New Montreal Restaurant Thread

[EagerBeaver]

NOOKY,

You need to go to the Hereford House in Kansas City. Order any steak on the menu and it is a damn good meal. I will not delete my post. I know a good steak when I taste one!

Regarding you being the "Stripper Lover of Beef" be careful about what you wish for as the real Stripper Lover has been banned from this Board.

As a matter of interest I am going to be having USDA beef cooked on my grill today, in the form of kebabs. You can only wish you were a guest at my house today.

 

[Robert Gilette]

Why dont you just go at Gibby's in the old port ?

RG

 

[EagerBeaver]

NOOKY,

I get my beef from a local butcher who knows his cattle.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Le Maison Kam Fung

I had dim sum lunch here 3 times this week. This place was jammed every day, and a couple days there was a line down the hall and you had to take a number. However, they give you the option of sharing a table with strangers and if you accept this option, you can shorten your wait dramatically.

I liked the variety better than Ruby Rouge. Pretty much everything I had was very good except the fried seafood rolls which were greasy. My favorite was the pork and vegetable in rice noodle. The egg custard pastry for dessert was superb.

 

[gohabsgo]

I had dim sum lunch here 3 times this week.

Agreed, I like to go to Kam Fung for Dim Sum, My favourites are the sticky rice in lotus leaf ( you don’t eat the leaf, as I found out when I was first introduced to Chinese dim sum, but the Chinese sausage inside usually has a lot of fat in it) , the pork shui mai, the tarot dumplings and the steamed bbq pork buns. However, I wasn’t to keen on trying the chicken feet (yuck !!), to each his/her own I guess !!

 

[EagerBeaver]

Le Maison Kam Fung v. Ruby Rouge

On my last day in Montreal, I visited both Le Maison Kam Fung (LMKF) and Ruby Rouge (RR) to do a definitive "Dim Sum Challenge." Both places were jammed, but I had to wait at LMKF, whereas I got one of the last tables at RR. Here are the results of my research over 4 days:

1. Variety - Edge To LMKF
2. Service - Edge to RR
3. Quality - Slight edge to LMKF, mainly due to a problem with my dumpling wrappers falling off at RR, a problem I did not experience at LMKF

I give RR a big edge in service because a waiter took it upon himself to get me more dim sum when he saw I was wanting more, even though I had not been waiting very long since finishing my last order. LMKF's service is erratic. On the day I took Doc Holliday, we literally were bombarded with so many trays that our heads were spinning and we did not know what to say yes or no to. On the other days I went to LMKF, it was even more crowded and I had to wait a long time between the different trays coming around.

However I give LMKF points for offering me the option of sharing a table with strangers rather than waiting. I ended up sitting with two French guys and 3 Asian women, none of whom spoke any English, which was fine. What wasn't fine was that the French dudes got offered (and accepted) some kind of stuffed rice noodle with sesame on top which I was not offered. This pissed me off. There was also a kind of funny moment when one of the Asian ladies lost hold of a dumpling with her chopsticks and ended up splashing sauce all over the front of her blouse. She uttered a short, shrill scream. I saw the whole thing coming, but what was I to do?

RR is overcooking some of their dumplings because the casings are not holding up. Other than that, I would rate the taste of the dim sum even at RR and LMKF.

Overall edge to LMKF, but don't go there at peak hour (between 12:00 and 1:00 p.m.) on Friday or Saturday, as you will wait in line and service will deteriorate badly as it gets crowded due to there not being enough waiters to serve everyone at the rate they need to be served in that huge dining room.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Chez Delmo

Lawless,

I ate lunch there one day this past summer and there was nobody there. Although the food was good, it was very overpriced.

Another victim of the increasingly competitive Montreal restaurant market!

 

[EagerBeaver]

Chowder

Lawless,

As I stated I went to Delmo for lunch and found the prices to be very high, although I must say the food was quite good.

Now that Delmo has closed, can you give me a recommendation on where I can get some good "chowda" in Montreal? I am sure the Boston posters are also interested in where they can go to get some good "chowda" and lobster bisque.

 

[EagerBeaver]

L'Actuel

Lawless,

Never tried that place. Do they serve "chowda"?

The only place in Montreal I ever had chowder other than Delmo was the restaurant at the Novotel. They served something called "St. Lawrence River Chowder" which had a cream-based broth similar to New England style clam chowder, and had clams and scallops and shrimps in it as well as some bacon, I think. It was the special soup of the day. It was okay but nothing like the New England Clam Chowder I can have at home.

 

[TieDyeGuy]

Beef, did I hear beef...

...could you please give me your opinion as to the best steakhouses in montreal. I am in the Steakhouse business and while im here i figure i owe it to myself to taste the "Montreal Steak House". To add my umm lil knowledge of beef if you were to know where the beef was from you could look for a place that offered beef from a corn surplus state. Young beef on corn diet is a good bet. Best states for this are as follows Nebraska, Iowa, Montana, Missouri,... also there are a few farms with Illinois and Pennsylvania that are quite superior. A previous writer acknowledge marble, very true more marble more flavor and its the most tender. As for the worlds best meat it would be Kobe from Japan. if you could imagine how you would taste if: you were massaged all day fed corn and drank beer and never need to move. By the way the most widely accpted "best cut of beef is from what we call a spencer from the rib eye. Just one thing if you want to have good beef at your house order shoulder clot from a butcher in the prime grade you will pay choice price for a porter and get a much superior cut of beef.


A Spencer white corn on the cob, any one of the many canadian Red beers and a woman to share it with may be the best life has to offer.

And the top 3 Steakhouses and Real smoke houses are????????

 

[ck_nj]

TieDyeGuy,

The best steak I have had in Montreal was at Le Queue de Cheval.

http://www.queuedecheval.com/

It is at 1221 Réne Lévesque Ouest, near the corner of Drummond.

Expensive as hell, but worth it.
The one thing I liked about it was that the waiter will show you the meat you had just ordered BEFORE it was to be cooked. I had never experienced that before.

CK

 

[EagerBeaver]

According to a well known local hobbyist I have spoken to who has eaten at all the famous steakhouses in Montreal, Moishe's is #1 and Gibby's is #2 for steak in Montreal.

I have never had steak in Montreal, I generally prefer Asian cuisine, but I will likely give one of the aforementioned restaurants a shot on my next trip.

 

[spin]

I would have to agree that Moishe's (3961 St.Laurent) is the place to go for steak in this city, call me old school but it still can't be beat (service is top shelf by the way)

If anyone is ever in the Joliette area(about 45 min north/east of the city) you have to try La Chaumiere (450-753-4124) I don't have the address but it is right next to La Club de Golf Joliette - It's a small familly run steak house and it is out of this world, I travel quite a bit and believe it or not this is definitly my favorite spot, if you are a beef afficianado you will not be disappointed.

Anyone have any suggestions on restaurants that have a decent atmosphere for eating alone ??? A place with good food, good crowd, and preferably a nice bar that you can eat at. I love to eat out, but sometimes just not in the mood to sit at that romantic table in the corner for 1 !

Thanks,
Spin

 

[spin]

Lobster bisque

EagerBeaver,

Forgot to mention on my last post, but the Rib n Reef (on Decarie) has an excellent lobster bisque (not too fishy) just really quite good.

Spin

 

[EagerBeaver]

Spin,

Thanks for the recommendation on lobster bisque. The only lobster bisque I ever had in Montreal was at Chez Delmo, which is now closed. Delmo's bisque was a tomato based broth unlike the New England style I am used to which has a rich, cream or milk based broth. The Rib n Beef lobster bisque is a tomato based broth, or is it cream based?

 

[J. Peterman]

If you only knew the truth about fantastic steaks!

There are places that specialize in steaks. If you ever saw the steaks before they are grilled, you may not be pleased with the appearance. Most of the "steak house" meat are tenderized lesser quality meats. Years ago, when there was the Ponderosa steak house chain in Montreal, they served you the extreme in low quality meats. They served you range fed beef from Austalia, where they dump large herds of cows out into the wilderness and then come back for them a few years later after they have been feeding on wild vegetation. These cows produce tough meat, sometimes marbled with fat. The color of these cuts of meat range from purple, blue to a dark brown. These cuts of meat are tenderized in papaya or pineapple juice to tenderize the meat.
The steak houses around Montreal these days probably do not serve Australian range fed beef, but I will bet that they are the lower quality meats that are marbled with fat and tenderized. I would like to add that there is nothing wrong with these cuts of meat. Just that it is not Canada grade "A".
Also the cuts of meat that they will sell to you to take home at their butcher counter is not the same steaks they serve to you in their dinning room.

 

[EagerBeaver]

J. Peterman,

Are you saying that I am not likely to get Canada grade A beef if I order steak at Moishe's or Gibby's? If not where can such steaks be ordered?

 

[MG_mtl]

J.Peterman, have you ever been to La queue de Cheval? They let you pick the raw peace of meat of your choice from a platter they bring to the table before they cook it for you. I know there was a long discussion on steak houses in MTL a while back but I can't recall if it was in the old rest. thread.

PS: on a more personal note, my personal favorite is Gibbys (hmmmm...). I also tried Moishe's but it was so much meat I couldn't eat anymore meat for 3 days after my meal .

 

[J. Peterman]

I will not say anything bad about Moishes or Gibbys, as I do not know first hand what they serve there. I can tell you that I was refering to a very large well known steak house in Montreal, and not to these 2 other places.

 

[spin]

lobster bisque

EagerBeaver,

The bisque at the Rib n Reef is cream based, and probably very similar to what you are used to. (I spend a fair bit of time in the New England area)

Have you tried the fried clams from Mystic Pizza, great to eat in the car on the way to Foxwoods!

Spin