Boeh-ring

That pretty much summed up the food at Boehmer this weekend. It was quite unfortunate since I've been looking forward to this resto, well, ever since it opened. First bomb was that they could only seat us at 7 pm, although when we got there it was quite empty and didn't fill up till 9:30 pm....what gives? Second, the chairs. I rarely pick on something as mundane as chairs but if they want to get people to stuff food into their mouths as fast as they can in order to get out of those chairs, then mission accomplished. Talk about uncomfortable! But we're here for the food, so let's get to it. For starters, we ordered the venison tartare drizzled with red pepper aioli paired with crostini. This has got to be my favourite tartare in terms of the type of meat. I gotta say it was delicious; it needed a touch of acidity, but delicious. Also an egg yolk on top of anything, is A-OK in my books.

Apps #2: bacon, oyster, lobster chowder with a touch of tomato chutney. This is so not what I expected, which I always love. It almost tasted like, dare I say it, a curry. It was a thin broth with chunks of oyster and lobster, although I didn't taste, nor did I get, any bacon. But potato patato, this was the bomb diggity. So different but so good.

After our stomach-happy apps, we excitedly awaited our mains. I saw the pan roasted rack of lamb on a bed of barley chanterelle mushroom risotto and french green beans on the menu and I knew I had to have it since I've been craving lamb for months. Let's say, I'm still craving lamb. After the first and second bites, I knew nothing in my mouth was being tantalized and felt my taste buds retreat. The lamb was just... there. I wish it was encrusted in something...anything. The risotto, on the other hand, had great flavour but was under cooked. I guess that was the crunch they were going for?

Main #2: 60-day-aged striploin lined with shallot rosemary jus with a side of yukon golden frites. Granted that the cut of meat was spot on, it was just a plain boring dish. Do SOMETHING to your meat! Marinade? Seasoning? I think my dinner date said it best: "Great on technique, but lacks inspiration. The Jackson Triggs of restaurants". You think the saving grace would be the fries, but the salt miners fell all over that. Yay for wine! Keep drinking, all will be better.

Wrong. Desserts consisted of a duo of creme brulee - lavender and maple - and a caramel-chocolate torte. Someone definitely has a heavy hand in the kitchen as the brulees had the thickest sugary crust ever. I was chiselling my way through it. The flavours were fine but, at the end of the day, all I could taste was sugar. The torte was okay....pretty much one note throughout. Ugh what's the point, I give up.

More Montreal Roamings

"Whoa this place is tiny" is the first thought that came to my mind walking into Le Gros Jambon - a diner on Rue Notre-Dame Ouest that came highly recommended. Make no mistake, this is not your typical eggs and toast type of diner. Think more along the lines of Coca-Cola Burger (which I've heard is the bomb) and BDLT (the "D" for duck confit). Unfortunately Au Pied De Cochon killed me the previous night so I settled for something "lighter".

We squeezed our butts onto one of the retro stools and dove into my "light" salmon eggs benny and Alistair's fried chicken and waffles. My eggs benny was a'ight, but the chicken and waffles were amazeballs. The chicken was so crispy that I could hear the crunch as I bit into it....pure perfection. The waffles were spot on and totally divine with the horseradish and mustard maple syrup. Just a well-rounded solid meal. I'm going to break one of my rules right now and say that I would eat here again because I feel that I didn't do it justice. Until next time Le Gros Jambon!

Later that day, we came across the Jean Talon Market in Little Italy. For those of you who live in Toronto, it's a smaller version of St. Lawrence Market. Here are some pics:

The last night of our trip, we were "French fooded" out and wanted something completely different - enter Kyo, a Japanese restaurant at the Place D'armes Hotel. The night we were there, the place was completely rammed but the restaurant was very cool in accommodating us and got us seats at the sushi bar. Thanks guys! First order of business: get drinks. Guava Katana (sake, ginger beer and guava juice) and Violette (white grape juice, soju, curacao and yuzu) - check! Note: the drinks are not for wusses so if you can't handle your liquor, settle it with some water. I won't judge, okay maybe a little bit.

As expected, we ordered a plethora of sushi/maki rolls that were pretty run of the mill, but the star here was the bibimbap hamachi (last pic). The hamachi took us to flavour town baby! The warm gooey egg yolk coated everything and the textures of the soft, fresh hamachi with the crunch of the vegetables and the kimchi melded quite well together - it was like a karaoke party in my mouth! The gochujang rice was stellar too. With the cool temperatures outside, it was a great ending to the night.

Au Pied De Cochon

Now that I feel a little less obese, I can write about this no-nonsense, hog-loving, damn-I-got-full-too-quickly restaurant called Au Pied De Cochon. The only wisdom I will pass on to you today is EAT LIGHT before you step foot in here - the portions are massive, the food is fatty but the meat sweats will be worth it.
As we waited for our apps, out came the bread/butter. I always believe this understated pre-app sets the tone for the meal to come....what did we get? Warm bread that drank all the butter = EXCITEMENT!

After staring for the foie gras menu for what seemed like hours, we decided on the special, which was foie gras drizzled with cranberry compote and bedded on gingerbread. Mama Mia!! What is going on in my mouth? That would be tart, sweet, spicy goodness. I've never been a huge fan of foie gras but I could force-feed this to myself everyday.

In tandem with the foie gras came the tarragon bison tongue. I can say that I'm somewhat of a tongue connoisseur given that I grew up with it (i.e. my mom used to make a mean tongue roast), so I can tell you that you need to order this. This is a close-your-eyes and go-to-your-happy-place dish. There's only one other place that I would endorse tongue and that's at Harbord Room in Toronto. Between the two, I would choose this one. Why? Larger portions! Om nom nom nom.

As our mains approach, I slowly loosened my belt. We bravely ordered the PDC hotpot and the veal bourguignon. I feel lame saying this, but I slurped about 5 spoons of the bourguignon and I was done for. Hey, at least I tried! The dish itself was magnificent with tiny cubes of veal dancing with a myriad of vegetables, all enrobed in a silky broth. I was heartbroken not to have finished it. The PDC hotspot was a pork lover's dream - cheek, blood sausage, regular sausage, shoulder and belly sitting on top of mash. How any one person can eat all that meat is beyond me, but my husband sure did it. So proud!

On to dessert! Yes, we ordered some - don't judge. Let me cut to the chase: the creme caramel was one probably one of the worst I've tasted. The sugar was burnt, which completely ruined the flavour, and it was way too thick. Also it wasn't un-moulded so all the burnt caramel settled at the bottom, which made for a goopy mess. In addition, look at how boring it looks. Effort people! I guess the chef thought at this point we would be in a food coma and not care about appearance. Please chef, I'm a professional eater. You better check yourself.

I also tried some of my husband's dark chocolate pot with graham cracker crumble and it was definitely not for me, although he said he liked it (I now, and forever will, question his palate). It was more bitter than my espresso - that can't be right! Needless to say, dessert fail. Come and stay for the pork, have dessert at home - if you know what I mean ;) - BAM!