Chez Dallaire

This place was on ma list. Two weeks ago, I was supposed to hit up Chez Victoire and then plans fell through, bla bla bla, and it took me a good 40 minutes to figure out where to go instead. It had to be on my list, not too far, and, the clincher, open on Sunday. Chez Dallaire was the winner. I met Daiz there for dinner and drinks! Because, in life, what's better than dinner and drinks? The answer is NOT MUCH.

The place itself is located buttf*ck nowhere. That's where. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to curse like that. It's on Wellington where no one goes, like, ever. It's on a very sad strip of Wellington between the happy stores and restos in Verdun and the trains and all those container yards. Exciting, right? NO. Basically, a no man's land.

Music was quite loud when I got in and then they calmed down a bit on the base. It was heavy metal music at first but then they started putting classics from the old days (my high school days), which was great! Daiz and I shazamammed all those bad boys. It was nice to hear Matthew Good Band, which, excuse meee, I've seen twice in concert, and Fatboy Slim, which I'd hoped I'd seen twice in concert. It was a cozy space, separated in 3: when you got in there was the bar with a space for dancin', on the right, a space with some tables and on the right another room with some booths and more tables. The look was classic: brick walls, forest green chairs, wooden tables and light brown booths. Wooden floors, some candles and art on the walls completed the décor.

We arrived right before happy hour was done so hello 5$ glass of wine! I believe we ordered at 6h59. It was cutting it a bit close! We were to share the food because SHARING IS CARING... and things like that.

Los nachos: house pork sausage, red peppers, green onions, L'armateur cheese (which I can't find anywhere on the net... whhhheird) with sour cream and salsa. They weren't cheap on the salsa nor the sour cream, I'll tell ya that much! The peppers were grilled very nicely and full of flavour, and the green onions added a nice tang to the dish. Yes, a tang. TANG. Not a thang, a tang! You must get it by now. The sausage was juicy and spicy and I would've wanted more! Speaking of more, the nachos to toppings ratio wasn't awesome. Way too many nachos for the amount of toppings. Or more like not enough toppings for the amount of nachos.

The Dallaire poutine. This was interesting. Instead of fries, it was somewhat of a shredded potato patty which I found great! I believe the word I use was 'wow'. Yep, I went there. I enjoyed this 100% more than regular old fries. The duck was a bit dry (it seems to be a recurring thing recently) and the sauce was a bit too salty. I must say though that it tasted way better than the usual brown sauce. Ugh, brown sauce. The peas were nice and completed the 'hot chicken' look. The cheese

Service was wonderful at first: I got seated in 2 seconds and while I was waiting for Daiz to get her butt there, I got the two boys comin' over, asking me if I wanted anything, bringing me water, bringing me the menus... And then we were ready to order and suddenly, no one was there :/ I MAY be exaggerating... one of them came about 5 minutes later. Five minutes is long when you're starving! They didn't ask us if we liked our meal but the food came in a timely fashion.

And now, the scores!

Food: 6.5

Service: 7

Taqueria Arturo

Did I ever mention how much I love resto invites? Well, I dso. I doodelidoo. Taqueria Arturo, a little newbie on Prince Arthur's cobblestones, decided they needed some brunch experts. Hello, my name is Marie-Christine, and I am a brunch expert. What is also exciting when I get invited is choosing who to bring. I owe you 10 bucks? I bring you. You made me dinner? I bring you. You took my shift at work when I really needed it? I bring you. I haven't seen you in over a year? I bring Cat. Cat is my oldest friend in the world: when I got to Toronto in grade 4, she's the one that was nice to me on my first day in school and we've been friends ever since. Almost 28 years later.... (F*CK we're old)

Taqueria Arturo has gotten good reviews so far. This is how I see things: if they have good reviews, I'm excited to go and try the food/service and if they have bad reviews, I'm excited to go and try the food/service. The only difference is that one will get a good review and one will get a bad one. I'm never truly disappointed when I eat at a bad/awful resto because it just means that my readers (yes, I have many readers and they are MINE!) will get to know about it.

Maybe it's because the cobblestone part of Prince-Arthur looks like ASS in the winter time, but looking at the restaurant from outside, it could've looked better. From the side, you only see a sign that says 'Taqueria' and then when you're in front, you see their bandito sign with the name on it. Not the BEST marketing! But anyhoot. You get in and it's a two parter: there are about 16 seats on the first floor and then you go up some steps and there's another room. Lots of wood, some colour here and there and high ceilings. And then, there's the music: quite pleasant at first but then it seemed like they were playing around with the base and that got a tad UNpleasant.

When we arrived, I mentioned my name, my blog, and the fact that I was invited and... nada! His face was priceless. And then MY face was priceless, as in, oh shiiiiit, am I in the right place? Hahaha! At the end of our brunch, the chef actually came out and HE knew who I was so at least that was that, but still. Communication, people!

The mimosa. Hibiscus mimosa! I LOVE mimosas! Last year, when I went to the Cayman Islands, we went to an all-you-can-eat/bottomless mimosa brunch and OH.MY.GOD. HOLY shit. I just remember taking a really long nap on the beach after and waking up 3 hours later, hungover as all hell. The mimosa could have been a bit colder and it could have had more bubbles. Anyone who knows me knows I loves me some bubbles. Hence why I was literally addicted to Coca-Cola when I was younger. And then I discovered Perrier, a much healthier alternative :) If I hadn't known it was hibiscus, I could've named a bunch of other fruits it tasted like. It tasted exotic-ish but that's about it. Still, I had two. Duh.

Le plat! I had the Benedicto: buttermilk biscuit, poached eggs, pork belly, chipotle hollandaise and home fries. The biscuit, made in house (YES!), was so buttery and flaky and just damn perfect. I hadn't had a buttermilk biscuit in a while and dsamn! This one, I would have every freaking day. The potatoes were spicy, seasoned just right, and had the exact right amount of cooking: they weren't too hard and they weren't mushy. I hate too hard. I HATE mushy! The eggs were PERFECT. And as ya'll know, I'm egg-difficult. Or eggficult. Mmmmyes. Just runny enough to infiltrate the biscuit. OH YA! The chipotle hollandaise was literally out of this world (OK, not 'literally'. Unless....Alright, I'm diverging here): it was spicy but not overly so and peppery and fit 100% in the dish. I had never tasted hollandaise like this before! I want more. Now. The pork belly. Ah, le belly of le pork. Imma gonna make somethin' clear right now: pork is ALWAYS good. Well, except when it's dry and sh*t but let me make something else clear: pork is ALWAYS good. It was juicy, it was fatty but not too much, it was oh-so-tasty.

When I ordered chorizo, I thought I was going to get the sausage. Instead, I got ground chorizo. It was still good, but a tad disappointing. It was seasoned in all the right ways but too dry for its own good. BTW, when you type 'too dry' in google, you mostly get two words: 'toad' and 'intercourse'. Just thought I'd share this.

Service was good and not that good. It was uneven. Yes, that's would be the perfect word! As mentioned, he didn't know who the f I was. I obviously don't mean 'you should KNOW me', but more like 'I was invited so you should know I'm-a-comin' '. We sat down, we got water (points!), and since Cat and I hadn't seen each other in 8 years (I like to exaggerate), we took some time to order le food. But once ordered, it did take QUITE the time for the food to get to us. You know... there's waiting, and then, there's waiting. It was just long enough for Cat and I to look at each other and say yo I'm hungry! Anyway. Obviously, the food wasn't a problem! The guy wasn't super smily nor super pleasant and forgot more than once to bring more water. Nearing the end of our meal, he was getting friendlier and smilier tho. The service was on the slow side and the waiter never checked if we were enjoying the food. Actually, he asked us if we had liked it, when we were done.

And now, the scores!

Food: 8
Service: 6

I really liked the food and I might go back for a good benedicto but I'll try other places first.

Café Frida

I brought my Mexican, Gus, to yet another taco place last week. Whaaaaat? I like me some tacos! This time, it was Tacos Victor's neighbour, Café Frida. Yep, apparently, los tacos y los burritos stick together, with about 4 restos that serve up Mexican goodness in a two block radius.

This place is even tinier than the other one! To get to our table, we literally (and I do mean 'literally') had to hop over a couple sitting at the table next to ours! It was kind of awkward and I really hoped that I wouldn't need to go to the restroom during lunch!

It was such a cute, tiny restaurant! Very colourful! And by that, I mean EVERYTHING was colourful! The walls, the boards, the lovely garlands! It felt so warm, when it was so cold outside. Like a hot cup of cocoa! Ah, warmth. And Frida was everywhere. Seriously, I've never had so many unibrows look at me at the same time. To complete the ambiance, there was some nice Spanish music (I don't think we can say that the whole playlist was composed of Mexican music, so I'm going with Spanish!) playing. I loves me some good Spanish music, I tells ya! I absolutely HATE going to a restaurant where they decide to play the top 20 hits. Ugh.

Tacoooooos! Nopales, cochinita and chorizo! It was my first time trying nopales! Cactus! Whaaaaat! I mean, who can say they ate cactus? Except Mexicans. And perhaps South Americans? Oh, and of course, them desert dwellers. OK, so everyone has eaten cactus except for me! Damn it, I'm always the last one! Anyway, I HAD to have it. First off, I gots to say that the tortilla was perfect. JUST perfect. It was crispy yet still tender. The taco was quite tasty, a bit like I was eating a plant. Oh wait... :) I loved the onions in there that added a nice crunch. I gotta say that the cactus itself wasn't my fave. Shiz, I really wanted to like it. It just didn't talk to me, you know? I like it when cacti speak to me. Aaaand I've officially gone cray cray.

Moving on. Cochinita. Marinated pork with red onions. Pork? Yes. Marinated onions? Ya giiiirl! The pork was uber moist and just melted in my mouth. Mmmmm... melting meat. The onions were delightfully tangy and just fit so well with the pork. Let's face it, when do onions NOT fit? WHEN? Signed: biggest onion fan in the WORLD.

Last but not least, chorizo! Home made, of course! It was spicy and not dry at all (see how much I DON'T want to go overboard with the word 'moist'--which, for you newbies, I HATE!!!) It was very cheesy which is always yummy! Well, my lactose-intolerant stomach would say otherwise but let's ignore that for now. Gus was telling me how, in Mexico, only the cheap vendors would put potatoes in there to fill it up so that they don't have to use as much meat. AH-HAAAAAA!!! Gotcha!!! But seriously, there weren't that many so I definitely did not feel cheated but I also did not necessarily want the extra carbs.

Why not continue eating Mexican goodness? Quesadillaaaas! Ya baby! We had mushrooms sautéed with red onions, red peppers and frijoles. Gus looked really weirded out that there were frijoles (beans) in his quesadilla but did mention that he really liked it. But apparently, they're not supposed to put it in there. BUT it was really good. Dilemmas, dilemmas. It was cheesy goodness, that's what it was! We ate those two pieces in about 5 seconds, tops. That tortilla, again, was right on and the frijoles were perfect in there. They had the right consistency to kind of take up room without taking up too much, you know? You know? The peppers added some sweetness and the mushrooms were wonderful. Hey, simple CAN mean good. A bit o' lime on there and BAM! Awesomeness on a plate!

Pastel impossible. Whaaaaaat. The. F. Half flan, half chocolate cake, merged together. Again... WHAAAAT? How. Did. They. Do. Dis. It was sweet but not too sweet and as someone that is not the biggest flan fan (I mean, who is), it was the perfect dessert. Apparently it's a traditional dessert. Lucky them. Pffff. I wish WE had a cool dessert like this to call 'traditional'. I would just love to know HOW they stick em' together. Ah, the mysteries of life! I actually had never seen this before. Café Frida is now officially THE Mexican connection in MTL. Done.

Service was great. The waitress was all smiles and such a cutie. She spoke to Gus very quickly in Spanish while I tried to understand. Slowing down would have helped. Geez. I would have liked more water at some point but in her defense, we were very hard to get to! I even had to reach out and take plates from her hands because we were in such an awkward area!

And now, the scores!

Food: 8.5

Service: 8.5

Totes going back. Regresare por mas! You know, it was starting to look like a quest to find the best taco in town, but it's done. Iz over. Café Frida wins :)

Bitoque

I did a summer internship in a '5 star' hotel kitchen in Corsica 4 years ago. It's hard to beat that summer: it rained a grand total of about 5 hours over 3 months. And I met Emy. Even if she is over 10 years younger than I am, her and I bonded and it was so much fun traveling with her to neighboring villages and what not. But enough about the best summer EVER, let's talk restaurant! Her and her boyfriend are in town for a couple weeks and after spending Sunday together perusing Montreal, I was looking for a good restaurant to eat at. In my hood (sud-ouest), not that many places are open on Sunday. Seriously, sometimes it seems like only a handful are open. We chose Bitoque for 3 reasons. 1- I LOVE Portuguese food. 2- It's BYOW 3- Well, it was open!

Bitoque is located right where every other restaurant in MTL is located. Living here, I can bet you that at least 1.2 (this is a very specific number, as you can tell) restaurants open every 1.4 weeks (again, very specific!). I don't even need to get out of my hood to go eat, and I could do so every day for a good 2 months. I swear.

The restaurant is actually quite big, way bigger than what you would think from the outside. Its décor is sort of mixed, which I wasn't too fond of: different artists painted different paintings and they did not match at all. Brick wall here, old booth there, it was a mix and match kind of situation.

We decided on only tapas, which suited me just well. I loves me many small dishes, so I can try lots of different dishes! The menu suggests (yes, the menu can talk) we have 2 per person so just to be sure, we ordered 7. Something that must (yes it MUST) be mentioned is that on their tapas menu, some items have * besides them and those aren't available on weekends. When we asked, we were told that yes, they were available on Sunday. This makes me rethink the whole concept of weekends. I mean, can we say that Friday and Saturday is the weekend? Why not Tuesday and Wednesday. You know, life is full of difficult dilemmas and questions. And THAT, kids, was my thought of the day.

We were absolutely and positively starving when we got there so imagine my face when they start us off with tiiiiny little olives. Well, I devoured them. It was like I was on a deserted island and I had just found a fruit or something. You know that feeling? :D I also devoured the warm bread they brought us. The loveliness of the warmth was somewhat ruined by the fact that they put it on the table with butter in a cup. Butta in a cup. Butta. Cup. Come ooon! In a cafeteria, yes. In a restaurant, no!

Grilled sardines. I used to loathe sardines. I remember, in grade 4, Ed used to bring a little box of sardines for lunch and whenever he would open it up, half the class would start gagging. But I've learned to know that those were tiny, insignificant. ugly, stinky sardines. When I visited Portugal, I ate real mamas. And dem mamas were good. Makes no sense but y'all know what I'm saying! These sardines were packed with lemon and pepper and were nice and crispy. They were a bit dry but I think the flavours made up for it.

Tapa do dia OR tapas of the day: shrimp and chorizo. We were three, there were two shrimp. Not cool man, not cool. The chorizo was amazeballs. A-MAZE-BALLZ. It was juicy, it was spicy, it was screaming to be eaten. And be eaten it was! The shrimp were of a disappointing size. I'm a shrimp girl (some would even call me Bubba... OK.. no one ever called me that) and I know good shrimp. There was also some pepper and onion that were perfectly cooked and quite garlicky which fits me just perfectly. I loves me some garlic and I loves me some onion! Basically, I love all the stuff that will make me stink. Maybe that's why I'm still single.

Cherry tomatoes with basil and goat cheese. First of all, hello lactose. Or more like hello indigestion. Let's just say I sacrifice my stomach's health a lot when I go out to eat in restaurants. The tomatoes were hot as f*ck, the basil obviously went well with them and the cheese was lovely and soft. It was good but it wasn't special. By that, I mean I could have cooked that exact dish at home. If I can say that, I usually don't order it.

Piri-Piri mussels. I love good mussels. I am a fan. These were OK. They weren't big enough and sometimes I'd have to look really hard to see if there was one in the shell. OR maybe I just need to get new glasses! The sauce was what I loved and the chorizo. Wow! Seriously, chorizo in all the dishes was BANG on. Totes. That spicy loveliness in a spicy sauce. Mmmmmm! My lips were screaming out but I did not care! In the end, I was just scooping up that sauce with an empty shell. F*ck the mussels, I want the sauce!

Veal and pork meatballs with tomato sauce and parmesan. It was tasty and moist but nothing special and that salad... What in the holy hell was that salad doing there? I hate filler salads! And on top of the filler salad, a piece of caramelized apple. Why? Why I ask you.

Cod croquette on wakame with aioli. I need to know one thing: is wakame in any way Portuguese? Any way? That's what I thought. It was good, actually one of the best wakame I've tasted (I am not a fan) but why? The croquettes were a bit dry and I felt like there were still many fish bones in there which made it quite unpleasant to eat. It was like 'when will I choke?'

Pulled chicken poutine. See the fries? No? That's because there were 4. And they were old and soggy. I'm already not a poutine fan so giving me crappy fries really doesn't help here! The chicken was, AGAIN, on the dry side and the sauce reminded me way too much of the narsty brown sauce that is usually on that bad 'regular' very Québécois poutine. It was just not as good as expected. I'm kind of sad about it actually. Imma gonna go cry now.

Service was very good and efficient at first but as it always tends to do, became slower when more people came in. We had water on our table 3 seconds after sitting down and our wine bottle was uncorked 1 minute later. We were very warmly welcomed and our waiter was quite patient (we didn't know what we wanted to eat at first). He changed our plates many times throughout the meal and although he seemed new to the service world, he did a great job. Pat on back.

And now, the scores!

Food: 7
Service: 8

Imma gonna go ahead and say (again) that there are 8000 units of restaurants I need to try so I'll get back to Bitoque when those are done (and hopefully, sh*t won't be as dry).

O Bico

Lea's friend is the chef at O'Bico so she said we should meet there one evening. PLUS, it's a ten minute walk from my place! Hurray!

The place itself, as you can see from the picture above, is really nothing special. They could have put more thought into it, if you ask me! But that's not the most important thing! The important things are the food and the service! Anyhoot, this place is pretty small, with a brick wall and around 40 seats.

Let's talk food!

First off, sorry about the picture quality; it was very dark in our corner near the window! Anyhoot, I had a glass of white house wine for SIX bucks! I likes me some good deals like that! And it was actually decent. I ordered the chorizo sandwich which came with fries and coleslaw. I must say, probably the best coleslaw I've ever eaten: it had just the right amount of acid in there and it was just creamy goodness! Mmmmm... I wanna go get some right NOW! But I won't. The fries were a bit spicy which was well appreciated and they went well with... the spicy mayo! They weren't as crispy as I would have liked but still really great. The sandwich itself was so darn tasty: yes, the bread was a tad too dry for my taste but the chorizo and the spiciness of it all made up for it. Mmmmmjuicy chorizo! Oh and there was some coleslaw IN it which I found quite nice indeed! Oh and arugula -which added freshness-and well, I loves me some arugula! And just adding a bit of hot sauce in there made it even tastier! A very simple, good meal!

Bah, again a bad picture. Grrr. Lea had herself a beer and a poutine with chicken and porto sauce. Well excuse me! I'm not a huge fan of poutine but this one was quite pleasant. Lea loved all the flavours, the sauce was great with all the ingredients.

Service was good although not very professional. We got there and from behind the counter, the waiter told us to sit anywhere. He brought us menus and a bottle of water for easy refills. I like that; you don't have to holla to get water all the time. For my second glass of wine, it took me about 5 minutes to finally get his attention because he was talking it up with the cook. Come on dude!

And now, the scores!

Food: 7.5
Service: 6.5

It's close to my house. It's portuguese food. It's cheap. I'm going back!

Ma Tante Quiche

yes, that IS my finger... geez

*flash review alert!*

This restaurant is about a 7 minute walk from my place so I just HAD to try it. Plus, it looks so darn cute! Located on Centre, it's pretty central for us Pointe-St-Charles folks. And it IS cute... you enter and you feel at home. What a warm place! Plus, today, there was a singer entertaining the clients!

I was welcomed by someone that seemed to be the owner and she had a huge smile. That was very refreshing. I'm sick of arriving to a restaurant to a non smiling host/ess or waiter/tress.

I was a bit shocked to see that they only had TWO quiches on the menu. When you have quiche in your resto's name, one would hope there would be more than two choices.

Chorizo, red pepper and paprika quiche
-crust was not crunchy enough
-you can barely taste the paprika
-texture was a tad gelatinous (and YES, I know eggs are involved)
-chorizo was nice and just spicy enough
-chorizo and pepper were a very nice pairing

And now, the score:

Food:5.5

I will go back to taste other dishes and perhaps a quiche but I was not very thrilled with this one.

L'Atelier d'Argentine

I got invited to try L'Atelier d'Argentine with a friend a couple weeks back. I was so excited and I was thinking 'hey, we'll buy a bottle of wine and we'll get some free food'. Oh but we got sooooo much more!

This restaurant, part of the Tom Nacos Group (Decca77, Newtown, Weinstein + Gavinos, Guido + Angelina), is located in Old Montreal, close to De La Commune. It's quite a big restaurant with two rooms, a private dining room for a small group, and a table downstairs pretty much in the kitchen. When you reserve this table, you have the chance to get served by the chef!

So my friend Cat and I go in, and we are welcomed by the host/maître d'/sommelier by the name of Alexandre. He shook our hands and seemed very pleased that we were there. Yay! He brought us to our perfect table, by the window.

Ze bubbly

First, we got ze bread...including this tiny little bread with cheese that we dubbed 'little pieces of heaven' because they were. They pretty much melted in your mouth. YUM. Then, it was time (already) for some bubbly. Hello! It was great: not too sweet, not to dry. It went well with the four empanadas he brought us right after.

Empanadas minus 1 because we forgot to take a picture with 4 :)

Empanada #1: Cheese. Very cheesy but not great flavours
Empanada #2: Beef (cut by hand). Great. Moist. Well seasoned.
Empanada #3: Ham and cheese. Very nice. Crusty on the outside, moist on the inside.
Empanada #4: Corn and crushed tomatoes. Well seasoned. Very creamy. Fresh. Nothing too fancy.

By the way, Alexandre had given us menus but then asked if we had any allergies/preferences and told us that he would take care of everything and we didn't even have to look at the menu. So that was great and it made us feel even more special!

Next were two plates of tartares. The first, tuna. Fine slices with tomatoes, lovely when you put it in your mouth, great texture, but unfortunately didn't taste much. This came with very floral white wine that I loved but was a tad too sweet for Cat. Still, a great pairing.

Then, the crudo di corvina, very pleasant and soft, with guacamole and homemade chips. Very tasty and well seasoned. The tomatoes added a nice fresh touch.

Risotto

Chorizo

Bavette

As for the main course, since we got two different plates, we, of course, got two different red wines :) Since I was having meat (+ meat), I got the Malbec and Cat (veggie), got the Shiraz. For Cat it was the quinoa risotto. It was a fresh alternative to meat, with perfectly cooked mushrooms and

Provolone

other veggies. I got the 10oz bavette, which was perfect, perfect, PERFECT! With awesome chimichurri (garlic, oil and herbs). It was a HUGE piece that I didn't finish but it was so tender and cooked to perfection! On the side, Cat got the provoletta, a nicely textured piece of fried cheese with a couple sweetened carrots. They were just soft enough. On my side, I got a chorizo sausage which was nicely charred but a tad on the hard side yet very tasty.

As for ze desert, well, we told them it wasn't necessary because we were so darn full. But Alexandre insisted and so he brought us a small plate with three different deserts. Oh, and desert wine :) A goat cheese cake which was quite cheesy and not too sweet. A milk semi-fredo which was damn good. A dulce de leche (well good day to YOU!!!!) crêpe which was smooth with a flambée banana on top. There was also a homemade icecream on top which was so lovely and well balanced.

At the end of our meal and after leaving a hefty tip, we went to see Alexandre to thank him and instead of leaving, he asked us if we wanted to see downstairs. Of course! We got to see their wine cellar and the kitchen with the table reserved for a lucky group that would be served by the chef. Awesome.

Now, let's talk a bit more about the service, shall we? Well, it was wonderful. I've seriously never had this good a service. Alexandre was marvellous; always there to explain our dishes and wines and answer any question we had. The waiter/busboy was always there when we needed water. We were asked at every course if it pleased us and oh it did!!

And now...the scores!

Food: 9
Service: 10

This experience was a once in a lifetime thang! Even if you don't get invited, please go, you'll be pleased!