523308 Wed May 28 08:07:42 -0700 2008 15 22 Quebec (including Montreal) 0 3726862 (first post - little anxious) Hi, 3 friends and I are coming to Montreal this Friday for our first try at Mondial de la biere. 3 of us are foodies and although beer tasting is the primary goal of the weekend, we would like to include a few good meals. A few of us have done some research on places and are looking to narrow our choices, so any help would be greatly appreciated. 1. What about Bofinger for a late lunch/early dinner after 2-3 hours of beer tasting on Friday? (a few of us have been slow smoking at home and would like to see how they do) 2. Lunch on Saturday. A few of us are small scale wine collectors and will be bringing a few nice bottles to break up the beer tasting. Looking for a Bistro where we can BYOW. What is Le SteakFrites like? Can't really tell from the website? 3. Me and one other guy (the two with kids) will end up waking up much earlier and may take a trip to Jean Talon Market. Any cheese stalls that are stand outs for Quebec cheese? What time does the market open on Saturday? 4. Brewpubs that have good food? Brutopia, Dieu du ciel, L'amere a boire 5. And lastly....any beers not to be missed. Won't be trying anything I can find in Ontario, so will focus on smaller Quebec Micro and U.S IPA's. We are all in our mid 30's and not club guys. Staying downtown about 2km east of the Bell centre. Thanks in Advance, steve Wed May 28 08:07:43 -0700 2008 195843 stevefromTO 1 3726899 Bofinger (based on a visit a few weeks back) has greatly slipped in quality, I'm afraid to say. They've made some major changes (read: cut way back in quality and portion size, but not prices). Unless they have made changes since, I'm not sure I would recommend it. Which really sucks, because now there's no decent barbeque in Montreal. Wed May 28 08:17:55 -0700 2008 3726862 19331 cherylmtl 1 3726986 1. Bofinger might be fun if you're curious. That said, there's little that's special about their food. It's really a case of faute de mieux. 2. Steak Frites St-Paul? Decent if plain food and decor. Not open for lunch on Saturdays, last I heard. Not many BYOs will be. 3. Most vendors open at 9 a.m. though some, especially the farmers, will be there earlier. While all three cheese shops are excellent, you should make a beeline for Les saveurs du marché (east end of the south row of shops), nearly all of whose offering is Quebec products, whose cheese counter is less busy than Hamel's or Qui Lait Cru's and who are very generous about taste. 4. Dunno about Brutopia's food. Dieu du ciel's is snack stuff. L'Amère à boire makes a great lamburger (the fish and chips are terrible). Le sergent recruteur serves idiosyncratic pizzas. Benelux has a couple of interesting sandwiches, though I'm not knocked out by the beer. Le Cheval Blanc also has sandwiches of various types (Hungarian hot dogs, panini, etc.). Le sergent recruteur and upstairs at L'Amère à boire used to feature serious beer-based cuisine but it didn't fly and these days the brewpub food scene leaves a lot to be desired. 5. Just about anything at Dieu du Ciel. And the Cerna Hora at L'Amère à boire, a Czech-style pilsner so authentic it's the house beer at the Czech consulate. Wed May 28 08:39:58 -0700 2008 3726862 10520 carswell 2 3727118 benelux has a convenient terrace now lovely on a warm sunny day but that's one of the windiest corners downtown Wed May 28 09:13:37 -0700 2008 3726986 14181 celfie 2 3727957 How could I forget Reservoir? The beer's merely OK but the food is excellent. It's also one of the best spots in town for weekend brunch. (H/T to alixium.) Wed May 28 12:47:47 -0700 2008 3726986 10520 carswell 1 3727020 Hey StevefromTO, I would agree with Cherylmtl'e assessment of Bofingers. I still like their beef ribs a lot, nice smoke ring, good flavour. I would still go, but don't go with very high expectations, and you'll be fine. Re: Le Steak frites St. Paul, I think they are a reasonable place for a BYOB lunch. Good steaks, good frites, nothing out of the ordinary, but reasonable value. I don't know if many of my favorite BYOB's are open for lunch, so I think this would be a good option. Jean-Talon: I don't know exactly what time it opens, but I have gotten there at 8:00 8:30 am and it is usually up and running by then. Hamel on the north side of the market is your best bet for cheese, although Qui Lait Cru is ok too, and I believe Marche des Saveurs also has an excellent Quebecois cheese selection, I also think they have a good Quebecois alcohol and beer selection. Quebecois cheese can be excellent. If you like crepes, get some from the crepe place, they are outstanding (in the middle of the market. I'm afraid I am not much use for beer info, will leave that to others... Wed May 28 08:47:43 -0700 2008 3726862 89969 moh 2 3727175 Sorry to for the aside but, I don't agree about Steak Frites St-Paul being good value. Steak frites is cheap and easy as heck to make and there's almost no waste. And on top of that they flop that stuff on your plate like your at a high school cafeteria. I'm not saying Steak Frites St-Paul isn't tasty, but good value it is not. Wed May 28 09:30:57 -0700 2008 3727020 18488 SnackHappy 3 3727260 Your comment is definitely fair. I think I recommend it in the context of someone being from out of town, not able to make it in their hotel room, and looking for a steak place that is more reasonable than say Queue de Cheval. Also, I can't think of any BYOBs that are open for lunch that are any good. If I wanted to open a nice bottle of my own personal stash of red on a Saturday afternoon with a steak, this wouldn't be a bad option. Plus, even if you make it at home, I find making fries or anything fried a real pain in the butt. House gets hot, oil splatters everywhere, house smells like fried food for days. Now that being said, I am about to embark on experimenting with Southern fried chicken... what we do in the name of good eating... Wed May 28 09:52:14 -0700 2008 3727175 89969 moh 4 3727321 Oh, I wasn't suggesting to make it at home, although I do make some pretty awesome fries based on Heston Blumenthal's recipe from In Search of Perfection, I was just saying that the profit margin on a dish like steak frites is pretty high. The prices at Steak Frites St-Paul might seem more reasonable if the only vegetable that came with their dishes wasn't that dinky salad. Anyway, enough about that. Wed May 28 10:05:52 -0700 2008 3727260 18488 SnackHappy 5 3727364 Cool, that HB fries recipe did look awesome! I'm impressed you cook any of his recipes... Wed May 28 10:13:29 -0700 2008 3727321 89969 moh 6 3728501 There's nothing really complicated about that recipe. It's not like you have to blanche them at 160° for 72 hours and then flash fry them for 2.5 seconds at 3000°. It's actually easier than the regular way, but it does make for some very crispy fries. Wed May 28 15:04:13 -0700 2008 3727364 18488 SnackHappy 7 3730053 Do you have a link to this recipe? Thu May 29 05:28:45 -0700 2008 3728501 133774 MickFlanagen 8 3731329 Howdy! http://www.recipezaar.com/274729 Thu May 29 11:33:04 -0700 2008 3730053 68073 zekesgallery 9 3732435 Yeah, that's the one. I've just realized that I've been skipping a step. I don't do the first frying just the final one. Also, it's important that the fries have lots of cracked edges. That's why he cooks them in water first. I tend to cook them a bit less at the water stage and shake them up in a colander to rough up the surface. That's the secret to crispiness. So finally, I'm not doing his recipe at all. Thu May 29 16:52:56 -0700 2008 3731329 18488 SnackHappy 4 3727518 Slightly OT, but you need one of those sealed deep fryers, moh. Waring makes a particularly nice one. No smell, no spatters, makes great french fries... Wed May 28 10:50:05 -0700 2008 3727260 19331 cherylmtl 1 3727250 I'd add to the Bottled Beers Not To Be Missed list (and perfect for bringing back to Ontario) the Dieu du Ciel's Corne du Diable, a solid IPA available at Paradis de la Biere, 151 Laurier ouest, Montréal, 514-279-2566 At the Dieu du Ciel brewpub I avoid the flavoured beer (especially smoke flavoured ones) choosing instead the cask ale or the IPA, or ideally, the cask IPA Vices and Verses has a good selection of IPAs too Wed May 28 09:50:14 -0700 2008 3726862 23536 skinner 2 3727330 Le marché des saveurs at JTM often has Corne du Diable and a couple other Dieu du Ciel beers in bottles, too. Wed May 28 10:07:26 -0700 2008 3727250 10520 carswell