Chez Boulay

COVID time is here. Ah, all the fun we're having, am I right? I'm kidding, of course. Ugh. Anyhoot, I'm temporarily out of retirement to write what it's like to eat in COVID times. And of course about the food. Duh. Restaurants officially reopened about a month ago, and as a restaurant goer and food lover (and blogger), I was due to go!

I know everyone hates COVID, but I HAAAAATE COVID. I loathe COVID. COVID is my enemy. I work for an airline customer service so.... ya....'nuff said! Since restaurants have reopened, they obviously have to abide by certain rules pertaining to sanitary and health. Everyone has to wear a mask and there has to be at least 2 meters between tables. I didn't think I would appreciate this, but it actually wasn't THAT bad. Just use common sense: you get up, you put your mask on. You come in, you purel your hands (I love how 'purel' has become a verb recently). Hey, you don't want to wear a mask, stay the f*ck home! You Don't want to purel your hands, stay the f*ck home! No food for you! They disinfected the table as well as the seat before I sat down. Obviously, there weren't as many tables as usual, but between having a bit less tables and having a closed restaurant, I choose less tables.

OK enough about this pandemic (sigh). Let's talk about this resto! Bistro Chez Boulay serves up a mix of Terroir and French, which is one of my fave mix :) It has some tables outside in front, and quite a large dining room. OK, I guess it SEEMED larger because of the lack of tables, but still. The lighting kind of reminded me of Nacarat, in the Reine Elizabeth: sexy and cool. That's right, I went there. Hi, I'll take some sexy lighting please. And thank you. The one thing I would change is that the table was a tad too high for me. I really hate that. I mean, I'm short, I get it. But I'm not exceptionally short. Come on. The ambiance was very nice: the waiters were hustlin' and bustlin', and it was just loud enough. I hate it when I feel like I'm eating in a club. Ugh.

Le food. This was my first course. So visually appealing! Le Charlevoix: tartare de boeuf. Yum-my! Angus beef tartare, crunchy hemp, sheep cheese, daisy capers, wild mustard seeds, cured egg yolk. This was melt-in-your-mouth good. No, it was damn exquisite. Just freaking delightful. OK, enough with the adjectives. All the flavours just popped in my mouth! POP POP POP! Seriously, my eyes were wide open! I kind of looked ridiculous. And yes, the fact that it was Angus beef made a difference. Hey, I go for the higher quality of meat. That's the kind of carnivore I am. The hemp gave a great crunchy aspect to the dish and a nice pop (here I go again with the pop), and it's always nice to get a contrast of textures! I would not have known that it was hemp per se, but it was lovely. The cheese was soft and smooth and a bit salty, which married well with the other flavours. That's right, I said 'married'. One thing I wasn't a fan of is that it was cut in uneven pieces. If you're going to serve a tartare THIS good, do it right, yo! My ITHQ profs would not have been pleased :p The daisy capers (wtf, this is a new thing to me) were so cute and weren't too salty like, you know, capers...capers ;) The cheese added a bit of saltiness, and overall yumminess (that's the technical word, of course). All in all, this dish was a hit. A big hit. I'd go back in a second if I could, and order the same thing over and over again. And for y'all that have never tasted beef tartare (shame on you!), you should definitely start HERE.

Second course. I felt like going veg for this one. They had ONE option...which is, well, not that much. In my opinion, they should have at least two. The number of vegetarians and végans are growing and in many restos, it seems like the dishes catered to them are not. It was called 'Ferme de la Grive': fresh and smoked heirloom tomato from Mélanie's farm (you know, Mélanie!), buffarella with blackcurrant, fermented shallots, homemade focaccia crouton, chervil. I must divulge...this was a bit of a letdown. Pouet pouet pooouuuet. I mean, it was pretty, sure! You eat with your eyes first...blablabla. The tomatoes that had lots of kick were the smoked! Mmmmm! The bread was literally drowned in butter (or something buttery). That was a bit too much. The cheese was marinated in blackcurrant, which gave it an extra oumf, but extra oumf on nothing... is not WOW. Was that clear? Fermented shallots were great, and the big thick slices of heirloom tomatoes were good and juicy, but this was not worth 25 dollars, I'm sorry. 18$ at best. Don't ask me how I calculated that.

Except for the wait before getting into le resto, service was on par the whole evening. I was asked if I liked my meal during the first and second course, the pitcher of water was on my table 1 second after I sat down and my Eska (haha: MY Eska) arrived very quickly too. And you know what, even with masks on, I FELT like the waitresses/waiters were smiling :)

And now, les scores!

Food:7.5 (10 for the appetizer)

Service:8

I'm going back fosho if I'm in Québec city again. And I'm telling ERRYONE to go, too!

 

Labarake-Caserne à manger

I was invited to try the new fall menu at Labarake so I decided to bring someone that would know what he's talking about: ze chef at Sushi Taxi, Phil.

Labarake is located in an old firehouse in the Shop Angus. So, pretty much far from everything! 

We were invited for a 5 à 7 ... although without actually knowing it. It's a good thing we got there early as to take advantage of everything we could within that time period! Anyhoot, this place is kind of family oriented, kind of a happenin' bar, kind of a new business type people place. It's very nice to get a whole view of the restaurant when you arrive. Brick walls, industrial lighting and lots of wood made it look very homey and inviting.

We sat at the bar to, you know, be closer to the drinks and all! The owner of the resto came and said hello and explained the history of the building which was nice to know and then he left....and I was like, wait, what's the deal here? Even the waiters and the bartenders weren't aware of what bloggers were getting: food from the menu? drinks? whatwhat? Turns out, and we discovered this when we were about to order our food, that waiters were to go around with bite size versions of their popular dishes. Mmmmkay. But first, we needed some drinks!

There were 4 ceasars on the menu, all of them quite original so I was excited to taste 'em! I picked the Bloody BBQ first: whisky, steak spices, liquid smoke, clamato. All I's gotta say is YUM-MY! I could have easily chugged this in less than a minute but I'm a lady after all! Well, sometimes :) It was like I had ribs in my mouth. OH YES. And y'all know how much I like my ribs! Oh, and lots of alcohol It was refreshing and all the right spices were in there. Nothing bad about this. At all.

Second ceasar was the Bloody Carnivore: cognac, veal stock, clamato, steak spices, bacon and dried beef. The veal stock made it a tad too salty and it was a biiiiit unpleasant to see little bits of fat swimming in my drink. But the rest was damn good.

Third ceasar was the Bloody Marin, or the Sea salt Bloody if you will. It was accompanied by a lovely oyster (yes, I am now an oyster fan. Can't get enough.). There was nothing to write home about the ceasar. Very basic. Maybe it's because it was my third one of the evening!

OK, food, shall we?

Beef and salmon tartare. The beef tartare was classic with a bit of mustard and shallots. So, basically, your classic beef tartare but with a bigger, quite unpleasant cut. The salmon tartare was a tad too creamy and the pomegranate pieces were too present and got stuck in my teeth. So it was a miss right there.

Scallop wrapped with Spanish ham. THIS was a hit. A total hit! With that smooth cauliflower puree, it just melted in your mouth. All the flavours just blended together to make a great dish. Lovely, really!

Beef cheek with parsnip puree. This was greatness. The puree could not have been smoother and the beef was well cooked and not too salty. Very yummy. That's the technical term, of course!

Clafoutis. Good but not great. Not too sweet and very moist.

Then, there was the 'desert shooter'. Bailey's with some cold coffee. This was good even if I despise coffee. And since we weren't aware that this ended at 7PM, when the dude said 'a last shot?', I was just sad I wasn't going to taste the last of the four ceasars!

Service was very attentive, they even came back and offered us seconds. And always with a smile :) It was a new menu so there was some confusion with the waiters and the bartenders but that was to be expected.

And now, the scores!

Food: 6
Service: 8

To be honest, I'm not going back simply because it's too damn far but it is worth a try!

ps: My mom, who is forever on the look out of thangs that might interest me, found an article in I believe Chatelaine (or Coup de Pouce?) that says that Labarake is one of the restaurants to absolutely visit in MTL.

 

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!