méchant boeuf for a night out and a burger

A couple of weeks ago, hubby and I had dinner at Méchant Boeuf, the lively bar-restaurant in Vieux Montreal.

Tall windows define the front of the restaurant, the tiled back wall streams with water. The bar, suffused in red light, runs from front to back. The place is packed with square tables, leather-backed chairs, and, on that Friday night, the nervous energy of young, well-dressed urbanites.

The air throbbed as the DJ, wearing a tuque, goggles and tattoos, cued up the Rolling Stones, followed by the Tragically Hip. Waiting for our table, I smelled oysters.

The food at Méchant Boeuf is French brasserie fare - raw bar, hanger steak, grilled salmon - with a nod to pub food, including burgers and a poutine made with braised pork and Canadian Migneron cheese.

My salad of arugula and goat cheese was decidedly French: half inch slabs of creamy chèvre stacked between rounds of yellow and red beet made a delightful and delicious sculpture.

Eating required deconstruction; in the process I slathered cheese on slices of fresh crusty baguette. The loose pile of peppery greens with grape tomatoes and grated carrot, paired with a glass of Chilean cab, left me satiated, and full.

The burgers at Méchant Boeuf are said to be the best in town, and Ken couldn’t resist. The half pound of charbroiled beef arrived nicely pink at the center (even though our server told us they’re not technically allowed to serve beef rare).

The juicy meat was covered with blue cheese, gruyère, caramelized onion, and two substantial slices of bacon. A warm onion roll contained the dense, smokey concoction. An English pint of Tetley’s cream ale, with notes of caramel and a hoppy finish, was exemplary at its side.

Good as it was, the search for the city’s best burger continues…

Do you have a favorite? Let us know!

chocolate lovers’ montreal a valentine classic

Our self-guided tour, Montreal for Chocolate Lovers, was featured on My Gourmet Connection - a food lover’s guide to great flavor.

What a great gift for your favorite chocolate lover, and at $14.95, it’s outrageously affordable!

time out at hotel nelligan

Hotel Nelligan — a boutique hotel known for great service, luxurious rooms and French cuisine - is offering a winter promotion:  a loft suite for $189 CAD (normally $365-$650 CAD).

With two restaurants, a bar and, for added romance, a poet as a namesake, the Nelligan is the perfect place to cocoon.

I spent 24 hours at the Nelligan - read about my micro-vacation, including the best eggs benedict I’ve ever eaten, in this week’s Seven Days.

holiday shopping for foodies

Last minute shopping to do? Food is always welcome, and my Seven Days article “Global Palate: A Montreal holiday gift guide for foodies” reviews 14 great sources of kitchen tools, wine storage and accessories, cookbooks, and LOTS of food products, from refined gift baskets and gift certificates (Chez L’Epicier) to mustards from the McAuslan Brewery (Marché du Vieux) to organic nuts and grains (Ferme Michaca, Marché Jean Talon).

Here are a few other ideas:

Old Montreal
Ateliers et Saveurs, 444 Rue St-François-Xavier. Gift certificates for wine tastings, cooking and cocktail classes, $20 - $75

Verses Restaurant, 100 Rue St-Paul Ouest. Gift certificates for weekend brunch, $40

PLATEAU-MONT-ROYAL
La Vieille Europe, 3855 Bd St-Laurent. Italian panettone and panforte; German gluhwein, marzipan, stollen; Christmas pudding, mincemeat, and many other Old World holiday foods. Most $5-$15

Epicérie Entrepôt, 4001 Bd St-Laurent. Bulk groceries, including organic products and Portuguese specialties, at reduced prices

Le Canard Libéré, 4396 Bd St-Laurent. Everything duck, including pâté, rillettes, foie gras and tubs of rendered duck fat, from $10

Espace Nomad, 4650 Bd St-Laurent. Gift certificates for 7-step Chocobliss facial ($95), and skin products made with maple syrup, fruits, vegetables and chocolate ($20 - $40)

And finally, a view more food treats from this week’s Voir.

Have you found a fabulous treat or source? Tell us about it!

best burger in montreal

I’ve been researching the best Montreal Burger for a year, eating at a variety of diners and restos, including one that specializes in hamburgers. And while much of it was good, nothing completely satisfied me.

Then, a few weeks ago, I went to Café Griffintown to meet a friend and listen to live jazz. I liked the ambiance - a long, narrow space with brick walls, wooden floors, and lots of regulars - but I didn’t expect much, foodwise, until my friend told me the menu was based on ingredients from Atwater Market.

I ordered the Griffintown Burger - 50% beef, 25% lamb and 25% duck, charbroiled in the open kitchen at the back of the café. The combination of ingredients raised my spirits - which then fell when I wasn’t asked how I wanted my burger cooked (rare is my default position).

Fearing the worst, I sipped my Argentinean malbec and mentally tweeted the gods of fairness: Please, not another flat, dry disappointment.

They must have been listening.

The burger was cooked through, with no pink that I could see in the dim light. But it was plump - a good sign - and surprisingly, wonderfully, tender. The flavor was primarily beef - not bland factory farmed beef, but closer to the round, fresh flavor of grass fed Scottish Highland - enhanced by the earthy sweetness of the lamb and duck. The lightly toasted eggy bun complemented the meat perfectly.

Lettuce, onion and a slice of tomato served with the burger were substantial, though not so much that they made holding it unwieldy. A red condiment I thought was ketchup turned out to be a smoky concoction that overwhelmed the bite I put it on.

Of the soup, salad and chips w/salsa offered with the burger, I chose the salad, a tidy pile of mixed greens with lots of mustard on the dressing. The meal was delicious and filling, and at $14, a good value.

Then came the value-add: live jazz.

The One Two Trio that plays standards on Thursday nights is actually a quintet, composed of Griffintown owner Mark Peetsma (bass), artist Cheryl Braganza (piano), and Roger Walls, formally a member of the Duke Ellington orchestra (trumpet). Eloi Bertholet and Oscar Kalderone play the regular drum kit and djimbe respectively.

I stayed into the second set, swaying in my seat as the musicians riffed and swung, showing obvious joy in delivering familiar music in their own way.

My search for the best burger in Montreal continues.  But, all things considered, Griffintown is at the top of my list.

1378 Notre Dame Ouest @ rue de la Montagne

lots happening in mile end

I’ve been wandering Mile End lately, with and without clients.  I love that it’s an interesting mix of architecture, commerce, art and people.

These photos take you to the neighborhood in ways my descriptions just can’t.  I’ll be back with a few reviews, but in the meantime, merci mille fois - a thousand thank yous - to Cynthia Hartnett for sharing these photos (which I have regrettably cropped to fit the blog format.)

muvbox - a design-friendly, affordable lunch spot

Leave it to design-friendly Montreal to combine green technology with scenic vistas and affordable food.

Muvbox, a new take-out restaurant in Vieux Montreal, is a 20-foot shipping container by night and a solar powered boîte serving clam chowder, pizza, and lobster from the Magdalen Islands by day.

I arrived just before noon on a Wed, at the recommendation of a friend - knowing nothing about the design, but eager to try a lobster roll that cost less than $10.

It was a sunny day with a delicious breeze coming off the water, and the place was hopping: the shaded deck was full, half a dozen people waited in line on the building’s north side, and red-aproned staff moved quickly and efficiently at the heart of the miniscule space.

My lobster roll came in a paper box, in keeping with the box theme. The split hot dog roll was nicely toasted, making a warm shell for chunks of claw meat with slivers of celery and bound by a little mayo. The most popular meal was the special - clam chowder, lobster roll, chips and a drink for $14.95.

My friend pronounced the Margherita Pizza ($5.95) delicious and a good value. (The resto’s founder, Daniel Noiseux, brought the wood-fired oven to Montreal 25 years ago.)

Located on the quai next to La Maison des Eclusiers, the minimalist structure looks onto a gorgeous view. And at night, the restaurant itself adds to the scenery. Painted black, white and red, with giant lobsters on the end, the box has awnings that retract and sides that fold up to enclose kitchen and deck.

If you go:
Muvbox is located at the corner of McGill and rue de la Commune
Open from 11:30 am to 7:30 pm, weather permitting

cooking classes and more at ateliers et saveurs

Experience is the best teacher - it also makes a great gift. At least that was my thinking when I treated my husband Ken to a cooking class at Ateliers et Saveurs in Old Montreal on his birthday last week.

I chose the hour-long midday class, called Gourmet Pressé, based on the year-old company’s website description. Poached shrimp with summer squash, pear, and citrus mayo on basmati rice sounded light yet substantial, and the timing - noon til 1pm for class and lunch - fit our schedule.

The classes are designed to be hands-on for the average cook - combining professional demonstration with succinct directions, bits of theory, and lots of class participation.

We arrived at noon on the dot (after visiting three Bixi stations to return our bikes) and were ushered into a spotless, high-ceilinged kitchen with an induction cook top in the heart of Old Montreal. Philip, our Montreal-trained chef, passed out aprons, and introduced the dish.

Philip had already made the rice, cleaned the shrimp, and prepared an aromatic broth with ginger and coriander. (The compressed Gourmet Pressé time frame necessitates more pre-prep than a longer class.)

The first task for our group of four - class size varies and is limited to 20 - was the citrus mayo. Philip separated the eggs, juiced and zested an orange, and handed a whisk and bottle of canola oil to the birthday boy. After a few minutes, I tasted for seasonings, and proclaimed it a masterpiece.

Next we sliced red onion, chives, summer squash and pears at individual work stations. A classmate stepped up to sauté the veggies, impressing me with her savoir faire as she put the wooden spoon to the side and shook the pan to keep the ingredients moving.

The class had a nice flow, as Philip outlined the tasks, demonstrated, and put us to work. His directions were concise as he shifted easily back and forth between French and English.

The organization was flawless, the spirit playful. Decorating our white plate rims with dots and swoops of reduced balsamic vinegar was a nice “cooking school” touch, without pressure - it truly seemed like something we could do at home.

Minutes later, we arranged warmed rice and golden veggies in deep, wide bowls, topped this with the pink shrimp Philip had poached in the broth (40 seconds, max, he cautioned), spooned on the fragrant mayo, and adjourned to the adjacent dining room to eat.

The dish was light and full of flavor, with the pear and summer squash combining nicely, the shrimp tender and juicy, and the mayo a luscious treat. The five of us sat at one end of the gorgeous, oblong table, and toasted our culinary success.

A glass of delicious Chilean sauvignon blanc wine was offered - though not in the French sense of “offert.” Wine, dessert and coffee are all available at an additional cost.

We couldn’t resist a sommelier-chosen wine, Bretton crêpes cooked at the other end of the table by Philip, or espresso to give us energy for our afternoon bike ride.

Ken loved the experience, and we talk of re-creating the meal at home. Or maybe we’ll just return with friends for a dinner class.

Ateliers et Saveurs also offers wine tastings, cocktail mixing classes, multi-course dinner classes, and corporate team building.

Have you done any of these? How was it? Can you recommend any other Montreal cooking classes? Let us know!

If you go: Ateliers & Saveurs, 444, St-François-Xavier

café serafim - organic to go

Vegetarians, vegans and health-foodies rejoice: Café Serafim serves high quality, organic food in a great location - including your kitchen.

The year-old café is 100% organic, with lots of vegetarian and vegan options. The highlights: breakfast (fresh squeezed oj, omelets, crêpes, scrambled and poached eggs) served all day long. Prepared salads, cold lobster, lemon chiffon and chocolate layer cakes.

Pita sandwiches made from organic, kosher Kamut flour and filled with smoked salmon, tzatziki, grilled tomatoes and onions. Cold, sweet, organic root beer. Chai latte to die for.

On a Sunday morning we ordered inside at the register and enjoyed our food at a round marble-topped table on the sidewalk opposite Chapel Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours. While we lingered under a beautiful blue sky, there were plenty of people reading the paper, eating breakfast, and listening to jazz in the large high-ceilinged café.

And what could be better than stopping for a bite on the weekend? Calling for delivery after a long day at work - or stopping to pick it up on your way home (pick up and save 10%).

If you go:

393 St Paul Est & Bonsecours

514-944-6718

david’s tea opens

On a street of fair-trade coffee and cafés, (my favorite being Café Expressions for its bookish clientele and generous café au lait), I felt like a traitor entering Les ThésDavid - David’s Tea, Ave Mont-Royal’s newest tea salon.

But when a yogini recommends a tea shop, it makes sense to listen. I entered Les Thés David late one afternoon in May, just after the shop opened, based on the recommendation of Carmen, who owns Centre Kinesphere, just up the street.

The sleek white David’s Tea interior is visible from the street, through tall windows which are more like oversized, modern French doors than the typical garage openings up and down the street. As I approached the counter, a smiling young woman greeted me with a sample of strawberry iced tea in a shot glass, followed by a short list of questions: Did I prefer my tea fruity, spicy, or creamy; caffeine or no?

I liked this easy precision, and settled on red tea. My guide took a series of round brushed stainless canisters from shelves behind the counter, shaking each slightly before opening it to release its aromas.

It turned out there were 8 kinds of rooibus - with apple, marigold, pear and caramel flavors, vanilla, coconut, coriander - each varying in color and texture. I settled on the Rooibus de Provence, with half-inch sprigs of lavender. I was intrigued by the juxtaposition of the wild African bush and the genteel landscapes of Aix and St Tropez.

My tea, served in a tall white porcelain mug, was red indeed - medium bodied, with earthy, red tea undertones, not too different from others I’d tried. Yet the lavender changed the tea’s disposition radically. The aroma was the soothing, familiar scent of lavender, and the finish a lasting reminder of the Provençal influence. These were nice counterpoints to the spicy base, and made the tea equally wild and genteel, relaxing and refreshing.

Sweets are not the focus here, judging from the two small plates (lacking attention-catching labels) sitting on the end of the counter. Hungry, I ordered one from each plate.

The lemon - poppy seed cookie was delicate, rich and textured. It reminded me of shortbread, though it was less crumbly, and each bite sung with wisps of lemon peel, followed by a chorus of sober black poppy seeds.

An Argentinean dessert called alfamajores de maice resembled a dull-colored macaron, with 2 crumbly sugar cookies joined by a layer of buttery caramel. The caramel was dusted with slightly sweetened coconut, resulting in a yummy combination of flavor and texture: sweet and dry, chewy and slightly crunchy - very satisfying with my tea.

While I don’t think of myself as a tea snob, I know that origins, water temperatures and steeping times result in very different teas. Yet none of this was mentioned chez David.

As for ceremony, macha accessories and an Art Deco flat-topped Ottoni bouloir were among many nicely designed, some unusual, products lining the boutique shelves. Books, teapots, sachets, and mugs (including a double-walled mug that was comfortable to hold) all pointed to uncomplicated goodness.

Tea, chez David, is easy and straightforward, enjoyable without ceremony or fuss. The trouble-free selection process and resulting new flavor adventure have left a mark on my predominantly coffee mentality.

If you go:  1207 Mont-Royal Est @ La Roche

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