Cabane à sucre Au pied de l'érable

Every year, my mom books a cabane à sucre for almost the whole family. We always pick a new one because, let's face it, we can always do better. This year, we headed to Mirabel to Au Pied de l'Érable. Obviously, this screams cabane à sucre! Hellooooo, sugar!

It was a quintessential cabane, with wooden walls, exposed beams, skis + old school snow shoes hung everywhere and a red door. I loves me a good red door! Oh and just by the by, it was all-you-can-eat. Mama loves her AYCE!

We already had some marinades on the table, because that's HOW YOU DSO. Marinated onions, beets, pickles and homemade ketchup. The marinated onions were a bit on the intense side: I loves me some onions but it just seemed like they had JUST put them in the marinade the day of. The cornichons were surprisingly salty and a bit too hard. We were expecting more of a sweet pickle. The beets were totes perf and the size of the pieces was good as well.

The omelet. Oh yes, I love a good omelette soufflée! This one, in all seriousness (yes, I can be serious sometimes), is the LEGIT best I've ever had. Ever. Had. It actually had flavor, when most cabane à sucre omelets are bleh (technical term), and it was moist, when most are dry. Let's face it, no one goes to the cabane à sucre for the omelet. Well, put a bit of maple syrup on le top, and you got yourself something awesome.

The pea soup. A classic. This was totes taste. We were all looking at each other, thinking about how much we were going to fart after. The important thing is that we do it together :p It was perfectly seasoned: not too bland, not too salty. It could've been hotter though.

The cretons. FYI, it's basically pig fat made into a spread. YASS! They were good but not great. I'm sure tante Berthe's (my ex step-aunt... or something) cretons would've won the cup. They were lacking in flavor and they weren't easily spreadable. We want spreadable cretons, all the time. All. The. Time.

Le ham: another staple. I'm being 100% serious when I say that this is the best ham I've ever had. Freaking EVER! That means a LOT. It was moist, it was tasty, and its crust was perfection. It was superbly caramelized and just effin awesome. We ordered more (ya, because we could and that was great), and surprise surprise, I finished it. Oops.

Les oreilles de crisse: MORE fat! Basically this is hard lard. Someone should write a song. You know: haaaaarrrd laaaard. Aaaand song over. I had the smallest tiniest bite because even if I used to like them, I know they are way too hard for my teeth. And anyway, they taste like a**. And this goes for all the oreilles de crisse.

Cocktail sausages in maple syrup. Everything that is IN maple syrup is better, and this was proof. I'm not supes fond of tiny sausages but they WERE better in le maple. Let's face it, I'm just not a small sausage kind of girl. Ha, I ain't a BIG sausage kind of girl either, if you know what I mean. Wait, you do know I'm GAY right?

The beans (not pictured... just imagine beans yo) were, well, I farted. They were excellent and not toooooo sweet!

Les grand-pères: basically, a ball of dough in maple syrup. EVERYTHING IN MAPLE SYRUP!!!!!!!! I wasn't a huge fan of these because it was basically dough with sugar IN sugar. Enough is enough!

The maple mousse. I loves me a good mousse. This one, I LOVED. It wasn't overly sweet, even if, hello, maple. It was soft and perfect.

Service was on the damn ball throughout lunch. Cabane à sucre service is usually in a class of its own, kind of like Asian restos. They have a couple services per meal and its tight. The girls (let's face it, it's always all girls) were fast, efficient and nice. When we asked for a refill or for more napkins or what have you, it was on the table as quick as a flash. They were THERE.

And now, les scores!

Food: 8.5
Service: 9.5

We've already agreed: we're going back next year!

Jackie et France

I'm on a mission. Well, let's face it, I have many missions when it comes to restaurants: finding the best ramen in Montreal, and visiting every Asian resto in the city. But I'm also on a mission to eat at all the breakfast spots in Verdun/Pointe St-Charles/St-Henri. I go out quite a lot with my dad for breakfast and I always choose a new spot :) Well, it was Jackie and France's turn!

Looks SO empty. Of course, I had to take a picture of the only tables without patrons.

I asked around to see where we should go, mostly because I'm running out of restaurants in the area. Jackie et France is a very homey, Acadian (yay!) breakfast and brunch place on Bannantyne. We arrived at around 8, you know, the normal breakfast time for my dad and I. We had a very nice welcome by the waitress (I wouldn't expect anything less in an Acadian establishment) and were seated right away. The place could use a little sprucin' up, with the old curtains, tables, chairs. The walls also looked a bit on the yellow side. Perhaps a new coat of paint? Looking around, all the clients looked like regulars, and I know there are a lot. Actually, the people that I know that have been there are ALL regulars.

The ham omelet. Run of the mill. You know what, I've become quite the difficult breakfaster-bruncher. Not uber fond of the 'regular' foods aka simple omelet, potatoes and a couple slices of fruits. I'd rather eat original breakfasts, you know? My friend Jer DID mention that they sell 'guédilles', which, I must admit, I had not noticed on the REALLY BIG menu (seriously, it was like a menu with 98 choices from an Asian resto). Aight, so, the omelet was a tad on the dry side o' things BUT hey, I was happy with the quantity of ham in there! The beans were p-e-r-f-e-c-t! I'm a sucker for good beans, like any good Québécois should be! The cretons were smooth and stuck to the roof of my mouth like any good cretons should! Mmmmm! I ate mine AND my dad's. Yes, I'll eat MY food and YOUR food! They reminded me of tante Berthe's cretons: you had to be there (my dad's ex' aunt from Québec city from, like, 25 years ago!). The potatoes were perfect until I ate a hard one and it got stuck in ma teeth. Uncooked potato ain't cool man. Not cool.

Service was good. Food came out extremely fast. So fast that I wondered how in the holy hell they had put those dishes together that rapidly. She did not ask whether we liked our food or not and we had to ask for water. Grrr. There was only one waitress for the whole dining room so shizzle was left on tables for a while. Dunno how I feel about dirty plates at the next table chilling there for 30 minutes.

And now, the scores!

Food: 6.5
Service: 6.5

I'm on a quest to try every breakfast hot spot in Verdun. And THAT is exactly what imam gonna dso.

Érablière St-Henri

Now THIS is a real cabane à sucre (yes yes I know its called a sugar shack!): if you have to drive more than 40 minutes, if, when you get there, you have no idea where you are, and if you see deer crossing the road right in front of you.... you are going to the real thang baby!

My sister was in town for a couple days so we decided that going to a sugar shack would be fun. I hadn't been in a couple years, my sister hadn't been to a real one in at least 10 to 15 years and my mom, surprisingly enough, hadn't been in about 28 years! Whaaaaaa? We HAD to go!

The place had two rooms for your sugar pleasure :) I'd say it can sit around 100 people in all. It was complete with plastic table cloths and fake leaves everywhere :p But you know what, it was darn tootin' homey and I likes it!

Alright, let's get down to the food because there was, as per usual à la cabane à sucre, a shiz load!

To start us off, there were cute little mason jars with marinated beets (just vinegary enough), pickles and homemade ketchup (just a touch of sweetness) on the table! YUM!!! And to top it off, there were delicious cretons that came with warm bread :)

Pea soup---a cabane à sucre classic! It was good but I found that it lacked a bit in the taste department.

Then, our waitress (who is the daughter of the owners---à la cabane à sucre, it's all in the family!) brought us maple syrup soaked baby sausages, bigger sausages, beans (me.loves.beans) smashed potatoes and du ragoût de boulettes (I'm not even going to attempt to translate---but it's the bowl on your right).  The mini sausage in maple was surprisingly dry and, well, I ain't the tiny sausage kinda person. The bigger ones were tastier (yes, I know, here come the lesbian jokes ;p) and had more moisture! The beans were perfect... just like they should damn well be at a sugar shack! The potatoes were OK but a bit dry and didn't taste like much. The ragout de boulettes was really good, tasty, just the right amount of salt in the yummy sauce.... but there wasn't enough!!! We were 5 and I think there were 6 meatballs. Grrr. 

After, there was the omelet and the tourtière (meat pie). The omelet, we all could have done without. It was tasteless and... hum... square! What the what now? The tourtière was wonderful and when you added some of the ketchup it was gosh darn delicious! All the right spices were present. But, again, that omelet... WHAT were they thinking?

Apparently, my memories of 'oreilles de criss' were not as good as I thought because that was, well, NOT good. It was WAY too hard and unpleasant. Bah. I know what it is but it was literally like putting pure dried up fat in my mouth (which it is...http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oreille_de_crisse). The bacon was good but a tad overcooked.

Mmmmm: ham! I loves my ham! And actually my whole family has somewhat of a ham crush. When it's done well we can eat it foreva (ex: the other day, my mom gave me some ham that she made and I proceeded to eat TWO big ass ham sandwich in 1 hour---what's WRONG with me!?). Anyway, it tasted of loveliness and maple and you could break it off with a fork!

Oh it's not even close to being done, but this was the desert: Pancakes, sugar pie and maple syrup pie and 'grand-pères'. Ok, so basically, the 'grand-pères' tasted (AND felt) like raw dough. Meh. The pancakes were good but the stars were the two pies, and by looking at this picture, you can see we did NOT have enough for all 5 of us! Geez! I liked the maple syrup one better than the other because it's not every day that you get to taste that yumminess. Mmmm... it was so soft and silky and obviously had around 8000 calories in every bite.

And this was the finale: de la tire d'érable (or 'maple taffy' if you prefer). Oh yes; this boiling maple syrup that hardens as soon as it hits the snow reminded me of childhood! Some opted out because they were 'too full' but I thought 'hey, what's another 600 calories'?

Service was good: she brought us a pitcher of water at the beginning of our meal but we did have to ask for more... And I mean, she only had two tables to care for. On the other hand, since she was the owners' daughter so she knew a bunch of stuff about maple and the making of the maple syrup and what have you so that was very cool. 

And now, the scores!!

Food: 7.5
Service: 8

Such a fun experience! I loves me some sugar shack and this was exactly what I needed! So if you feel like you want to go to a real cabane à sucre, go to Rigaud and you're set!

Régine Café

I'd been meaning to go to this resto for a while. Well, I don't like giving in to all the hype, but gosh darn it, I gave in! And it was worth it! Last, minute, I asked my cousin and her husband to join me and with 2 hours notice, they said yes :) yay!

Located on ever developing Beaubien Street, Chez Régine is right at the corner of Papineau. And you can see the line-up from afar! Good thing is that even with a line-up, it took us 10 minutes to get a table! Twas quite funny actually, the hostess comes outside and notices that she hadn't taken our name yet and then she looks at us, asks us for how many, we say three and she looks again: 'come right in!'. OH YES!!! I thought she was going to tell us it was going to be another 10-15-20 minutes! 

The place is so darn cute: mirrors everywhere, kind of 20's style with big comfy chairs and a huge bar right when you come in. It has two rooms, so there's no saying how many it can sit.. all I know is that it was full and it's been like this for months!

 

First off, our waiter served us a shot of chocolate, banana and cinammon. Although there were little pieces (banana) in there, it was a nice touch!

We decided to each choose something different so we could all eat off of each other's plates :) oh ya!

Of course, as soon as I saw 'mimosa' on the menu, I went for it! 8$ is a pretty decent price. It was good and bubbly but there wasn't enough alcohol in there. Is there ever? :p

This was one of the specials of the day; my cousin's meal. It's very rare that I have a sweet breakfast and although this one was really good, I was happy I had ordered something else. It was very sweet, with a [great] overload of chocolate and bread that melted in your mouth. The raspberries and the coulis added just what was needed, taste wise.

My cousin's husband had 'Le gros jambon'. So basically, pig, pig and more pig! Just my kind of breakfast! The ham was serious. Serious ham I tell you! It melted in your mouth. Man, that was pleasant ham! The cretons were soft and dsamn tasty... and I know my cretons!

I had the Champi: poached egg, Le Mamirole cheese on rustic bread, mushrooms with sage, pepper compote. Oh and I had the extra bacon. Duh. It was darn tuttin' amazing or, as Penny from Happy Endings (love it) would say: AH-MAH-ZING! There was also watercress and somewhat of a potato ball with spices in there that was as amazing as the rest of the dish. The watercress was surprisingly pleasant... I never really eat it because it can be quite bitter but it fit in very well here. The mushrooms were mostly good but shittake mushrooms are meant to be cooked a bit longer and they were a tad squishy. The cheese was perfect and the whole thang was super. The bacon was thick and great. That's all I have to say: thick and great. The fruits were kind of an after thought to me... 'here's something healthy' kinda thing. Hahaha!

As for the service, it was good. I mean, our waiter didn't even use a notepad to get our order and I couldn't do that in 1000 years :p Plus, he came and checked if we were all good, which, as you know, I always appreciate! But, as we were talking scores, my cousin, her husband and I were thinking that, although service was good, it wasn't the BEST.

And now, the scores!

Food: them: 9 me: 8.5
Service: 8

A great new find and I will for sure be going back to try something else on their menu.