Anise, Chevres, Chronique?

[yelenarennie]

Hi,

I am new to this board. We are from Boston, and Montreal is our favorite destination for french food. I am so sad that Toque is no longer Toque. It was our favorite place not only in Montreal, but in the world (even after eating out for 2 weeks in France). We are coming to Montreal in the end of May, and were going to try the new Toque, but now I am not sure about it. I think it will just make me nostalgic.

There are many new places that we haven't tried yet. If we are going to do only one expensive dinner, which one should we do -- Anise, Chevres, or Chronique? One of the things we loved about Toque is that they first chose wines, and then created dishes to match them. Their food/wine pairings were incredible. Are any of the above mentioned restaurants as good as the old Toque? I guess it's not fair to compare them. So far Chevres sounds really good. Do you get fish and meat in some courses there? I eat pretty much everything, but my husband is more of a fish and meat kind of guy because he hates some veggies (eggplants, cucumbers, etc). Do you think he'll have a hard time at Chevres?

As far as casual places go, we are definitely going back to Au Pied de Couchon, and we are trying to choose 2 more places from the following list:

Brunoise

Christophe

Bleu Raisin

P'tit Plateau

Which two do you think are the best in terms of food?

Thank you so much for all your help. So little time, so much yummy food...

-Helen

[Lesley C]

Consider La Bastide. I'm reviewing it this weekend and I thought it was great -- very warm ambiance and the food I had was close to flawless.

I was never all that wild about Bleu Raisin. It's good, but you'll find better on the BYOW scene. I also like Les Infideles in that category.

Anise and Les Chevres are both superb. It's too hard for me to chose one over the other, and to be brutally honest I like both much better than the new Toque!, which left me cold.

[Culatello]

Try Brunoise for sure.

And for BYOW try La COLOMBE next to Pied du Couchon

[AdrianMcgill]

I agree with Culatello about La Colombe, which is easily my favourite BYOW place in Montreal. The atmosphere is warm and homey, and the prices are more than reasonable. The ostrich in a bluebarry sauce and duck with port sauce are two of the best dishes I've had in this city. Also, the soup that starts the meal is always excellent.

[eat2much]

You can't go wrong with Brunoise but I'll also second Lesley's recommendation of La Bastide. I had dinner there on Saturday night and while I always enjoyed Jean-Francois' cooking at Le Club des Pins, his new work is amazing.

[frizzante]

If you have a car - why not drive to Saint-jean-sur-Richelieu

BYOW - 20 minutes from Pont Champlain - look at their website

for the menu

www.noeser.com

The chef is from Alsace, the decor (ask for the tonnelle) is very romantic,

the food is very good *** (The Gazette) ....It is to discover

It is even possible now to sleep there - 1 beautiful suite to rent.....

[Lesley C]

I would wait, at chez Noeser, for the terrace to open up. It's really quite something.

[frizzante]

I agree the summer terrasse is quite outstanding but the 2 salon in the old part

of the house are very nice and the experience under the ''tonnelle'' is very lovely.....why go 2 months out of 12 ????

[yelenarennie]

Chez Noeser looks interesting. It's hard to tell how good the food is from their web site. We are on a quest to find a BYOB with excellent food. We've been to Les Heritier, A la decouverte, and Poisson Rouge. The food had its ups and downs at all three. Some dishes were outstanding, others so-so. Of course they were still great value meals because the prices were quite low. We are trying to find a BYOB place that has really great food (not Toque level interesting and creative, but as good as Au Pied de Cochon). Would Noeser be this kind of place?

We will have a car, and can drive there (I guess it would take around 30 min from downtown Montreal where we are staying). Is it worth a drive or are there comparable BYOB places in Montreal?

[frizzante]

Dear friend from Boston, I am convinced that you wont regret your trip

to Chez Noeser, I was there many, many times - each month is a different

menu (theme) and myself and our guests were never disappointed. Have

a nice journey in Montreal

[VivreManger]

Depending on the route you are taking from Boston, Chez Noeser should be on your way. When I drive into Montreal, I take I-89 across Vermont to Philippsburg and then the 133 to to the 35 to the 10. Chez Noeser is located in the area where the 133 turns into the 35.

In all the times I have driven through St Jean sur Richelieu, I had no idea there was a reason to stop.