Pizzafiore

After Isa came back from Barcelona, she was QUITE tired. So, we decided to make it easier on both of us and just go out to a nearby restaurant. She chose Pizzafiore.

I don't think this restaurant is that old but it looks old when you're inside. And not 'good' old. It looks a bit like how my grandmother would have designed it. Meh. Oh but the good thing is that there are two, yes TWO terraces. It's more of a family restaurant. I would never in a million years go on a date there.  There's about, I'd say 150 seats ISH. Oh, there's also this huge wood burning oven when you come in, which makes you think your pizza will be better than average. Oh can I please also mention that there are Christmas lights up permanently and they are full of dust. Second 'oh': there's a freaking tv in the corner. Why???? I'm sick of restaurants with tvs. I want no more tvs. NO MORE.

The waitress came as soon as we sat down, in the almost empty restaurant and offered us some water and the menu. We knew we were going to share a pizza (it IS named PIZZAfiore after all... you don't go there to eat spaghetti) and we decided to share onion rings as well. It had been a while for me and onion rings. Maybe it should have stayed that way (more on this later). We also decided to have some sangria even though at some point Isa said 'wait, did we already order sangria here and did not like it?'. Well turns out yes. But it had  been a couple years since our last visit.

Here's the breakdown. The onion rings were dry and over fried but it was

still a good size portion for the price. But hey, I say make it smaller but better! We had the Parmigiana pizza mainly because, well, who doesn't love bacon on their pizza? It was tomato sauce, pepperoni, bacon, olives, parmesan cheese and mozzarrella. The bacon added saltiness to the pizza
which was nice but the crust was nowhere near perfect. Actually, it was only partially cooke din the middle. Meh. And then the other half was too hard. It was not worth the 17,95$ we payed for it. At least the oil with hot pepper flakes made it a tad better. The sangria was yet another disappointment: it was clearly store bought and lacked flavor.

The service started off really nicely: she welcomed us, brought us water very rapidly, took our order quickly. Then, she started talking to the other waitress and it was like a tiny little party. OK, I'm exagerating but come on!!! If you want to talk to your fellow waitress, go somewhere where the clients won't see you! That shiz is just impolite!! Pffff...Some people!

And now, the scores!

Food: 5.5

Service: 7

Not a great experience. I guess you can order some pizza (they deliver) and hope it's better than the one we had but I think next time, if I want pizza, i'll just go buy it across the street!

Bistro Olivieri part trois

We woke up this morning and since a: we were very hungry and b: I was slightly hungover, we decided to treat ourselves to brunch at Bistro Olivieri. You guys know that this place is probably our fave resto to eat at. But you know what? It's going down.

I hate doing this, especially to our fave restaurant, but here's a list of bad shiz that went on.

1. 5 minutes after we sat at our table, our waitress comes and tells us that she hadn't seen us. OK... it's not like you're 15 minutes late, no need to tell us you didn't see us.

2. She brought us our plates and told me she was coming back with bread and she never did. She actually never did. I had to ask the other waiter for the damn bread which I got when I only had a couple bites left.

3. She never came to ask us if we were pleased with our dishes.

4. The pitcher of water was left on our table (and after looking around, on all the occupied tables). I mean how lazy are you? I remember a time when the people that worked there were all trained at ITHQ and did everything perfectly.

5. As we were leaving, the waiter (probably on break...hopefully) was at the counter, drinking a glass of wine. I think that's a tad unprofessional.

6. I had big pieces of goat in my omelet. It was not nearly as pleasant as it could have been if shredded.

Service: 4,5

Food: 6,5

It's true that brunch is not as good as their dinner menu but we were still disappointed. And yes, it does hurt to diss and rediss your fave restaurant. But hey, you gotta do what you gotta do!

As Isa was saying, it's just not the same! We used to feel appreciated when we went there and the waiters and waitresses were all so nice. Today we felt like a burden.

Bouillon Bilk

My friend Camille is clearly annoyed that I've been bugging her and bugging her about writing this review. How do I know this? Well, she actually wrote it today :) Merci Camille!

Hi, good people of the internet,
My name is Camille, I'm Marie's friend from school and I will be your guest blogger today.

As the spoiled little girl that I am, my favorite restaurant in town is Bouillon Bilk on St-Laurent street. My dad goes there a few times a week and I tag along when I can. Bouillon is not located in the best part of the town (between Maisonneuve and Ontario,kind of a ghost town), but that doesn't stop it from being full almost all the time, so call ahead!

The lunch menu is really cheaper than the dinner menu (as it goes in almost every higher end restaurant): the plates are a lot simpler, but still really good. It gives you a good idea of what the chef is capable of. But if you want to splurge I highly recommend going there at night, as the food goes from good to simply amazing.

The food is not too meaty, which I appreciate, and there is always at least one vegeterian or pescetarian dish available. The menu changes regulary, but some classics, like the turkey poutine (yummy !) are always on it.

Crab toast with apple and cheddar and perfect hard boiled egg

Pea ravioli and pulled beef (the cute kid is NOT on the menu)

Rabbit three ways

Filet de bar

Portions are small at lunch (but they are enough for me) but quite decent at night. The staff is really friendly, not only because we are regulars, but they know their produces and wines really well.

Note: the restaurant is not really toddlers-friendly, there is no children menu or special seat, but our little Juliette didn't mind and loved the still warm and soft cookies.

The scores:

Food: 9,5
Service: 9,5

The scores aren't perfect 10's only because i am really picky. But i highly recommend it.

Note the urbanspoon score! That's almost unheard of! Obviously a good choice (if you've got the $)

La Champagnerie: bar à sabrage

Yay! I got invited to yet another media restaurant opening! Shall I say it or shall you? I rock! Ok, a lot of other people rock too but still :) This time, I brought Isa and we were hoping to get a few bites and a glass of bubbly...but we got so much more!

The new happening place is located right smack in the old port, right in front of Marché Bonsecours on St-Paul. It's very easy to get to from Metro Champs-de-Mars. I always have this preconceived idea that if you say old port, it's too far for me. But it's not.

So you get there and there's this old black car, going with the theme of drinking champagne, Marilyn Monroe (you know, how she took a bath in champagne and everything) and the whole bit. It was cool! We got there earlier this time (last media restaurant opening I went to, I got there  almost 2 hours after the beginning of the event and there were no seats and a bunch of people), and so we were able to roam around before it got full. There's this huge bar in the middle and apparently, according to one of the waitresses, when the tables will be in, it will seat around 200 people. The place itself looks great: half old rock and half brick, with one wall made of concrete, it looks both industrial and classy at the same time. It's charming, it really is. One thing you need to know though: there's no terasse. That kind of sucks: who doesn't want to be outdoors, sipping on bubbly and enjoying the nice weather? There is a place out back in the parking lot where people went to smoke but that's not the same. And you obviously can't bring your glass of bubbly/champagne with you (or this bodyguard type man tells you that you must go back in!).

Anyhoot, there were two tables where waitresses were pouring bubbly. At first it was Cava Segura Viudas and then some prosecco (I believe also Segura Viudas). It changed throughout the evening. And let me tell you, there was bubbly. And more. And THEN more! It was gooo-hoood times! And on top of it, there was food! I mean, what more can I ask for? Good drinks and food? Hello!

Oh and Abeille Gélinas (Mitsou's sister) was the DJ that evening and it was very enjoyable and happening I gotta say. She was very nice. Especially with all the photo ops she had to be a part of!

Variety of test tubes

The result!

Test tubes!

They have this really cool concept: champagne cocktails! Oh and if by now you're thinking you will never  be able to afford drinks at La Champagnerie, think again: they have very affordable prices and of course then there's the really expensive stuff! Their wonderful cocktails that will cost you about 12 to 14$. Not too shabby! Alright, let me tell you about these great cocktails! First of all, when we got there and saw the test tubes on the bar, we didn't know what to make of it. But then someone told us to just take one (or two ;p) and put them in our glass. Great, GREAT idea! It adds so much to your drink!!! We had a couple: death in the afternoon which is supposed to have absinthe but we didn't really taste that, champagnolada which is a twist on pina colada, it was special and lovely, bergamot 75 with bergamot puree and classic cocktail. All of these were tasty but I think my fave was the coconut one; reminded me of Cuba! YUM! I have to say that these drinks can be dangerous: adding alcohol to alcohol? AMAZING! We had one glass of champagne at the end of our evening but unfortunately, I don't remember the name of it :/

Let's talk food. AH food, my first love :) They were not cheap on that either which was nice! There was pretty much always someone passing by with something to offer you. I must also mention that the chef is Danny Smile (Danny Francis), chef (or ex-chef?) at Chuck Hughes' Bremner and also from Top Chef Canada (ya, I'm a food network addict)! You can check him out @ http://dannysmiles.com/

At first we tried an item off menu, it was a grilled tomato with burrata (mmmmcheese) and basil. Very simple yet good. Could have used a tad more seasoning but it was still enjoyable.

We then had some oysters, very simply plated over coarse salt on a rectangular piece of slate. Very nice. OK, I'm still not used to oysters, believe it or not, but I had a couple that evening and they're growing on me!  

After that, we were served a ceviche in a shot glass. On the menu, they're calling it Ceviche Guatemalteca (side note: the waitress, instead of saying this, said ceviche Guatémalien, which isn't really a word...). She was nice though so we'll forgive her! This dish had shrimp with tomato, onion, coriander and lime. After I had eaten the shrimp, i took a shot of juice! What? It was good juice!

Then, the beef tartare. Unfortunately, I wasn't too pleased with it :( It had big pieces of meat and I like my tartar much finer. Also, I found the portion to be too big (you won't hear me saying THAT every day). And the addition of capers and mustard did not save it. It remained a bit blend.

The disappointment of the evening: pork belly with watermelon. First of all, what a funny combo. Second of all, the pork was way too tough and dry to be enjoyable. It was quite a let down, because before it entered my mouth, that piece of pork looked goooo-hoood!

So, basically, all in all, the food was good but not exceptionnal. It's a good thing I was there for the bubbly because if I'd gone there only for the food, I would have been disapointed.

The service was amazing. They were clearly overstaffed but that's what you have to do on the day of the opening (or the pre-opening in this case). There was always someone available to answer our questions or to, you know, give us a drink. We talked to Laeticia, this charming waitress who knew a lot about the bubbly and the champagne. It's always fun to know that the waiters and waitresses know their stuff. And since there were many of them, no one was running around like crazy, even the bartenders seemed chill. Even later when there were more people, they just kept on giving away food and drinks and they were still moving at a normal pace :)

At first, it was an older crowd, perhaps 40's, 50's with a small amount of younger peeps (most likely including my fellow bloggers!). As the evening progressed, a lot more people were coming in, most of them in their mid 20's and 30's. This included a couple handfuls of actresses and actors like Christian Bégin from Curieux Bégin, Catherine Proulx-Lemay from one of my fave french shows, Unité 9 and Anick Lemay from Mauvais Karma and of course from Uniprix fame ! :)

One of the main events was of course the uncorking of the bottle with a saber (sabrage or sabering I guess?!)!!! So cool to see :) They of course did this outside but then they did it a couple times inside as well. Hum, I guess there's going to be lots of liquid on those floors!
Alright, and now, the scores!

Food: 7
Service: 9
Bubbles: 8,5

Such a great new place to go have a couple drinks and maybe also eat some food! Try the cocktails, they are well worth it! Don't forget, they have something for every budget!

Au p'tit cochon santé

Thank you Chris for writing a great review on an apparently not so great restaurant :p

So on this wonderful Saturday morning, since a new breakfast restaurant just opened right in front of my house, I decided to invite my wife for a little eat-eat to test out the place. After all, it’s so close that if it’s even remotely decent, I’ll be spending a fortune there over the years!

The waitress sits us promptly, for which I was happy, I don’t wait in line, you either have space or you lose my business.

Once seated, we were offered wonderful artisanal coffee and home made orange juice (probably the best thing at the place). I opened the menu, flipped through the pages, closed the menu, and stared blankly ahead. My wife looked concerned, “What’s wrong?” she asked. “You wont believe this… I don’t believe it…” I answered, not sure if I was annoyed or insulted.You see, the place is called Au P’tit Cochon (At The Little Pig), they call themselves a breakfast place, yet… They don’t serve bacon! That’s not the worst part… There’s no ‘bacon and eggs’ choice on their menu, and that’s unforgivable for a breakfast place. I mean, come on! It’s like opening a place called Joe’s Pizza and only serving burgers!

Our breakfast for two cost us over 40$, and I believe, as breakfasts go, it was the most money I EVER wasted on something I didn’t want to have, at a restaurant they tricked me into going there with false advertising. 

For service you get a 6.5. It was decent for a pretentious place, but any longer and I would have stood up and walked out.

As for food, I’m giving you an 8 with a penalty of -6 points for being too stupid to understand that if you open a breakfast place called ‘Au P’tit Cochon’, and you don’t serve bacon and eggs, people are going to make fun of you (and never return).

So yeah, not recommended unless you’re one of those pretentious hipster foodies who enjoys the irony of not being able to order a proper breakfast in a breakfast restaurant.

ps: on urbanspoon, the new one is not up yet so this is the score for the one in Rosemère. And there I was thinking St-Henri had changed names :p

Mikado

Another great post by Serge, one of my ex-coworkers. Turns out, he writes great reviews :) Merci Serge!

I have to say, my girlfriend Mélanie and I aren’t really lucky when we go out on a date for a quiet meal in a restaurant; it almost always rains, it’s cold and windy, and it sometimes dampers our mood and excitement about trying something new.

Our night out to eat sushi was one such evening.  My girlfriend is new to eating sushi and macki, so I wanted to be sure we would go someplace where the food is fresh and the setting appropriate to maximize our enjoyment.  If you’ve ever had bad sushi, you know some of us don’t recover from a bad experience and vow to never eat sushi again!  I could have searched forever for the perfect place... but then I thought I should consult my favorite expert: Marie-Christine from “Eating out in Montreal”.  She recommended “Mikado” – I looked it up, read the menu, saw some pictures off of their website, and found they had 3 restaurants in Montreal!  I figured I’d save on gas and make reservations at the Monkland establishment.

First, they have a reservation form you can use on their website, and they give you call to confirm.  The whole thing took 4 minutes, from filling the form to getting the call!  I thought that was very efficient indeed!  I should warn you though, if you have your computer speakers on max, put the volume down before accessing the website because they have a splash welcome screen with music that sort of doesn’t sound good when it’s super loud.

I also thought the Monkland area would have better parking than the St-Denis or Laurier areas... but oh my was I wrong!  If you’re going to go by car, prepare to walk some!  I didn’t think it was a big deal, we ate so much that the walk back to the car was a welcome digestive aid...  I believe access by public transport is much easier though.

The Monkland restaurant has a tiny terrace area in the front that looks out onto the busy street – it was too cold and rainy for us to sit outside but otherwise I still wouldn’t want to eat sushi with busy traffic zooming around me.  As for the inside decor, it’s pretty standard for a Japanese restaurant; they don’t overcrowd the walls with knick-knacks which is a good thing.  The table settings also have traditional items on them, such as a weird looking bowl-apparatus that they remove from your table when you sit down.  It’s just decorations I suppose.  The music could’ve been more traditional, but Japanese music does tend to be... snoozy at best.  What they had going on was a lot of 80’s pop music which we thought was kind of funny, it certainly made us smile to hear “Billy Jean” with our food.

Shrimp dumplings

And speaking of food...  there isn’t much that I could say about how the general setting could prepare you for such a delicious experience, because they are two separate things altogether.  At first I thought the weird bowls and Michael Jackson could mean the food would be sub-par, but I assure you it is not!  We started with a half-bottle of Kim Crawford sauvignon white wine (it was expensive for a half-bottle) which had the fruitiest taste that blended marvellously with our food!  We started off with an order of 4 shrimp dumplings, absolutely sublime!  If not for the large plate of sushi coming our way, we’d have eaten more dumplings.  Mikado has different ways of ordering an assortment of sushi and maki, depending on your level of tolerance for such things as caviar and algae.   

Mixed makis with soya

Mélanie, being new to sushi, still can’t get past those two traditional ingredients so she went with a standard assortment of sushi wrapped in a sheet of rice (or was it soya, I don’t know{note from M-C: soya!}) – this, you need to do upon request otherwise they assume you’re ok with algae.  This assortment had the usual cucumbers in rice, and also salmon and shrimp and all of that (you’ll have to excuse me but I didn’t retain every type of sushi on the plate).

I had the larger assortment which also included maki, I like my sushi with algae and caviar.  Overall we were blown away by the freshness, the texture (I’ve often found the rice to be either too soggy or too dry) which was perfect and the quantity.  Prepare to bring some money with you, our experience set us back a little.

We concluded with what they call a “moelleux au chocolat”.  I’m a dessert fan, and a good dessert can make or break my experience.  So when I inquired about this mysterious item, I was surprised to learn it was not some fruit fried in oil soaked in chocolate (again, I apologize if that sounds like I assume things about other cultures, it’s not a bad thing if it has fried fruit) but rather it was a chocolate soufflé!  And this was our first soufflé ever... and it was freaking awesome!  I’ve seen it on TV and how when you cut into it it’s supposed to be gooey and warm.  It was all that and then some!  One soufflé was enough for the two of us.

Throughout our culinary event we were served by a very knowledgeable young lady who really made sure we knew what we were ordering and came around just often enough to check up on our table without being overbearing.  I’d say Mikado has a lot of confidence in what they serve so they don’t act insecure in any way – they bring you food, you eat it and they know you’re not going to be disappointed! 

              

Service – 10/10

Food – 10/10

I highly recommend Mikado in the Monkland area, and I hope to try out their other two establishments soon to compare and validate their work ethic.

 

*Stuff to watch out for: lack of suitable parking, might have to walk / tiny terrace next to busy street / potential to be cold in the restaurant if seated near an air duct*

               

Grumman 78

Yay!!! Another great review by my english teacher! I push her and push her and she doesn't tell me to buzz off, she just writes great reviews :)

Grumman 78 is best known for its food truck that can be found on various festival sites in the summer. After a short stint at Faubourg St-Catherine, Grumman has officially moved its brick and mortal restaurant to its “headquarters” where the food destined for the food truck is made.

Grumman’s is now located in what looks like an old garage or warehouse. It has been cleaned up and repainted and outfitted with crafty furniture. Most of the tables are made out of wood pallets that have been assembled together. Although it looks quite neat, the current set up does not leave very much leg room (disclaimer: I’m rather tall but my partner who is not so tall also came to the same conclusion). It is worth appreciating the effort to use recycled objects, but simple changes in the design could possibly make these tables a bit more comfortable.

Having been unable to secure a table early on a Friday night the previous week, I decided to call ahead and make a reservation. My first call around 1 p.m. went unanswered, worse still the voicemail was full so I was unable to leave a message. I called again around 4 p.m. and left a message, but never got a call back. This was not enough to deter us from showing up at the restaurant that evening hoping that my name had been penciled into the reservation book.

I explained the situation to the host as I came in. He looked confused and shrugged this off but found a table for us anyway. Ironically, the same host ended up returning my call a few minutes later as I was sitting in the restaurant! Better late than never… Maybe, maybe not!

The headquarters offers various Mexican-inspired dishes that are a little bit more complex in preparation and taste to the tacos that they serve out of their truck. My Mexican mother-in-law was visiting this time around, and we wanted to show her another twist on her beloved tacos. We therefore ordered 3 taco dishes to share: pork banh mi, queso fundido and curried lamb tacos.

Each plate comes with four tacos which makes it easy to share with others. We also ordered agua de Jamaica to drink: it is a sweet herbal tea made with hibiscus flowers, delicious! The Quebec lamb tacos had a little bit of heat from the curry, but it was certainly not overpowering. These were a hit! The pork banh mi tacos are a creative twist on banh mi sandwiches served on a tortilla. They come with a sweet and slightly tangy sauce and they are topped with a garnish made of pickled onions and carrots. Finally, the queso fundido tacos are a bit more traditional, as far as Mexican food is concerned. In this case, the tortillas and garnishes are served separately so you can make your own taco. You’ll get a container with melted cheese (nothing special), guacamole and cooked chorizo. These were my least favourite overall, not because they were not tasty, but mostly because this is something that I could have made at home.

The food was good, but I have to say that my memories of Grumman were much better than this… I felt like it lacked some of the fresh flavours I had encountered before.

As for service, let’s just say that our little reservation conundrum did serve as a prelude to how the rest of the evening would unfold. We had an absentee waiter who came off as either detached or even arrogant. We ended up relying on the busboy for service (water, bill, etc.), this guy in fact seemed to be the only one determined to provide attentive service… despite the fact that he had to train a new employee at the same time. Let’s just say that there is certainly room for improvement on that front… Or that they ought to focus on serving food out of a truck!

Food: 7
Service: 6

Taza Flores

On a whim, I decided to do Lachine-Mile-End as quickly as possible to meet Isa and her friend for dinner. Isa had chosen this resto and apparently it was to be good. And it was. 

Taza Flores is located in the heart of the Mile-End, on Parc between Fairmount and St-Viateur. It's a very cute place, with cute decor and, that night, oldies music because the waitress 'felt like it'. 

The girls had ordered colorful drinks so I decided to do the same and on top of it, the waitress was begging me to give her something to do, seeing as there were only about 10 people in the restaurant at the time. I think I ordered some kind of cosmo and it was dsamn good.

The girls had already ordered tapas when I got there so we ate those first before re-ordering. I must point out though that the bread the waitress brought us was kind of old and stale and not that pleasant to eat :/ 

Anyhoot, we had the trout tartare which had bigger pieces of fish which I usually would find unpleasant but it was actually enjoyable. It lacked a tad bit of salt though. And I must say that I still prefer my tartare cut smaller.

The same thing with the guacamole: big pieces of avocado which the girls enjoyed but I, not so much. Don't get me wrong, it was really tasty but again, the size of the pieces was too big.

The cod fritters were damn good. DAMN good. So good that we ordered some a second time. They were crunchy yet soft and very well seasoned. Put a bit of lemon on there and with the tartar sauce, it's like eating a little bite of heaven. Oh and they were hot too. I just hate getting cold food when it's supposed to be hot!

The polenta was good but not as good as I,ve had it in the past. It lacked something. What? I'm not quite sure. Maybe it was just a bit blend.

The calamari were very good. And this is coming from a girl that rarely orders this dish because I find it squishy half the time.

The lamb was deviiiiiiiiine. Melted in your mouth! It also had a great sauce and was amazing with a piece of bread and butter!!

The shrimp were perfectly cooked. It's hard to say that you've had perfectly cooked shrimp because many restaurants give you overcooked shrimp. They were well seasoned and yummy.

Oh, there was also a little salad to munch on with a great sesame vinaigrette! Lovely and refreshing!

The service was very good: got water the second I sat down, friendly waitress, fast service with the first order. For the second order though, it took a while and I was itching to eat more cod fritters, ya know?

And now, the scores!!

Food: 8.5

Service: 8.5 It did take her a while, even with almost no customers, to bring us the check

A very nice place to eat good tapas! This was a great discovery and I think I'll go back as soon as I can!