Le Butterblume

This place is totes known for being one of the new hot spots in Montreal. Just check it, it's on ALL the cool websites. Wow, I sound like I'm 15. Moving forward: I went there on a very chilly, very rainy Sunday for brunch with Laura.

This resto is riiiight at the cusp of the cool, up and coming, uber hip, Mile-End-Outremont neighbourhoods. There's a bunch of restos around it, but a bit further down and up. All this to say that it seems like the peeps going there would have to go about doing a little detour. That's how much they like it. That means a lot.

Le Butterblume is quite spacious. Actually, from a restaurant management graduate's point of view (ya, that's me), it's TOO spacious. Hahaha! As soon as you enter, you notice a huge unoccupied space. Well, OK, it has a couple chairs for le waiting, and a table with hipster things to buy. You know, like recipe books and the house aprons. They ARE nice (and expensive), but hang em' on the wall, don't take up 8000 units (#iloveyoujad). There are about 10 seats at the bar, some on the opposite wall, and tables in the middle. It's half wooden floor, half cement, which I really liked: it made for a somewhat cozy/industrial feel. Yes, the combination is possible. The lighting was cool too: big lamps were hanging at the front and smaller ones at the back. I'm realizing more and more that I'm a lamp girl. Yes, a lamp girl. The kitchen was open concept and everyone was wearing an apron: waiters and cooks alike. I liked that. Of course, in good hipster fashion, they were all wearing tuques and cool headwear. Hehehe. I really don't have nothin' against hipsters... I just find that half of them try too hard to be oh-so-cool. You could just be ME and be that cool. Wow, I'm super totes really kidding (but am I????).

 

Butterblume's menu is all over the place, but at least, they don't have 200 choices. Kimchi, buns, fried cauliflower, oatmeal, other thangs.

I started with a drink: the one item on the menu that you should ALWAYS start with. #alcoholic, am I right? This was a big winner. You know what it tasted like? Like packaged lemon pudding, back in the day. Way...WAY back. Whatever, I'm old. Anyhoot, it was fresh, it was perfect.

I continued with a cauliflower cake/bread. This was a big hit in my book. I'm talking, of course, of the "Big book of Marie., blogger extraordinaire". It was really moist (I will PAY someone to find a word that means exactly the same thing) and packed with that cauliflower yumminess. It was a bit on the oily side but who gives a sh*t when it's that good? No one. No one does. The cherry on top was taking a bite with a bit of the Italian parsley, dipped in the sweet chili sauce. YES! Oh, and a pinch of espelette pepper (seriously, this looks like a bad translation but iz what I got) gave just the right amount of spiciness!

Milk bun, pork flank, red cabbage, kimchi mayo and green onion. You had me at pork flank. No, wait, you had me at kimchi. Hold on...OK this could go on for quite a while. The bad news first; the kimchi mayo was a bit disappointing. It wasn't kimchied enough. Ya, it's a thing. Ok, that's it for the bad :) The bread was like a perfect little cloud, the pork was juicy and the cabbage had a very soft texture (without being too soft, as in it's old). Argh, I LOATHE hard ass cabbage that's difficult to eat. Insert puking emoticon. Insert puking sound. It was hot, it was of a good sandwich size and I really enjoyed this. Thoroughly. Yes, I'm serious about this sandwich.

Dessert. OK, I will be completely honest and say that I was effin full after all that food. But it looked good, and it was cheap! AND, I mean, come on, I gots to review the desserts! Chai sponge cake with cherry glaçage (haha sounds fancy!). It looked a bit dry, but, surprise surprise, it was the opposite! It was very chai-y and very cherry-y. A nice...surprise!

Service was quick and efficient. We had a pitcher of water so we could refill our glasses, which, let's face it, is usually the way to go! Apart from fancy restaurants. If I pay the big money, you BEST serve me water. I have to mention that when we went to pay at the cash, the girl was not friendly. OK, she wasn't friendly at all. First of all, it took her a while to figure out which seats we were at (down there! at the wall! near the exit!), and she gave us some attitude to boot. Meh.

And now, the scores!

Food: 8.5
Service: 8

Apart from the hipster-y-ness of it all, I really enjoyed the food, so, yes, I'll probs be goin' back!

Tête Carrée

I love it when someone invites me to try their restaurant. I love it even more when they send me a nice email to go along with it. Tête Carrée is a food stand opened from Thursday to Sunday in Marché Jean-Talon. I visited last week with my homegirl Isa.

So you get there and immediately, friendliness oozes from the place. The girl and the two guys are extremely nice and smily. I like smily people. They have samples of their pizzas (mama loves her samples--which is why I also love going to Costco) for the passers by to taste. I quickly meet the dude that is the instigator of Tête Carrée, and I love his enthusiasm. I also like the way he thinks: we were going to get most of the menu to be able to rate more thangs for my blog. Lovin' it. He actually was head chef at Le Garde Manger (hello, I'm a HUGE Chuck Hugues fan. I may (or may NOT) have followed him during one of his visits at ITHQ when I was a student there.

What's cool about this place is that hey, they are actually located IN the market. Right smack IN it. So they get to cook the hell out of fresh veggies and what not. Oh and the chef created this mix between a nan bread (heeeello!) and a flat bread to make sure the bread never gets stale (ok, I realise 'never' is a big word here), can get re-heated without changing textures AND can be put in the oven without browning. It was fluffy goodness, that's what it was. Very savoury and well balanced. Oh, and they sell it too. What.

The place itself is, well, tiny. It's a booth for Heysus' sake. But they are making the most out of it, making it look really darn cute and welcoming with hanging plants and a table at the back. Oh, and they change the menu every so often, when produce become in season. I LOVE that.

After sitting, we had a refreshing lemonade because it was hella hot. Unlike today, when it feels like winter might be creeping back extra early. They had two kinds: lemon and rhubarb. Hello, I'd be a fool not to have the rhubarb one. Although it was not a bad drink, it didn't taste anything like rhubarb. Don't get me wrong, it was tartness all the way like rhubarb is but that was it; just the tartness transpired. As I said, not a bad sip-o-juice but not a rhubarb lemonade kinda taste.

Yes! Lunchtime! We were uber happy to be able to taste 4 pizzas! Pizza? What! FOUR pizzas? Whaaaaat!

Let's start with the asparagus one. Or the 'Jean-Talon' they called it. May I just mention that i arrived a week too late because they made this with fiddleheads the week before and I would have loved to taste THAT. I loves me a good fiddlehead. Come to think of it, I haven't eaten one of those bad boys in the last year. Gosh. Back to dem asparagi! They were DEEEE-licious. As fresh as can be, charred on the grill, per-fec-tly. Ok, that's it, I'm going back NOW. Did I mention there was homemade ricotta under there? Yep. Homemade. This was so worth messing with my lactose intolerance. With a bit of oil, it was the perfect summer bite. It could have used a tad more salt tho... y'all know how I feel about salt.

Tomato basil (or the Little Italy): the basil was nice and very fragrant and there was this wonderful little garlic oil, made in house (or in booth?) that I wanted way more of. What? I loves my garlic! The tomato was under seasoned and a bit bland to be honest. Not my fave.

Smoked salmon, capers, onions (or the Mile End): this, we felt, was all-around unoriginal. I mean, OK, Mile End bagels... I totes get it. But as ingredients, these are go tos for many a-people. MANY. Everyone. I wanted more originality. Apart from the lack of excitement, it was good, but it was missing something like lemon perhaps. Something to bring out the aromas.

Pulled ribs (or the Quartier Latin): this was a very busy piece-o-bread. A busy bee one might say. OK, no one would say that except me. The meat was very savory and had a great BBQ taste to it. The coleslaw on top was oh-so-fresh, adding just what was needed to round out that dish. The chipotle mayo was a nice little surprise that my taste buds very much appreciated! It was hot and tangy and paired awesomely with the meat. The whole thing became a bit wet though under all those layers of ingredients. But who cares right? It was just so happy in ma mouth.

The dessert pizza. Or the holy-shit-this-is-amazing-and-freaking-heavenly pizza. Fresh Québec strawberries, maple syrup, pecans and lemon balm. It tasted fresh and just sweet enough. As a base on the bread, there was lovely labneh, which equaled out the savoury and sweet. It was the perfect base for this. I would like some more please!

Service was awesomeballz. The owner came and sat with us and explained his ideas and recipes. He also explained why it was called Tête Carrée. Well, we all know why, right? It's pretty much the french equivalent of calling french people 'frogs'. Food arrived in what seemed like only a couple minutes while we were happily sitting at the table, enjoying the sun.

And now, the scores!

Food: 7
Service: 10

Next time I'm in the market, I'm fosho passing by. I would love to see them branch out and do something else than pizzas and salads tho. Hint hint ;)

 

Dinette Triple Crown

Another flash review! You know what? I loveS them because once in a while you want to enjoy your food but you also want to enjoy the company (especially when you don't see that person a lot!) !

This place is TINY. Like, tiny, tiny!!! And oh so cute with jars everywhere! What's fun is that you order and then they put your food in a picnic basket so you can eat accross the street, in the park! SO cute!

Sweet potatoes

-A tad burnt (but good burnt, you know?)
-Nice texture
-Moist
-Added cinnamon made it that much better

Macaroni and cheese

-Cheesy (uh, duh!)
-Creamy, yet dry :/

Fried chicken

-Great spices
-Good crunch
-Crispiness galore
-A tad dry

Sauces

-Some were too vinegary and the one in the styrofoam cup set too quickly, it was whhhheird. On the other hand, the BBQ sauces were dsamn great!

And now, the scores!

Food: 8 (my prof drank a lovely lemonade with some ginger in there)
Service: 9 (True, we didn't deal with the waitress that much but she was nice and explained the dishes very well)

Such a cute place to go to! I mean, when do you get to say you ate 'at a restaurant, picnic style, in the park' ?