Hard to believe but I have already reached my 10 year high school reunion. Time clearly flies when you are having fun…. or at least let’s hope that’s it anyway. As we approach the actual reunion, some of us decided it was worthwhile to have a reunion dinner downtown to catch up, eat, drink, laugh…. and then likely cry and drink some more. As the “foodie” of the group, I was tasked with finding a fun place with good food to host a large group on a Friday… not the easiest challenge but one I figured I could handled. Based on what was required, I figured now was a good opportunity to try out the restaurant of one of my favourite food trucks here in Montreal, Grumman 78.
Located in what appears to be an old converted garage and in what used to be (and still is) their prep kitchen for the truck itself, Grumman 78 has a nice relaxed vibe eminating from its locale. Funky artwork, old arcade machines, white brick walls, large wooden tables, old Christmas lights and good music – this is definitely not a formal restaurant. Given the open nature of the space and the fact it was Friday, a little noisy for conversation but it’s the kind of room that I could see being enjoyment on a different night and time.
As we were a large group, we were beholden to a fixed menu but one that had been proposed to me in advance and which I had the option of making changes to. Given that it was a combination of many of their staple dishes, I had no issues with what they offered us. At this moment, I want to take a second to discuss the service of the evening. Our meal got off to a bit of rocky start due to no-shows on our end which delayed the start of the meal by a good hour and caused some issues as our number dropped from what we had confirmed for the fixed menu. While it got sorted out, it was a little surprising to see how we weren’t offered drinks more quickly as we waited for those who ended up not coming or that we weren’t checked on again until we eventually decided to assume those no-shows were actually not coming. That followed a bit of a pattern throughout the night of decidedly slow service despite our waiter being very friendly. An entire order of drinks never came and the wait times between the different dishes was surprisingly long. Now, I noticed that there were at least 2 other large (i.e 10+) groups in the restaurant at the same time which may explain some of the issues but regardless it was a disappointment. And now on to what should be the main focus – the food!
The first appetizer was a Mackerel crudo. A combination of brined Mackerel, citrus fruits, pomegranate and avocado, this was a very light and fresh starter. Great combination between the salty Mackerel, the sweet acidic fruits and the creamy avocado. Tons of flavours without being overbearing.
The other appetizer was a beet salad with apples, creme fraiche, croutons and herbs. Another interesting combination of items and flavours. The redness of the beets created quite a visually striking dish. The richness of the creme fraiche and acidity of the apples helped to freshen up the beets which are not a favourite of mine under normal circumstances.
The next course was what made Grumman 78 in the first place: their soft shell tacos. In this instance, we were treated to two types: Bahn-Mi and Pimenton-Feta. The Bahn-Mi ones were comprised of pulled pork, hoisin sauce, pickled daikon and carrots. The Pimenton-Feta ones were Pimenton braised red beans, radish salad and feta. As we were a large group, there were served family style to allow you to build your own – although we had an issue in terms of quantity of tortillas. We eventually got extras but they were a little slow to come. Regardless, the tacos themselves were delicious – both were flavourful and texture rich. I had already had the Bahn-Mi before- it was the original taco I tried of theirs from their food truck. Nice combination of sweet and fatty. The Pimenton-Feta was a new one for me – not a huge fan of the beans themselves but the mix with the feta and the radish made it work rather nicely.
The next service was the final main: Fried Chicken and Johnny Cakes (cornmeal pancakes) with coleslaw and Ranch dressing. I loved these – the fried chicken was crispy but still moist inside, the coleslaw was light and fresh, the ranch dressing added some creaminess and the pancakes were a perfect vehicle for the whole thing. I just wished that there had been more!
For dessert, we got individual key lime pies. Now, I am a huge key lime pie fan so imitators need not present themselves to me at a restaurant. This one was quite good – a crunchy graham crust at the bottom and nice key lime filling. The key things for me are always the texture of the filling itself and the key lime flavour being strong but not overbearing. Grumman’s version hits these notes perfectly. A solid end to the meal.
All in all, my time at Grumman 78 left me conflicted – the food was awesome as I had expected given my experiences with the food truck however the service issues on this evening left a slightly sour note for my dinner mates and I. I am generally more forgiving on these things but I suspect some of my friends won’t be based on our discussions at the bar afterwards. The food here is too good not to check out but perhaps I would recommend not bringing a large group firstly – a table of 2 or 4 should not run into the issues we did. At least visit the food truck when it comes out this summer. I certainly plan to.
Cheers!
Grumman 78
630 de Courcelle
514 290 5125
Ramblings from the Complex Mind of a 30 Something 
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