Au Pied de Cochon

[iroc326]

Here's my 2 cents : the place must have the worst air quality in MTL. The open kitchen concept has got to have its limits !!!! The air is way too greasy !!!!

I know 2 people who puked even before receiving their food.

Martin, you're kitchen is not a nice sight....make it low-profile please.

thx.

[toto2]

Toto, how do I get plugged in to Slow Food events in Montreal?  I am a member of Slow Food San Francisco, but a lot of the time I seem to be here when they have an interesting event there.

I don't know if membership there counts here also - I should find that out!

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I am not myself a member , my mother and a friend are. But here is the link to there website: http://www.slowfoodquebec.com/

I donT seem to be able to see i9f they have an english page.

I've found that another problem is the noise level. There is the nice noise of happy eaters , but at one point Mr Picard was making the vinaigrette for the Cesar salad and the big plunger mixer he had just covered the noise of the restaurant ( not a small feast !)

[brab]

Just so the folks at Pied de Cochon don't get too discouraged, I was in from Toronto last weekend and as always had one of our meals there. The lobsters and oysters we had were excellent, as was the service. We also enjoyed a very good dinner at Chasse et Peche.

[gus_tatory]

Let's keep our fingers crossed.

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i have a friend who is insisting on having a 40th birthday meal there. is it getting better, i hope? maybe the summer seafood menu will be featured...

fingers crossed, indeed.

[alexthecook]

Just came back from Pied de Cochon, and had yet again a fantastic time. Split the PDC seafood platter (breathtaking, although I found out why some lesser known shellfish don't make it to everybody's table - some are plainly not good). My better half had the tarte de boudin (blood sausage "pie"), with loads of seafood on top, for the same price as usual... it was heaven. I had the trustee Potee du PDC (sausage, pork, meaty lard, blood sausage, with onions, mushroom and the famous mashed potatoes - a classic)... service was excellent (sat at the bar).

In my book anyways, this place has never let me down. Maybe we shouldn't judge it solely on special events?

[wattacetti]

In my book anyways, this place has never let me down. Maybe we shouldn't judge it solely on special events?

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It's nice to hear that you had a good time at Picard's.

I have never been to APDC for their special events nor have I ever sat at the bar but service was never good on any of the occassions and I maintain my earlier comments on the food. However, two reports (yours included) suggest things may be picking up.

[ItalianFoodJunkie]

In my book anyways, this place has never let me down. Maybe we shouldn't judge it solely on special events?

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It's nice to hear that you had a good time at Picard's.

I have never been to APDC for their special events nor have I ever sat at the bar but service was never good on any of the occassions and I maintain my earlier comments on the food. However, two reports (yours included) suggest things may be picking up.

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Good Service is like good beer, we all have our favourite brand.

Some like ;

their waiters to be very very polite

others like;

their waiters to be fun and exiting

others;

waiters with a lot of experience

others;

waiters with product knowledge who talk alot

others;

waiters that are very fast and don t talk alot

Myself, I enjoy a waiter that has the product knowledge to suyggest me something that I will enjoy. At APDC , it always took long to get my food and I have got some heavy duty bills after waier's suggestions, but I really enjoy the staff their for the fact that they have passion for the food and know their stuff. So when I ask a question they answer me , no BS , and help me choose the dishes and wines i am in the mood for. For me that, is great service, buy everyone is different. Others would be annoyed of the fact they have to wait longer for their food or that they don't speak english very well. I don't care about that stuff, just bring me good food

[Vinfidel]

I just had dinner there tonight, a bit of a reunion with friends after a long-ish absence from Montreal.

What a disappointment.

I once used to cherish the seafood platter as much as I did the one at Balthazar in NYC. While some of the seafood was great, quite a bit smelled... fishy. As did the entrance to the resto with the raw bar. The oysters were sandy and still had a few gritty bits dangling from it, and the lobster was overcooked, the crab underdone. Lots of nice clams and cockels, too bad that they were ruined by sand and grit and lack of cleaning. Look at the aquariums in the front of the resto - they are filthy.

The winelist has gone to shit. Despite the fact that there is nary a value to be found, some wines are just insane overpriced (Bonny Doon Cigare Volante at $230!!! It retails for $50 at the SAQ monopoly). While I was happy to see that the winelist is larger it certainly has fewer value items left on it. Nice to see Chateau St. Cosme Little James' Basket on the list, private import. Not nice to see that a decent Cali cab will set you back over $300.

YQuem '98 by the glass for $48.

The food was over-salted, service was slow, Picard was behind the bar scratching his crotch while pouring drinks for his friends... Not a pretty sight. Some idiot running around with a camera shooting a film disturbing the patrons and delaying already slow service.

My magret with wild mushrooms was covered with a stack of oversalted junky button mushrooms as you'd expect to find on closeout sale at METRO for $0.,99 per boite. Nothing wild about these except the stacks of salt they were seasoned with. Magret was overdone and gray.

The bathroom was filthy, sevice was sloppy (we had to pour our wine ourselves, despite having spent a shitload), some people at their table got their meals 15 minutes after others, the barmaid gave me a filthy look when I asked for a glass of water with my glass of overpriced wine (this was 20 minutes after our res when they still could not seat us).

This place needs to get their act together. THey still own the prize for Quebecois atmosphere resto of the year but please - get your stuff together if you plan to be a DESTINATION resto.

[Simon Patrice]

I think it is quite sad to see so many people have been recently disappointed with what used to be one of the great montreal restaurants. On the other side, though, I'd like to know if any of you have passed your comments directly to the staff or, even better to Mr. Picard. It might be nice for them to be aware of your dissapointment before reading such a thread on a public space.

What do you think?

Patrice

[Lesley C]

Patrice, I think they are aware of the criticisms.

Whether or not they are willing to change things (dare I say fix things) is anyone's guess.

[gus_tatory]

Patrice, I think they are aware of the criticisms.

Whether or not they are willing to change things (dare I say fix things) is anyone's guess.

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OK, i guess i have to talk my friend out of eating there for his 40th birthday.

it sounds dismal lately...

maybe i'll just direct him to this thread...

[fireweed]

We dined there a few weeks ago and I have to agree with Vinfidel abot the saltiness. Never have I tasted steak/frite so salty. It was almost inedible-and I am pregnant and craving salt! My husband's venison tartar was a dismal version of the past- the only distinct flavor was of an overdose of Tabasco. The French onion soup was bread pudding, not a drop of broth to be had and over-salted as well.

Our waiter looked and acted like he had just lost his mother and in the end we skipped dessert and hightailed it out of there.

Heartbreaking, as this was, hands down, our favorite restaurant for a few years.

[Boo]

Oh crap. I was hoping to reserve for my birthday dinner in October, but from the above posts it doesn't look good. I haven't been in the past year, and while my last meal there was less spectacular than before, it was still pretty good. Has there hopefully been an upturn in food quality since June? If not, can anyone suggest somewhere else, good French, with a similarly boisterous atmosphere? Thank you.

[Merseymike]

Oh crap.  I was hoping to reserve for my birthday dinner in October, but from the above posts it doesn't look good.  I haven't been in the past year, and while my last meal there was less spectacular than before, it was still pretty good.  Has there hopefully been an upturn in food quality since June?  If not, can anyone suggest somewhere else, good French, with a similarly boisterous atmosphere?  Thank you.

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I read all these reports and nearly didn't go - but in the end we decided to give it a try when on our holiday recently, and I had no complaints. We went for the seafood platter which was excellent quality and value. The restaurant was fit to bursting and I didn't see any food being returned, nor heard any complaints.

[lambretta76]

This article hasn't been used in a while, but I was wondering if APdC was still the great restaurant it has been in the past. Service was always slow and somewhat maddening, but the food that came out of that wood-fired oven had been sublime. I've been about a half-dozen times, but haven't been in Montreal in about two years - any new standouts on the menu? Any failures? Also, since it appears that their website is gone - do they serve lunch? If so, is it markedly less expensive than the dinner menu?

[wizpers]

The food's still good and fatty, but the place is as greassy as their purée. Avoid the bar-open-kitchen-we -dress-dirty-and-we-love-it, you'll throw up!

[gus_tatory]

...Avoid the bar-open-kitchen-we-dress-dirty-and-we-love-it, you'll throw up!

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wow wizpers: what a totally graceless thing to say!

lambretta76: if you like bistro, meat, and a boisterous dining room, then APdC is hard to beat. i took my Father and Stepmother there a few months ago, and they were charmed to pieces.

[Boo]

The website remains down, but is their email address still good?

[Salomon]

...Avoid the bar-open-kitchen-we-dress-dirty-and-we-love-it, you'll throw up!

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wow wizpers: what a totally graceless thing to say!

lambretta76: if you like bistro, meat, and a boisterous dining room, then APdC is hard to beat. i took my Father and Stepmother there a few months ago, and they were charmed to pieces.

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I have to agree with what wizpers says (I dunno about the throw up part, though...).

The last time I visited APC (few months ago), the people working in the open kitchen weren't just dress down, they were just plain dirty (like really dirty) and didn't look clean, which is something I don't expect to see in a kitchen (when I get to see the kitchen.

I didn't had a problem with the tattoos, the neglected beards and rings wherever they were...

I understand that you can get dirty cooking, but after a few days, you can clean it, right?

Or maybe it's dirty-chic ... IMO, nothing is similar to APC, but it's not what it use to be; let's hope they can get it back together...

Salomon

[Pam R]

Apparently Shelagh Rogers didn't have enough meat at Schwartz's this morning - because on tomorrow's Sounds Like Canada she'll be dining at Au Pied de Cochon.

How much foie can you eat for breakfast?

[iharrison]

Apparently Shelagh Rogers didn't have enough meat at Schwartz's this morning - because on tomorrow's Sounds Like Canada she'll be dining at Au Pied de Cochon.

How much foie can you eat for breakfast?

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I wonder what she'll think of the summer menu ... has anyone tried it yet?

[jayt90]

Apparently Shelagh Rogers didn't have enough meat at Schwartz's this morning - because on tomorrow's Sounds Like Canada she'll be dining at Au Pied de Cochon.

How much foie can you eat for breakfast?

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Today Shelagh tasted smelly cheese (Leslie C. bailed her out) and she complained about the no smoking law. Rogers also compared a Schwartz' brisket to an artisan cheese.

Next week she is in Toronto, and I'll turn the radio off. Peter Gzowski never sounded like this on his cross country trips.

[oakapple]

My friend and I spent last weekend in Montreal—the first visit for either of us. Au Pied de Cochon was tops on our list of restaurants to try. We were totally delinquent in making reservations, so we were pleased that our hotel concierge was able to book Au Pied do Cochon at 9pm on the night of our arrival (Friday), and Toqué at 9:30pm the following evening. In New York, we probably wouldn't have had such luck.

Perhaps a better name for the restaurant would be Au Pied de Cochon et Canard, because the signature ingredient is foie gras. A whole section of the menu is dedicated to foie gras, and it figures in many other dishes as well. Several of the foie gras selections are clearly meant to be humorous riffs on popular comfort food normally served without it, such as foie gras poutine, foie gras grilled cheese, and foie gras hamburger. (A recent article in Gourmet said that Au Pied de Cochon goes through 300 pounds of foie gras per week.)

Poutine is a popular fast food dish (even McDonald's has a version of it), consisting of french fries, cheese curd, and gravy. Foie gras poutine, naturally, is the same thing, but with a huge hunk of seared foie gras as the centrepiece, and a hint of foie gras in the gravy. We thought it was terrific.

Many of the dishes have cryptic names, of which the most humorous is "duck in a can." There is no explanation on the menu, but our server explained that it's duck breast and foie gras cooked inside a can. We didn't order this, but we saw a serving of it delivered to another table. Sure enough, the server brings a medium-sized soup can to the table, opens it with a conventional can opener, and then pours the meal onto the diner's plate. Who would think of such a thing?

During the summer, the menu skews towards seafood. We saw massive raw bar platters being delivered to the tables, priced anywhere betwen $45 and $320. Pork, lamb, and venison also remain fixtures on the menu. (Au pied de Cochon's steak frites is made with venison all year long.)

We ordered the pied de cochon foie gras, which again would be obscure if the server didn't explain that it's a whole shank of pig's foot with foie gras, mashed potatoes, and vegetables. It was indescribably good, and the kind of dish you're not going to find anywhere else.

Portion sizes were enormous—not just the things we ordered, but also the servings we saw delivered to other tables. Our server kindly advised that one order of poutine foie gras and one order of pied de cochon foie gras would be ample for two people, as this wouldn't have been apparent from the menu. That pied de cochon was $48, but when served for two it is a bargain.

The apple pie was the only thing we ordered that was listed as a portion for two on the menu. Naturally, it was big enough for three. It came freshly baked, and was about the best apple pie I've ever tasted in a restaurant.

The chef, Martin Picard, has made a reputation with his button-down shirts (never tucked in), wild hair, and three-day-old beard. While we were there, he was all over the place — cooking some of the food, drinking beer and wine, and chatting up the customers. He said "Bon soir" to us as we left.

The space is informal, with tables fairly close together. The restaurant is only about 20 feet wide (although it is fairly deep). To get to the men's room, you actually have to pass through the open kitchen. However, service was friendly and attentive. Our server recommended a superb wine at about $48 that went perfectly with our foie gras festival of a meal.

Edited June 20, 2006 by oakapple (log)

[Sneakeater]

You know, this sounds like my favorite restaurant in the world, and I haven't even been there.

I guess they won't be opening a branch in Chicago.

[iharrison]

Had the opportunity to try the summer menu last night and was impressed.

Soft shell crab tempura, whole grilled turbot, foie gras and seafood maki. Everything looked and tasted delicious.