La Montée De Lait

[wattacetti]

As a friend of mine came in from Vancouver to escape the cold, we went to a new place (for me) Tuesday night (yes, the -22ºC evening).

La Montée De Lait (371 Villeneuve est; 514-289-9921) has been around for about 10 months and is essentially a hole in the wall on the north-east corner of Villeneuve and Drolet. It's a narrow room with a bar (with seating) occupying a quarter of the space at the right; banquettes and chairs for all the other tables. I didn't do an accurate count but they might be able to seat perhaps 30-35. On a frozen Tuesday in the middle of January, I counted 18 people including ourselves (pretty good traffic).

It's a small plate format listed as four choices for $40. Any four. Four desserts or four meats - they don't comment on what four you pick though they will attempt to order things so that everyone at the table has some consistency in sequencing. The price goes down if you pick fewer than four, though the final tally will depend on the combination chosen. The other twist is that every dish has a dairy element (cream, cheese, yogurt etc) to play off the restaurant's name.

No tuna or pork available that night, but we wound up ordering:

- "Fish and chips" - salt marinated salmon cooked as a lightly-battered tempura served on a bed of marinated celery and fresh tartar sauce.

- Seared scallops on a small bed of lentils and chorizo with a spoon of fresh yogurt (I liked this dish but skipped the yogurt).

- Warm fresh goat cheese on an aubergine galette with onion confit.

- Veal sweetbreads wrapped in Bayonne ham on yellow and orange bell peppers.

- Chocolate pudding (no comments; didn't try it myself).

- Roasted pineapple with a spiked ice cream (nice caramelization on a very sweet pineapple; smelled a bit like pineapple upside down cake when it first came to the table).

Didn't have any of the cheese offerings because my dining companions got pretty full, but there was about 20 mostly raw-milk varieties: a significant number from France though some Quebec producers were represented.

They have a very interesting wine list with predominantly French offerings (all reasonably priced), and a fairly sizeable by-the-glass selection paired with menu options. Some apologies made as to the availability of certain bottles due to the SAQ strike but we chose a very nice Sancerre from Jean Paul Balland.

Service was done by the owner and a solo waitress. I found them attentive and unobtrusive and both gave accurate detailed descriptions of the plates and he made interesting suggestions for wine pairings outside of their per glass list. They were also very proud of what they were producing, and rightly so.

The Vancouverite found it quite nice, though she had a quizzical look when I told her the translation of the restaurant's name.

Only two quirks with the evening:

1. This place needs to install a second door. I can understand that they're trying to build up clientele and keep up the wine and food quality without breaking the bank, but those plastic freezer room strips don't quite cut it.

2. Totally out of the restaurant's control, but the couple sitting next to us kept getting up every 20 minutes to go outside to smoke special cigarettes (pretty odd way to stimulate an appetite). There's always some entertainment value on the Plateau.

So, would I go back? Definitely. It's a charming place that's trying hard to do something fun. Would I bring people there? Sure, except maybe the lactose-intolerant ones.

If you elect to go in the coming weeks, either sit in the back of the room or wear something heavy.

[carswell]

A flabbergasted Tastet ("j'en suis encore baba") raves about changes (redecorated interior, doubled seating capacity, new chef, more ambitious menu) at La montée de lait in today's issue of Voir: Montée de lait nouvelle et améliorée. "Ce soir-là, à notre table, 24 plats donc et pas une seule fausse note." (Link will work only through next Wednesday, after which time you'll have to pull the review up from the archives.)

It also looks like the 2006 edition of Le guide restos Voir, with a pic from Bô on its cover, is out.

[Lesley C]

I concur with J-P. It's really that good. Chairs are uncomforatble though, so consider bringing along a pillow!

[-sheila mooney]

tastet's review made me decide i will just have to get past the name of the place... and go!

[carswell]

While it's just another data point, pointed it is: Disaster at La Montée de Lait

[riboflavinjoe]

i had a wonderful meal there less than a week ago. i was blown away by the professional service of our waiter, who i believe is also the owner, the rest of the wait staff, and besides that, the food was outstanding. the wine was superb, i never had to wait for anything, in fact, there was a point where our little table had something like 8 glasses of wine on it! we were served abundantly, and with a smile! the only thing is: when the front door opens, the cold air comes in pretty quickly. i second "iamdubious" in saying that they should figure out a way to fix that problem.