Chez Victoire

One of my pals at work, Margo, knows someone that works at Chez Victoire, therefore knew about their super awesome Sunday night special: table d'hôte 4 services for 30$ instead of 45$. That's the kind of deal I like. Excuse me, LOVE.

I went with ma gurl Vino, whom, by the by, I don't see nearly enough. On top o that, she's such a fun dining partner! Chez Victoire is located on Mont-Royal near Pap (that's cool talk for 'Papineau'). It's quite a large restaurant, with booths on one side and tables on the other. It has uber high ceilings, like, 3 storeys high. I swear. The place has a nice classic look with moldings on the ceiling, wooden tables, and leather booths. While we were there, I think they played the whole Gorillaz CD, which was much appreciated.

We could choose one dish out of three for every service save for the dessert where it was carrot cake. Just dandy with me!

Cream of butternut squash, shishito, pumpkin seeds, crème fraîche au pimento. Yes, this description is bilingual, deal WIT it. First off, the bowl was hot, which is always a winner in my book. This was good. Like goo-hood. I believe what came out of Vino's mouth was 'mmmmm'. It was soft, sleek, buttery, and all that goodness! The croutons weren't too hard OR too soft and they were also oh so full-o-butta. Mmmmm. Butta. The crème fraîche was right ON and somewhat tasted of smoked salmon which was awesome paired with the cream! All the flavours, although all very distinct, went really well together. This was a WIN.

Veal tataki, grapefruit, fried clams, miso, coriander. The veal was excellent, with just a touch of miso on top, which gave it even more flavor (hello, umami). The fried clams were there for NOTHING. Literally, nada. I was actually a bit angry that they were in there. Why? Why ruin a perfect dish? On top of it, those little balls tasted like nothing. And they didn't fit. AND they were over fried. Basically, all bad things. The grapefruit gave a bit of acidity to the dish and it married well with the meat. The coriander was just, well, hello. All in all, a great dish, but f*cking clams had no reason being there.

Pleurotes with thyme, hazelnut, red onion petals, pain brioche. I loves me a good pleurote. Especially with thyme. Thyme and mushrooms, in ma head, is a match made in food heaven. They could have been warmer though. They were in temperature limbo: they had been somewhat heated up, but just not enough. They'd been sautéed, most likely with butta, so, you know, YUM! I would have liked the bread a bit crispier and more grilled (grillier?). The cute little onion petals could have been more present. Le cheese. I gots to say, usually, I ain't no fan of strong ish type-o-cheese. But this was niiice! It was in a mousse too. I'm a fan of mousses. Yep. That lovely mousse on a bite of bread and mushroom was just T--H--I--S awesome. You may have noticed the long 'this': well, it was THAT good. Sometimes, I conjure perfect bites. And there it was. It was a great mix match of tastes.

La meatball. That was one big meatball! It was big, it was moist (watch out, it's getting sexual), it was full of herbs (end of sexual talk).The crispy chicken skin on top was way too salty on its own but was bearable with other components of the dish. The sauce was a bit too simple for our VERY REFINED palates. Hehehe. But seriously, it just tasted like store-bought tomato sauce, which is not really what you look for when you eat at a restaurant. The polenta was a bit dry but added a certain je ne sais quoi to this. The harissa yogurt (or should I say harrisa-ed yogurt?), was excellent. Just a bit on the spicy side, which is a side that I like. Everything worked, but there were still a bit too many components here. It's like: 'what do we have in the fridge today?'.

Pasta! I rarely eat carbs. Actually, the only place I'll eat pasta or rice or bread is at a restaurant because I don't even have any at home. I actually gave away my toaster recently. Ya, that's how rarely I eat it. Cavatelli with ricotta, duck confit, lardons, sage, butternut squash and parmesan. I'm sure you guessed it but this was a major 'what do we have in our fridge today' kind of dish. Actually it was THE 'what do we have in our fridge today' dish. A blind person could have picked better ingredients. I don't know if this makes sense but I'm stickin' to it. The whole time we were eating it, we were looking at each other like 'waiiiiit, what the hell iiiis this?'. It wasn't totally bad but it wasn't the best thing either. To have some squash puree on top of your pasta is, like, WAY too much. Something else was way too much: having duck AND lardons in there. Again, why? The noodles were perfectly cooked but the whole dish was too salty and the sauce wasn't consistent enough. Needless to say, not our fave dish.

Risotto! I loves me a good risotto! The crab des neiges was, if there was any, broken up in very tiny pieces. I don't think I managed to actually taste it. Vino tasted it a bit, or so she thought. For all I know, there was no crab in there. The mushrooms tasted almost meaty, which is what I like when I eat a mushroom. They were oozing flavor. Getting a weird image here. The rice was a tad on the overcooked side for risotto but I like it that way. The cream on top was too much, I found. A bit less and it would've been perfect. The whole thing tasted of lemon, which was nice and refreshing and gave some lightness to an otherwise heavy dish (when is risotto NOT heavy). There was a bit of pesto which was actually very good mixed with the other flavors but there was too much cheese. Put cheese, yes. Don't put TOO much.

For dessert, it was supposed to be carrot cake, and then they brought us chocolate fondant and I was happier. I LOVE carrot cake, but I have a special place in my heart for fondant. I'm not even going to go into details but that sh*t was GOOD. OH. And there was ice cream on top (as it should be every time fondant is served) and tasted special. We wondered what it was for a good 8 minutes. The waiter came by and he told us it was bay leaf ice cream! What! I have neva eva EVA heard of that. It was very good, and just herbal enough. Awesome ice cream. YES!

Service was OK. I have to say that it was rather slow between courses and it took us a long while to get our first dish. You know when it takes so long that you start turning around to see where your food's at? Ya, that long. We were having soup (obviously ready) and tataki, most likely already cooked... SO. Water was on table and service was very professional. But it was slow. We just didn't understand because when we got there, the resto was almost empty.

And now, the scores!

Food: 7.5
Service: 7

I enjoyed going there and getting four dishes for 30$. I will also enjoy other restaurants for the same price. Just sayin'. Not totes against going back but hey, as I've said before, so many restaurants, so little time.

El Sabor de Mexico

I moved to Pointe-St-Charles in November and hadn't really been able to fully discover the area until recently, when it started being all sunny and warm-ish. Last week, I decided to walk to Wellington in Verdun and take a tour! And oh boy was I ever satisfied with all the restaurants on that street!

Man, that street is full of restaurants! And most are quite inexpensive too!!! My kinda place :) As I was getting near the end of the 'fun part' of Wellington, I saw this cute little Mexican restaurant (new, since January). It looked so cute from the window (except for that huge OUVERT sign!), plus, the menu looked great. And by great, I mean table d'hôte for 11,99$! What what!

So you get in and it's very mexican looking. Is that a thing? All these lively colours and cute table cloths! I was loving it! The place itself is kind of small, about 30 seats and lunch time, there was only one waiter. It's a good thing the place was empty except for a couple, at around 2 PM. Looking at the menu, I was obviously seduced by the 11$ table d'hôte: soup or salad, main (quesadillas, fajitas...), and desert and coffee OR wine.

As a starter, I had the tortilla and tomato soup with some sour cream and crispy tortilla on top. The soup was very nicely flavored, the sour cream added just a touch of creaminess and the tortilla added some butteriness (I SWEAR, it's a word!) and  that crispiness that is always welcomed when you eat soup. The perfect bite was obviously a bit of everything!

Next, it was the chorizo and queso quesadillas. There was also some hot salsa (I like it hot!) and a little onion, and tomato salad with a bit of parsley. As Joey on Friends says in one episode: 'put em' together!'
Hahaha. But seriously, I just opened the quesadilla and added some salsa and some of the salad and it was marvellous! All the flavours were there. The salsa obviously added some spice and the salad and parsley toned it down a bit. The chorizo was nice and there was a lot of cheesy goodness! The only meh thing was that the chorizo was a tad greasy, actually going through the tortilla and onto the plate. Oh and I asked and they do not, I repeat, do NOT make their own tortillas. I was a tad disapointed.

Now, I thought I was going to have a desert, even if I wasn't necessarily still hungry for that but I was then told that, as 'stated' on the menu, it was either coffee and desert or wine. I thought it looked more like coffee OR wine AND desert. But anyhoot, I got a nice big glass of wine and seriously, where is alcohol included in the table d'hôte except maybe in Europe?

Service was great: the waiter came to greet me at the door and I chose my table, and from then on, he was ever so present because, well, there were only 3 clients in the place, including myself. I wasn't served water regularly which kind of annoys me but he answered my questions and came to ask me how I liked every course. I did see him look at his cell once, which I don't think is ok but at least it was only once :)

And now, the scores!

Food: 7.5
Service: 7.5

A great new find! If you happen to be walking on Wellington, dso it!!!

Aix Cuisine du terroir

Ah yes, the Happening Gourmand is upon us again (www.happeninggourmand.com)! Last year, we went to Verses and this year, we decided to try an all new restaurant in the old port: Aix Cuisine du terroir, or Aix for the regulars. Let me reiterate what this Happening is all about: 6 restaurants (Vieux Port steakhouse, Restaurant Modavie, Taverne Gaspar, Méchant Boeuf, Suite 701, Bevo Bar + Pizzeria) have 23$ table d'hôte instead of the regular 36$ and 2 restaurants (Verses, Aix Cuisine du terroir) have a 27$ or 37$ table d'hôte instead of 44$. About half of them also offer a table d'hôte for lunch at 15$ (22$ usually). This, from the 10th of January to the 3rd of February. Basically, this gives us poor-ish people a chance to eat a great meal at a lower price :) We liked our experience last year and we love the concept so we decided to do it again this year! This time, instead of going with a bunch of people (and risking that some will be late![lots of swearing ensued]), we went with one friend and we had a great time!

Aix is located in the Place d'Armes hôtel, right below Suite 701. Actually, the latter was also part of the Happening but Aix's menu looked more appetizing. It's a 5 minute walk from the metro so it is quite well located indeed!The restaurant is very nice and chic, with banquettes everywhere, brick walls (we love love love that!) and big lamps, 60's style. I kind of had the feeling I was entering a Mad Men episode :)The ambiance was very nice at the beginning what with people talking and the clinging of glasses (but then a: the couple beside us started fighting and b: a loud group came in).

Anyhoot, our friend was already waiting for us so we sat down quickly. On top of it... at 7:45, the resto wasn't even half full. A very professional waiter arrived at our table right after we sat down. The way the Happening Gourmand works is that you have either 3 or 4 choices of appetizers and entrées and one desert. We had some questions about the menu and he was able to answer all of them. This is nice because sometimes you get waiters that don't know their menu. This pisses me off. WHAT? I'm a difficult client :) 

We had had the chance of looking at the menu online before and we had chosen what we wanted so the ordering was quite quick. We shared a bottle of white between us three. I had the bison carpaccio and the beef medallion (served with swiss chard, shiitake, dried fruits, mashed parsnips---yum and porto sauce). Ze wife had the vegetarian poutine and the salmon steak (served with shrimp bisque, butternut squash pearls and herb chiffonade) and ze friend had the smoked bacon parmentier (soup), spinach and l'Île-aux-grues cheddar  and the salmon as well.

The bread arrived with our appetizers and I kind of expected it to be warm but alas.... :( The waiter served us wine the right way (well, the right way is of course the way they do it at ITHQ... duh :)... but seriously, I mean he asked who wanted to taste it, and after, served the others before that person got more wine. Also, he did not turn the bottle while opening it. That is key. Why? Because it looks better damn it! So koodos to him! Oh, what was also ITHQ-like is that they brought us the right utensiles before every course. THAT's nice. It's nice not to have 18 utensiles on your table at first, you know?

My bison carpaccio

Ze friend's soup

Ze wife's veggie poutine

Let's talk about food, shall we? Let me just mention that I was lucky enough to pick the best things on the menu (which will explain my score, later).My appetizer was darn good, if I may say so myself (and the two other girls at my table said so too!)! Very thin slices of bison accompanied with jerusalem artichokes' chips, beet sprouts, parmesan shavings and apple jelly. Ah man. It's rare that I'm THIS satisfied with my food and this was gooo-hoood! The mix of flavors was perfect. Every bite was good. I must say I was perfectly amazed! Ze wife's veg poutine was good too, very original I must say. In it, there was polenta, leeks, caramelized onions, pepper sauce and cheese curds. The mix was a weird one, I must say, but it kind of grew on you. Ze wife liked it but I don't know... it remained a bit of a 'weird special poutine'. Another thing was that the polenta itself could have been crispier according to her. Ze friend's soup was good but a tad watery... which always sucks when you order soup.I must say though that the smoked flavour from the bacon came out really well and was delicious.

As for the main, well I have nothing bad to say about mine. Only good. First of all, all the plates were beautiful. The different colours and textures were there and our eyes were more than pleased! My beef was cooked just the way I like it, semi-rare. I'm not even exaggerating when I say it melted in my mouth. The parsnip puree was so smooth and very well seasoned, the mushrooms and the sauce were a great addition to the plate and the little green deco on top was lovely. Lovely!

Ze wife and ze friend's meal was enjoyed but not as much. It had a shrimp on top of the salmon and it was a tad plastic-y :( Also, the skin was still on and it was quite soggy so that was a tad unpleasant. Ze wife said that if they are going to keep the skin on, might as well make it crispy. Ze friend's fish had many bones still in there which was rather uncool (on the other hand, ze wife's had none). Don't get me wrong here, they liked their salmon very much, they just didn't like it as much as I LOVED my beef.

As for the desert, there was only one choice... so no choice :p It was basically cream and cookie and tiny chocolate balls in a verrine. Tasted very nice but obviously, it was nothing special. But that's ok. It wasn't overly sweet either so that's good sometimes and ze friend liked it like that:) It was a nice, simple desert. We didn't go there for desert!


Without tip, it cost me 45$ for my meal and 1/3 of a bottle of wine. Not too shabby for such a good, very much appreciated meal!

The service was amazing at first. AMAZING. The waiter was very present and he answered all of our questions. But then, nothing. No more waiter. He did not serve the wine again, or the water. The only other time we got some water was at the end of our meal by a busboy. And I was the designated wine girl during the meal. He also did not come by (not even once) to ask us how our meal was. That's just common courtesy! Sheesh!

So, for the (much awaited) scores:

Food: Me: 9

          Ze wife: 7.5

          Ze friend: 7

Service: I would say an average of 7 overall because our waiter was not nearly as present as we wanted him to be.

All in all, such a great foodie experience, especially for me! You have to try the Happening Gourmand... it is well worth it! You still have time, it ends feb 3rd.