Chef on Call

I got an invite to try Chef on Call and of course I had to take it!!! It seemed like a great place to order from especially when you're a student working all hours of the night! These guys are opened till 4 am most nights and serve good homemade kinda food. Just what you need after a night of studying! 

So, Gabriel Malbogat, one of the co-founders of Chef on Call came to my door one day last week with a plathora of food :) I had chosen the vegetarian meal so I had five different dips, a spinach, cranberry and goat cheese salad, a grilled veggie wrap, the vegetarian burger and fries, sweet potato fries and onion rings. Oh, and a freaking huge chocolate chip cookie. So basically, I had food for 3 meals :)

Let's talk about the service. Well, it was wonderful! Gabriel was very courteous and told me about what I had in front of me, gave me the press release and a bunch of Chef on Call stuff. I tried to give him tip for the delivery but he refused many times. He finally took it when I told him he could just give it to the cooks.

Alright, let's get to the food! First off, the different sauces.

Before the unwrapping

1- Chef on call: Very nice even if on the thick side. It was actually a bit sweet. Paprika was very present but welcomed. Our favorite.

2- Spicy mayo:  Very spicy but very good.

3- Garlic mayo: Isa found it too garlicy but if you know me, you know I loves my garlic. So I liked it although I felt that the mayo was way too thick.

4- Garlic dill: I'm not much of a dill girl but Isa who liked dill more than me, found it OK. The dill was a bit overpowering. Our least favorite.

5- Honey dijon: Unctuous but a tad too thick. 

...and after! Yum!

And now, the salad. We found it to be a great mix: the cranberries were great in there and we all know cranberries go well with goat cheese! And, well, what's healthier than spinach? :) The leaves were HUGE though; we almost had to cut them. But it was a pretty salad. The vinaigrette, I thought, was a bit overpowering, but Isa liked it. It was pretty much olive oil and some herbs.

Ze burger now. Mmmm, this was very tasty. It was a vegetable and legume based patty which was so dsamn good, some greens, onions, tomato and garlic sauce. Ah, garlic sauce. Obviously, Isa found that they could have picked a different sauce but I loved it. I did smell like garlic until the next day though. But the patty was very tender, well seasoned, moist and lovely. I'd order that again.

The wrap. As soon as you unwrap,,, the wrap, your nostrils are filled with yummy smells. I love grilled vegetables and this was right up my alley. The goat cheese made the wrap what it was by tying all the flavors together and making it creamy and silky. Oh, there was also a nice balsamic glaze that gave the whole thing a nice kick.

The fries and the sweet potato fries were good and well seasoned but not crunchy. Isa didn't seem to mind but for me, fries need some kind of crispiness. We both agreed that the onion rings could have been crispier as well.

Now, the cookie. WOW, what a cookie! It was soft and was actually a bit raw in the middle which I loved. We're talking about a girl who used to eat raw cookie dough. Although not healthy, it was damn good! The cookie also had a lot of chocolate chips. It's rare that I actually eat cookies so when I do, I want it to be worth it.

And now, the scores!

Food: 7
Service: 10

All I have to say is that back when I was a student and all my peeps went to McGill, we ordered from Alto's (haha, remember that place?) many nights a week and that if Chef on Call would have been there, we might possibly would have prefered that!!!

ps: They use biodegradable  packaging AND electric scooters!

SuWu

OK, hold the phone....I actually got invited to a restaurant opening! ME! I  mean, it's never happened to me before, so I was pretty darn excited (and still am, as you can see). Anyhoot, I invited my friend V. We had quite a hard time finding the place. I thought it had replaced Juliette et Chocolat but turns out it actually took the place of one of my friends and I old breakfast spot, Cafeteria. I must say I had a tiny tear when I saw that Cafeteria was gone but I also must declare that I was kind of thinking that that place was passed its prime.

We got there at around 8 to, you know, be fashionably late and it was full. Like, full full. Meh. But forget that, I got to say that I was from Eating out in montreal at the door and she checked it off her list. I felt...special :) As I mentionned, it was packed in there. It was funny, I could spot my fellow bloggers who were writing notes either on their IPad or on a...pad. The place itself doesn't look anything like it did before: large plants line the windows (from outside, it looks like a jungle in there!), lots of wood everywhere, nice long wires with lamp bulbs hanging haphazardly from the ceiling, fake vines (ew), a big wooden bar near the back of the restaurant and the open kitchen right behind it. I found it a tad funny that there were stools at the kitchen, as if people would want to drink and chat right in front of the cooks. Weird. Speaking of cooks, apparently, two of them worked at Toqué!, so that's cool!

The vibe was great, but then again, it was the opening so that could change. I have a feeling though that it will quickly become one of the McGill students' fave spots. 'Café Campus and Vol de nuit whhhhat---we're going to SuWu tonight!'

Ok, so we took a spot at the bar (not sitting yet....there were no chairs available :/) and a couple minutes later, the bartender who had seen us from the corner of his eye, brough us drinks. Turns out, the drink was called a Wu-Tang (sake, lemon vodka, lime, lychee and grapes). It was good but the lychees and grapes were not very noticeable and the alcohol level could have been a bit higher (WHAT??? I like boozy drinks!). V did not feel like drinking that so she gave it to me (yay, double drink!) and bought herself an overpriced (or so we, non going outters think) beer (8$).

As for the food, between 7 and 9 was 'media' time (well, hello, I'm media) so the food was free. I loves me some free food! Anyhoot, a couple people were going around with food like their 'famous' mac n' cheese grilled cheese and yummy ribs. The first was weird enough but still was enjoyable. The pasta was well cooked, which is the way I prefer it and it was well seasoned. Not sure if I'd want to have this as a meal though. There was this lovely homemade ketchup on top that added a certain je ne sais quoi to it. It was fresh and went well with the bread, cheese and pasta. The ribs (OH, the ribs) we're DAMN good. And if I say that ribs are THAT good, it's because I've had the chance to eat a lot of those and I know what I'm talking about! Simply put, they melted in your mouth. I just wanted more and more still.

Now, let's talk a tad about the staff: half of them kind of sucked. Sorry! I know it was the opening and maybe that was the factor but meh. I think two of the guys who were passing around the food were the owners and they were very nice and knew who to give the food to (ME!). On the other hand, the bar tenders... Ok there was this girl that we called 'side boob girl' because of the obvious side boobage. It was just annoying. Oh and she kept on texting which is SO uncool! Another one didn't really look like she had anything to do (but there was a LOT to be done) and one of the guy was running around but not doing much.

And now, the scores:

Food: 8
Service: 6, but this one is hard to say, since it was the opening after all

All in all, a great new place. Very vibrant. I just know the Mcgill crowd will enjoy it!