Archive | October, 2013

Moishes

21 Oct

There are few true Montreal institutions. Places that you, your parents, your grandparents… heck even maybe your great grandparents know about and respect for what they do. Moishes is one such a place. A place that evokes a certain timelessness and yet still works to this day. Up until last week, I had never been to Moishes. Yes… I know. A combination of factors really. Chief among them is that I am not really a steakhouse guy. I love meat but I can’t tell you the last time I actually ordered a steak in a restaurant. If given the choice, I will always select something else off the menu. Steak is one of those things where I don’t really see the point of paying a high premium. Just my perception but one that makes me choose to spend that money at a different restaurant than a steakhouse.

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Moishes has a late night menu where for 25$, you get a entree, a main and coffee/tea. A steal of a deal… and a great way for me to finally try them. So away we go. The late night option includes the normal complimentary pickles, coleslaw and bread which at the time of our reservation was a welcomed sight. Add my usual old Fashioned cocktail and I was ready for a good late night meal on the Main.

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As appetizers, we selected the salmon tartar and the caesar salad. Both were competent solid dishes. The salmon was not over-seasoned with just the right hint of dill. I would have liked it to be a bit bigger though. The salad portion was good and the dressing was the right combination of flavour without being too rich and creamy.

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As mains, we went with the steak frites and the filet mignon poutine. The steak was perfectly cooked to order. The cut was leaner and thicker than the typical steak frites you get at the many restaurants in and around Montreal which was a slight surprise but good regardless. The fries were nice, golden and plentiful. Good crisp and seasoning as well.

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The filet mignon poutine was something I had been curious to try and came away quite satisfied. Same golden fries as above topped with pieces of filet mignon and melted cheese. A very rich and filling dish. The real key here was the perfectly melted cheese that binds everything together into a delicious mess. Definitely a dish I will be having again.

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My first experience at Moishes was a good one. A place where you see the attention to detail that 75 years in business provides. Great service from beginning to end, a nice dining room space and great food. I admit to be a little surprised to see how casual of dress some of the patrons were… especially when compared to the tables where people were in suits and dresses. Moishes is a place where I feel like a dress shirt is a requirement at minimum but regardless…. I waited a long time before finding coming to Moishes. The wait won’t be that long next time.

Cheers!

Moishes
3961 Saint-Laurent
514 845 3509

Moishes on Urbanspoon

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Impasto

6 Oct

After a few months of waiting, I finally had the chance to check out the Italian restaurant everyone is talking about right now – Impasto. This small space, located in the heart of Little Italy and only a short walk from the Jean Talon Market, was born of the collaboration between Michele Forgione (formerly of Osteria Venti) and Stefano Faita, host of CBC’s In the Kitchen. Impasto aims to provide great Italian food with no shortcuts – almost everything is made in house. Walking into the space, that level of craft permeates even the decor. Beautiful open kitchen with wood panel walls, leather banquettes, terrazzo floors, Pelligrino bottles lining the ceiling and just enough lighting to really brighten up the room. I sat down with a Negrini in hand, ready to enjoy a wonderful meal with a group of friends.

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First up, we have the Insalada di Moscardini – baby octopus, fennel, potato and red onion salad. A beautifully balanced salad. The freshness of the fennel combined nicely with the bite of the red onion, the starch of the potatoes and the fatty octopus. Add a little olive oil and some herbs and you had a great starter to the meal.

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The other starter I got to try was the housemade Apulia style sausage with pan seared rapini and apple vinegar. Great texture to the sausage as well as great flavour. The combination of the rapini and the apple vinegar adds some nice acidity to the fatty sausage. I know rapini isn’t everyone’s thing but I personally love it so that worked for me.

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The next course was the pasta course. I went for the ricotta gnocchi with basil infused tomato sauce. This dish is probably Chef Forgione’s speciality and I had heard so much about it that I wasn’t sure it could meet my expectations. Well….. it blew them out of the water. The slow pillowy texture of each morsel. The rich ricotta flavour. I have never had gnocchi that literally melt in your mouth like these ones did. Lightly tossed with a simple but very flavourful tomato sauce, this was pretty much the best pasta dish I have had all year almost without saying. Bravo Chef!

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I also got to try another pasta dish – the mafalde with rabbit ragu, chicory and olives. The mafalde pasta itself was wonderful – great texture, indicative of people who know how to make great in-house pasta. The combination of the rabbit ragu with the chicory made for very earthy notes – a nice contrast to the richness of the ricotta gnocchi I had previously.

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For the next course, I went with Nonno’s porchetta roast served with a vanilla pear, pan seared rapini and some candied fruits. This was an amazing roast – deliciously rich and fatty pork meat with crispy skin. The skin wasn’t the crispest I’ve ever had but still wonderful. The inclusion of the vanilla pear and the candied fruits provided some sweetness to balance with the inherent saltiness and fattiness of the roast itself. I love porchetta and Impasto’s take just reinforced my love.

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For dessert, we went with the Tiramisu and the chocolate tort cake. I’m not a big fan of Tiramisu due to my hatred of coffee but this one was milder in terms of the coffee taste and had a wonderfully smooth texture. The chocolate cake had more of a brownie texture – very dense but still moist. Very well executed.

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This was a great meal all around. Impasto aims for great Italian food and they hit on all the notes. As a party, we did find the service to be slightly slow in terms of bringing water and taking wine orders but it is a minor quibble. Now, the menu changes seasonly and ironically enough, they just changed the menu for the fall so you won’t be able to try the dishes I described above. However, that should not stop you from going menu unseen. I have no doubts you will be as satisfied as I was. Now, I just want to go back to see what Chef Forgione and company have in mind for the current season.

Cheers!

Impasto
48 Dante
514 508 6508

Impasto on Urbanspoon

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Cabane à Sucre Au Pied de Cochon – Apple Season 2013

2 Oct

Fall is sadly here (speaking as a true Summer baby here). The air getting crisper, the leaves are changing colours and it is getting a heck of a lot darker when we all wake up in the morning. However, there are a few positives… and Martin Picard & company opening up their Cabane à Sucre is definitely one of them. Earlier this year, I got to visit for the first time for sugar season. Following that experience, I made sure that I would be back for the fall apple season menu as well.

First up, there was a nice selection of special cocktails to try out. The options were an apple Martini, a raspberry Margarita, an apple cranberry & spiced rum slush and lastly, an Irish car bomb variant with apple cider, apple brandy and creme de cassis.

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And now onto the food. The first course brought forth a huge amount of dishes: an apple pie topped with cheddar cheese, foie gras and an optional chives cream; a seasonal vegetable soup with pork, chicken, shark and a housemade pesto sauce; sauteed apples with noix de grenoble; a squash risotto with sausage mixed in a cheese wheel and salad still in pots with the vinaigrette sprayed onto it. Not a single bad dish amongst the group. The apple pie was flaky and sweet. The foie gras was the proverbial icing on the cake. The vegetable soup was nice and hearty with a beautiful deep and flavourful broth. The presentation of the salad was quite original and good as well. The sauteed apples brought some nice sweetness to the mix and the risotto was perfectly executed – the mixing in the cheese wheel really helped to create that rich texture.

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And then the main course came up – a meat plate that bordered on the absurb. A mountain of different meats with housemade sauerkraut that was left to ferment for 6 weeks. White ham, pork tongue, smoked meat, bacon, liver, dry sausages, apple and foie gras sausage, pork tenderloin and a pig’s foot. Everything on this plate was delicious – great use of different types of meats and preparations. This may not be everybody’s thing but I loved it.

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Paired with the meat dish was a cheese plate. I don’t remember the names of each cheese here but other than the blue cheese (which I don’t mind in a dish but not by itself), I enjoyed all of them. Similar to the meat plate, there are a great mix of textures and flavours within the plate. Add to it fresh onion rolls, baguettes and crackers and you get a great side-dish to all those meats.

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Last but not least, we get to dessert. Dark beer and squash soft serve ice cream, squash & honey millefeuille and powdered doughnuts stuffed with homemade apple sauce. Now, I know that squash ice cream and a squash millefeuille seem weird but both were amazing. Both soft serves were simply perfect in terms of consistency and richness. The doughnuts were odes to their food truck and, like those you can get there, were delicious although it prefer a little less powdered sugar personally. The millefeuille was perfectly done as well.

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Once again, as it was during the spring, the amount of food you get for the fixed price (50$ for the fall) is insane. Compared to the spring, I would say that this menu is more accessible given its relative lack of offal and other non-typical food items. Either way, I enjoyed this meal very much and rolled myself home – all while saying I’ll be back next year. Pretty much exactly what expected from the Au Pied de Cochon crew.

Cheers!

Cabane à Sucre Au Pied du Cochon
11382 rang de la Fresnière
St-Benoit, Qc

Cabane à sucre Au Pied de Cochon on Urbanspoon

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