. Neither does Au Pied de Cochon.

Edited November 4, 2006 by rcianci (log)

[rcianci]

Hey Daniel, the place you're referring to for foie gras poutine is Au Pied de Cochon on Duluth true québécois cuisine with a definite flare. For you regular poutine search no more, La Banquise is the place, it's located on Rachel street between St-Hubert and Christophe-Colomb.

As for your sat. dinner, you might be interested in Joe Beef in St-Henri that dies really well with local products and also excels at fish and seafood. I'm also very keen on Jolifou on Beaubien (corner of Cartier) where the food is french with a definite mexican twist. Prices are good.

Also, I don't know if you've ever been but Marché Jean-Talon is IMHO a notch above Atwater but it depends what you're looking for. Many butcher shops a couple of good local cheese shops, Marché des saveurs where you'll find Québec "terroir" products as well as local wine, honey wine, beer and ice cider, some italian shops, a saussage shop, a polish baker and so on.

←

French with a Mexican Twist.. I dont know if I am ready for that. But I would be into trying those other markets.. Thanks for your suggestions..

←

The chef at Jolifou did a stage at Coyote Cafe. So his food is French with a U.S. Southwestern twist. It's not Tex-Mex by any stretch of the imagination.

Edited November 3, 2006 by rcianci (log)

[Daniel]

Just got in the door.. What an awesome weekend.. Thank you everyone for your suggestions.. Friday we went to Au Pied de Cochon, Saturday we went to Snowden Deli and Joe Beef.. Today we woke up and had a couple of beers and some Poutins at La Banquis around 9 am.. Then went to Jean-Tallon and filled up the car with everything from Moose, Deer, Caribou, Lamb, All sorts of Pig,Pigeons, Various Mushrooms, Sausages, Whole Duck Livers,Ducks,Pate, Wines, Whiskey,and various cheeses.. What a great trip and a wonderful city.. Thanks for all your help.. I will post my reviews and photos in a little..

Edited November 6, 2006 by Daniel (log)

[porkpa]

Daniel,

How in the world did you get your purchases over the border? There is a prohibition on many food products, especially meats coming from Canada to the US. I wonder if these restrictions have been removed.

Porkpa

[Daniel]

I myself didnt bring any of these products home.. I just bought them for a friend living in Canada.. But if one were to bring things across the border..

I would say to put meat and cheeses in places like the glove compartment

Or the center console of your car..

Under the spare tire would be a good place too..

Then have a cooler and after you cross the border stop at a gass station and get ice or something.. But if it is illegal I would tell you not to do it.. Thankfully we did not..

This is like half the products we bought for our Canadian friends.

Edited November 6, 2006 by Daniel (log)

[Jake]

Daniel, glad you enjoyed Montreal.....and I'm sure your "Canadian" friends appreciated your generosity. What cheeses did you purchase for them? I hope you were able to get some of the fabulous raw milk cheeses.

What did you think of Snowden? I prefer Schwartz's personally, and I understand Lesters, although popular, is industrially curing the smoked meat now and the quality is the same as the cryovacced stuff shipped all over the place.

Do tell us about your dinneras at APdeC and Joe Beef.....

[Daniel]

I really liked Snowden a lot.. For me it reminded me of a Deli in my hometown.. The smells of chicken soup even at 830 in the morning were a good sign.. I prefer it to Shwartz's.. But when I have photos and time I will do a whole review and an explanation as to why..

Thanks to our waitress at Joe Beef, she told us to go to Fromagerie Hamel

Fortunately our counter guy did speak English to us, unfortunately he was only working there a month.. I dont think he had much experience before he got his job there.. But because of there policy to encourage tasting before you buy, we did really well.. Our first cheese we purchased was the beautiful triple cream. A Bourgnone of some kind.. Next we purchased a huge like 20 dollar block of Parm.. Then we bought a Blue Goat/Cow Cheese which was really strong.. Then we bought this super creamy Roquefort, obviously we got about three bags of Curds or Squeeky Cheese.. (I bought the cookbook at Pied de Cochon and will be making the Foie Gras Poutin ) Then there was this cheese that has won several awards.. Divers Au Poids?And I got this one cheese from France that was very Winey..The name escapes me but it had a moderately strong taste of wine.It was the Tomme Savoie Au Marc..

I plan on doing a detailed review of Joe and Pig Foot .. I have taken pictures and will post with in the next couple of days..

[iharrison]

I really liked Snowden a lot.. For me it reminded me of a Deli in my hometown.. The smells of chicken soup even at 830 in the morning were a good sign.. I prefer it to Shwartz's.. But when I have photos and time I will do a whole review and an explanation as to why..

Thanks to our waitress at Joe Beef, she told us to go to Fromagerie Hamel

Fortunately our counter guy did speak English to us, unfortunately he was only working there a month.. I dont think he had much experience before he got his job there.. But because of there policy to encourage tasting before you buy, we did really well.. Our first cheese we purchased was the beautiful triple cream. A Bourgnone of some kind.. Next we purchased a huge like 20 dollar block of Parm.. Then we bought a Blue Goat/Cow Cheese which was really strong.. Then we bought this super creamy Roquefort, obviously we got about three bags of Curds or Squeeky Cheese.. (I bought the cookbook at Pied de Cochon and will be making the Foie Gras Poutin  ) Then there was this cheese that has won several awards.. Divers Au Poids?And I got this one cheese from France that was very Winey..The name escapes me but it had a moderately strong taste of wine.It was the Tomme Savoie Au Marc..

I plan on doing a detailed review of Joe and Pig Foot  .. I have taken pictures and will post with in the next couple of days..

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Thank you for the great report Daniel! Beautiful pictures.

I just hope your preference for Snowdon Deli over Schwartz's had more to do with ambiance, the pickles, the service, hell, the salami and eggs ... anything but the smoked meat.

Be careful with your spelling of Poutine. "Poutin" is awfully close to "putain" ...

[riboflavinjoe]

be careful you don't spell it as "poontang" too

[Daniel]

Haha.. So my spelling is off.. But I think I got the right idea.. This was from last nights dinner.. Using the cookbook I made the Foie Gras Poutine.. Oh boy, I had to inject my gout medication directly into my heart after this one..

To make the Poutine Sauce I used a mix I bought at the store up in Montreal.. I confess.. To this sauce I added, foie gras, eggs, and cream.. It was still really delicious..

Edited November 8, 2006 by Daniel (log)

[Campofiorin]

I really liked Snowden a lot.. For me it reminded me of a Deli in my hometown.. The smells of chicken soup even at 830 in the morning were a good sign.. I prefer it to Shwartz's.. But when I have photos and time I will do a whole review and an explanation as to why..

Thanks to our waitress at Joe Beef, she told us to go to Fromagerie Hamel

Fortunately our counter guy did speak English to us, unfortunately he was only working there a month.. I dont think he had much experience before he got his job there.. But because of there policy to encourage tasting before you buy, we did really well.. Our first cheese we purchased was the beautiful triple cream. A Bourgnone of some kind.. Next we purchased a huge like 20 dollar block of Parm.. Then we bought a Blue Goat/Cow Cheese which was really strong.. Then we bought this super creamy Roquefort, obviously we got about three bags of Curds or Squeeky Cheese.. (I bought the cookbook at Pied de Cochon and will be making the Foie Gras Poutin  ) Then there was this cheese that has won several awards.. Divers Au Poids?And I got this one cheese from France that was very Winey..The name escapes me but it had a moderately strong taste of wine.It was the Tomme Savoie Au Marc..

I plan on doing a detailed review of Joe and Pig Foot  .. I have taken pictures and will post with in the next couple of days..

←

The cheese that won many awards is probably not named Divers au poids as it litteraly means various by the weight meaning that the name of the cheese was not in the computer's system and was tagged various.

[Daniel]

Haha.. I am not fluent yet.. Thank you..

[Daniel]

Day 1:

So while our computers are down over here I can sneak in our weekend trip.. It really was a wonderful time and it seems like it was a lot longer then just a few days ago.. We left New York around 4 pm on Friday and headed to Montreal.. It took us right about 5 hours.. Fortunately, on the drive there was very little to no traffic heading up.. No tickets going up! We arrived at our Hotel, the Sheraton that we purchased on Priceline.com for 60 bucks.. After a quick unpack and a quick drink from the minibar, we were in a taxi heading towards APDC.. Au Pied De Cochon.. We arrived at 10 to a packed restaurant. With a reservation, there was only one table available in the restaurant..

I really having not heard anything about this place besides the Foie Gras Poutine rumor I heard two years ago.. So thank you for your suggestions..This place is really great.. You can tell the chef has a love and respect for animals and food.. The menu is very bold, there is no beef on the menu.. Lots of things people would consider strange or scary.. But you can tell the chef is cooking from his heart, not taking into consideration who would be turned off by his meals.. If you cook it, they will come type mentality..

We ordered the little liquefied foie gras things to start while we looked at the menu..(We later found out the waiter forgot to place the order with the kitchen) So many decisions, the pickled venison tongue, the foie gras burger, the foie gras grilled cheese, venison carpaccio or tare tare, we couldnt make up our mind.. It literally took 15 minutes and much deliberation to finally decide..

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.

[Ling]

That foie gras poutine looks incredible! And that looks like some salad I would eat... I know some restaurant cookbook recipes are adapted (or simplified) for the home cook, and therefore don't taste very similar to the version served in the restaurant. How did you find the poutine and maple syrup pudding recipes you tried?

[Daniel]

Both dishes I recreated tasted exactly the same... In the two examples I made, it was not dumbed down.. And for the most parts the recipes are very straight forward and simple.. Just getting the various animal parts or wanting to use a quarter pound of foie gras on something is the hard part.. Every item that was on the menu with the exception of the foie gras grilled cheese, was in the cookbook.. The book is a must have.. I think him and Fergus from St. John should sit down and have a beer and some pickled Venison Tongue..

Edited November 9, 2006 by Daniel (log)

[rcianci]

Great photos, Daniel! You make me wish I was dining at APdC tonight.

Too bad about the tomatoes in the salad, though I've sometimes wondered if Picard uses "golfball" tomatoes in certain dishes because he likes them.

Case in point. When I ate there a couple of years ago, I ordered the pig's foot (the smaller one, not the one stuffed with foie gras.) It came on a bed of Picard's wonderful garlic, olive oil, and fresh cheese curd enriched mashed potatoes with two(!) of those fried gristle cakes on the side. The pigs foot (crispy skin, moist tender flavorful meat) was topped with a fine dice of "golfball" tomatoes in a light vinegarette. The texture of the tomatoes in this dressing somehow served to lift and lighten what would have otherwise been a delicious, yet leaden plate of food. If the tomatoes had been riper, more luscious, I'm not sure they would have had the same effect. On a salad, that tomato vinegarette would have been insipid and boring, but in this dish, it made total sense.

Edited November 10, 2006 by rcianci (log)

[Daniel]

Day 2:

I awoke after a night of crazy dreams..I dont know whether or not to attribute it to the food or the book.. I had a dream I was a duck being chased by a large Canadian.. Just kidding.. It was around 830 am and I was still full. I didnt know what we were going to do that day but, I could tell you how it was going to start.. With some smoked meat over at Snowden Deli.. I call the Deli and a man picks up the phone.. What time do you guys open? "Open, we have been here since 5:45 this morning!"

We jumped in a taxi and were in the middle of nowhere in no time at all. The neighborhood seemed a little strange.. I couldnt decide if it was a bad neighborhood or not. There were definitely interesting spots; a homeless guy sitting at a Mc Donalds, there was an interesting Polish Grocery Store, a tough group of kids at a bus stop, a nice looking bagel shop called R.E.A.L Bagels with a wood burning oven.. But it was certainly not a touristy place..

This beats morning coffee on some days.. I must say, I have said it before on my last Montreal Trip.. I love this Cott's more then Dr. Browns for taste alone.. For sentimental reasons Dr. Browns wins everytime.. I almost feel guilty drinking it, what if Dr. Brown finds out.. It would crush him.. Here we ordered coleslaw and sour pickles since everything is a la carte.. Or for those who do not have the understanding of French that I possess it means "it aint free" The coleslaw was of the vinegary variety.. I am more of a creamy Deli Coleslaw guy..

Coming from a place where a deli sandwich can be split between you and a few friends, I was surprised to see a normal looking Pastrami Sandwich.. I dont think I have ever seen one.. I loved this sandwich.. Loved! It was just about perfect.. It has a subtle smoke and was melt in your mouth soft.. I dont know if I got a special one, but I couldnt imagine they would be able to recreate something so perfect consistantly.. The meat was broken down to a point where it was really being held together by memory.. I am not doing side by side comparisons, but if you have not tried this, its worth deciding for yourself..

Hand cut fries.. Nice to see its such a regular thing in Montreal. They have gravy, but no curds.. The gravy is a beef base..

Our next stop was R.E.A.L Bagels down the street.. None of my photos came out good.. But we had a hot sesame bagel. Not as sweet as Viature Bagels I have had.. But they good.. More sesames then you would find on 4 New York Bagels.. It was extremely coated..

We then walked around and did some touristy things.. We had cartoons of ourselves drawn, had my name written in Chinese on a piece of rice, Stamped a couple of pennies, we put on Fanny Packs and walked around looking straight up in the sky, and I found a cut out of some moose and we put our heads through and took photos.. Not really but, along those lines.. After a couple of hours it was 1 ish.. We hit up a bar we had gone to last time we were in the city.. Its called Dundees and its a lot of fun.. For us anyway.. We really like the bartender Tim.. He is a fun Irishmen who likes to drink.. He hooks up the drinks and makes involved shots.. That include fire, melting lemons, cinammon, and some ducking.. We had a few to several Bloody Cesars which he makes very well.. We then went back to the room ate a bunch of chocolate at the gift shop and passed out..

That day we called Joe Beef and asked for a reservation.. They said they were completely booked.. My girl pleaded our case and they told us no problem please come in at 930.. Awesome! They were extremely friendly and funny on the phone.. When asking what the attire was, we were told tonight is Nudist Night.. You can wear whatever you want, just dont wear yellow cowboy boots.. I was kind of pissed because the cowboy boots tied my whole outfit together, but I obliged him..

I had seen this review online that completely confused me.. It was saying that Joe Beef was some sort of play, or stage and you were the audience.. And all this other wierd symbolic crap.. Its very simple, Joe Beef is awesome.. I was outside smoking one of my only cigarettes of the trip when the Owner asked me how I was enjoying my meal.. I thought about it and said well the food is great, the staff is extremely friendly and knowledgeable, and the space is cozy.. I mean thats the place in a nutshell.. The food is honest, of the highest quality, and really cared for.. The wine list which has nothing below the 50 dollar range but, the wine we had was excellent.. The owner and chefs passions are really conveyed well to the staff who know they are apart of something great.. You can tell everyone is really

excited to come to work everyday..

We started with two appetizers..

I dont know the name of what I ordered.. But it was basically a poached egg in a lobster bisque with huge pieces of lobster in it.. Served in this cute little mason jar with buttered toast sticks.. Very fun, lots of lobster.. This also came in a less expensive mushroom version.

DIP:

My girl went with the foie gras with a muscat gelee.. This was a beautiful piece of foie.. Nicely shaped and creamy..

I order a double pork chop.. It was served wrapped in smoked bacon.. There were pieces of pork belly,potatoes,some greens all over the plate, it was served a beautiful medium rare all the way though in a (forgot the alcohol for now but it was brown)cream sauce with a currant jelly on top.. This thing was just awesome.. Really, a gorgeous cut of meat, a pretty cut doesnt exist..

I love how they planted the knife in the middle of the chop...

Here, eat!

My girl ordered the mashed potatoes with lobster.. Lobster on the bottom.. Taters on top.. I only had a little taste but she loved it.. There was a really nice amount of lobster.. It lasted the whole dish and you can see these huge holes being created in the taters as she pulled up these fork size pieces..

The dessert chef was coming to New York so she came out to ask us some places to go.. She was as friendly and energetic as everyone else who was working there..

She or someone sent us out two desserts.. Our favorite being this guy below.. It was a Rum Creme Brule.. It was really interesting.. Vanilla and Rum is obviously a great combo.. Why havent I had it before.. I wanted to ask her how she got the rum flavor without any of the alcohol kick.. Did they cook off the alcohol first or was it a rum flavoring, it couldnt have been a flavoring.. Either way, it was fantastic..

Second dessert was apple ice cream, with baked apples on a tarte.. It was good.. It was not as good as the Rum Dessert however..

Joe Beef, big fan.. Really, I wish it were closer.. The night ended with a taxi ride from the strangest guy in Montreal.. Wearing a huge Fur Coat with greasy permed hair and way too much cologne.. He proceeded to bump Justin Timberlake the whole ride back to the hotel..I was so happy to take a deep breath of the crisp Montreal night air after that ride..

Edited November 9, 2006 by Daniel (log)

[little ms foodie]

damn looks like a great weekend!! and I love those little jars that they Joe Beef is serving stuff in, very cute!!

[porkpa]

Cheryl & IHarrrison,

I respectfully disagree. Its entirely about the smoked meat. I have been going to both Schwartzs and Snowdon Deli all of my adult life(over 50 years). IMO Schwartz isn't even close to Snowdon. Snowdon's old fashioned sandwich has ALWAYS been better and more consistent. This is not to say that Schwartz does not produce a superior product, but there have been times when I've found it to be dry and/or stringy. That's never been the case at Snowdon.

In all other categories, except for location, hours of operation and the steak and the liver appetizer, Snowdon excels. Schwartz' steak dinner although not near the high quality found in the best steak houses is nevertheless adequate and a great value.

In all other areas - cleanliness, breath of menu, service, the fact that you do not have to share tables with strangers and hospitality there is not even a remote comparison. Its true that Schwartz is unique and a one of a kind Montreal experience, but for an extraordinary and consistently good smoked meat experience in an acceptable setting, Snowdon is the place.

Porkpa