Mechant Boeuf, 124 St. Paul Ouest (Old Montreal)
I recently had the chance to try a burger at Mechant Boeuf, as I was intrigued by the review of Chateaulafite. In reading my review, keep in mind these comments, which proved very helpful to me:
chateaulafite said:
Servers ask If you want it rare, medium or well done. That's not common. Quality of beef seems very nice, probabbly Angus beef (it was not specified on the menu)
I made reservation for dinner at 5:30 p.m., although they actually open for dinner at 4:00 p.m. When I arrived I was the only person there, which I found a bit surprising. After a cocktail I ordered the Mechant Burger which, at $16, seemed to be one of the house specialties (it should be noted that the menu is somewhat limited, with less beef choices than I would have expected).
The bartender came to take my order as I had decided to sit at the bar. She may have been somewhat inexperienced, because when she asked me how I wanted my burger cooked and I said "medium rare", she responded by saying that she believed they would have to do it medium at least. I then asked her if Mechant Boeuf grinds their meat in-house. She responded that they did. I then looked her in the eye and said, "well, if that is the case, I can't imagine that it should be any problem to cook my burger medium rare." She said she would ask the Chef to do so. At this point, a bit of thanks to Chef who had said:
chef said:
It may be the case that you can serve burgers rare only if you grind the meat in-house, i.e. there is no difference between a rare steak and meat ground in-house from the same steak and cooked to rare. I expect that a specialty place like Méchant Boeuf would go to the trouble to do a house-grind. Just a theory, of course.
You were correct. My burger arrived cooked perfectly medium rare. As reported by Chateaulafite, they are using top grade meat and the burger meat itself was delicious. However, I found the following to be issues for me:
1. The burger is too big. It's at least 10 ounces - an absolute monster, as reported by Chateaulafite. I think 8 ounces is sufficient.
2. The burger is complemented by smoked country bacon, gruyere and bleu cheeses. I personally feel that sharp cheeses like bleu and cheddar should never be used on burgers. These cheeses are great in salads that need an infusion of flavor, but in the case of a burger they dominate too much and detract from the enjoyment of the burger. For this reason I believe only mild cheeses like swiss (ideally) or muenster should ever touch the top of a burger.
3. The fries were soft and not crisp. I really don't like fries unless they have a modicum of crispness. These fries bordered on being soggy.
Overall, the burger was good, with the caveats noted above. For $16 it is an expensive burger, but you will definitely get your money's worth in terms of the portion. The chef should consider offering a swiss cheese option on the burger, should cut down slightly on burger size and should take a course in French Fries 101.
With your numerous visits here you should not be surprised to be eating alone in a restaurant at 5h30 in the afternoon...
