BYOB French or market Resto with dégustation menu (4 or 5 courses) <50$

[CookingQueen]

Hi CHers,

Happy New Year to all!
Do u have any good recs for a BYOB French or market cuisine that serves a 4 or 5 course meal? Preferably in montreal: plateau-mile end-downtown-little Italy or surrounding
The degustation menu would consist of
1-soup or salad
2-entree
3-trou normand (optional)
4-main course
5-dessert

Something that would would cost less than 50$ a person

Excluding the following places that we've been to
les Heritiers
Les infideles
Le poisson rouge
A l'os (although more expensive)

Thanks!

[CookingQueen]

Ok here is my review of our night at Le Square
All in all a generous 3.5 stars on 5
We had the 39,90$ TH which included soup or salad, one app,one main and one dessert but no coffee or tea

For a little extra some of us ordered onion soup. good but not great...missing depth of flavor...it was mozzarella instead of Swiss (weird for a French resto)
I had velouté of mushroom...lacked lots of seasoning
The soupe du jour was also bland (potage of carrot potato and zucchini)

The tartare of tuna was good but over salted (I think soya sauce)
The chèvre chaud wrapped in phillo with a little salad was very good but salad was bland
The smoked salmon was good

The tagliatelle au fois GRAS and Parma ham (prosciutto style) in a carbonara sauce was also very bland...the sauce tasted like cream only
The duck magret was very tender and tasty
The cabillaud with tagliatelle was very good except for the slight rubbery texture or somewhat chewy tagliatelle....as though it was dried out,,,a little bland in taste although sauce was beurre blanc.
Filet of beef was apparently a little overdone
The beef tartare was apparently very good (they do ask u to taste it before they serve it to you.
The pain perdu with caramel a la fleur de sel was amazing!!!!!
The apple pie with ice cream was also very good
I was told that the Creme brûlée was good, so was the fruit gratin and the verrine with sabayon

Service was very nice although some long intermission between apps and main course.
Very bistro-ish in the sense of noise
One bathroom for ladies AND gents (although fairly clean considering)
Decor is....don't know if there is one really

We had a good time because of wine and the company and ambiance but not sure that I crave or will crave any particular meal other than maybe the pain perdu

Let me know if u agree or not

[CookingQueen]

Ok after long reflection, we r headed to
Le Square
162 prince Arthur east
Hope it's good!
Thank u all for ur help

[lagatta]

Dear Cooking Queen,

Hope you will report back from Le Square, which looks very promising - also a handy location for several friends of ours. http://www.restaurantlesquare.com/

[estilker]

Le p'tit plateau for BYOB. Consistently better than most of the bistro BYOBs on the plateau I find. it beats QG every time.

I have also heard a lot of good things about Le Renard that is very market/season driven (granted, we're not in the most exciting season now).

[CookingQueen]

I agree estiker however they r closed till the 17of jan I believe

[SnackHappy]

Tandem is the best BYOW I've been to in a long time. I was very happy with my meal there. Both the food and service were excellent.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Restaur...

[SnackHappy]

Oh, just noticed on their facebook page that they're closed until the 16th.

[CookingQueen]

I looked into tandem...I will try when they reopen
Thanks for the rec!

[illusion]

La colombe,
le quartier general

[CookingQueen]

Thanks!
Wanted to give QG another try but of course they were full. Although ii find it not as good as everyone makes it sound. It's prob because new BYOB or Maybe an off day for me or them
La Colombe: I've been...good rec too but want a new menu

[Maximilien]

couple more :
Grenadine (closed from jan 9 to 31)
Monsieur B.:
French Connection (4675, boul Saint-Laurent), just recently opened.

[unlaced]

I would definitely recommend Monsieur B! I organised a Christmas party there - the set menu included soup or salad, entree, main course and dessert, as well as coffee and tea, for $48 - tax and tip included! I am not sure if that was only a Christmas special, but have a look at their menu and see what you could put together. No one in our group had been before, but everyone was impressed, especially with the quality price ratio and many commented that they would return.

The only issue is that it is not a large restaurant and it can get quite noisy, but as a large-ish group we would have contributed to that! I am sure it would be better on a slightly quieter night!

[emymtl]

I would recommend Monsieur B as well! Went there yesterday with friends and everybody loved it! Indeed it can get a little noisy (we were sitting right next to a large group), but it's really worth the while.

Petit plateau, O'Thym and La Colombe are good bets as well.

[CookingQueen]

Will def try mr B next time

Thanks for the rec!

[CookingQueen]

And been to Colombe and o thym...I agree good recs

[CookingQueen]

Coincidence: called grenadine last night and they were open?!?!?! Their TH is 55$
I read very mixed reviews (more bad than good) about Monsieur B. Have u tried it?
As for French Connection, ever been since opening?
Thanks again

[Maximilien]

I've been only one, about 10 months ago, it was nice.

Disclaimer, my cousin is one of the owner/cook of Grenadine, so I will not discuss it too much, except for generics.

[CookingQueen]

Ok well if I go, I'll post my review of grenadine.
just nod if u agree...

[Mr F]

I've been to French Connection.

It's a sister restaurant to Bleu Raisin, so if you (dis)like one you'll probably (dis)like the other, as they share most of the same virtues and flaws.

For $49, you get a 6-course tasting menu but in a different format than in your original post: four small courses (including a soup but no salad), your choice of main course (from a menu of 5 dishes), choice of desserts or cheese.

Pluses:

- very good terroir meats, cheeses
- some very good dishes (bavette was particularly tasty)
- good presentation, nothing too fancy
- friendly, efficient, attentive service
- good (but not super high-end) glassware and plenty of decanters available

Minuses:
- as at its sister resto, vegetables seem an afterthought compared to meats
- some dishes not especially interesting and/or unnecessarily elaborate
- high ceiling, corner location with 3 outside walls = big, cold room

Plus or minus, depending on the person:
- for those who care about decor, it feels somewhat haphazard or unfinished (more Mile End hipster chic than Plateau yuppie chic, e.g. there are at least three different types of chair in the room; the ceiling looks like a floor...)
- pacing is either pleasantly relaxed or infuriatingly slow, take your pick (we were there on a quiet night, so this may factor in). We actually loved not being rushed, and never felt that there was an excessive wait for anything -- by far the longest gap was between main course and dessert

Overall you can expect more or less standard bistro fare with some creative flourishes pulled off with varying levels of success. I will be going again at some point, but will not be surprised if the reviews come up mixed.

I guess it depends on expectations: if you consider a $49 six-course dinner a fairly casual, neighbourhood-bistro type of deal, you'll probably be reasonably satisfied. If you're expecting something groundbreaking, not so much.

[CookingQueen]

I will try FC in a few months when they've established themselves
Side note: I have not tried blue raisin but was not tempted by the fact that I tried l'Atelier (sister resto I heard) and it was way overpriced for what u get especially in terms of portions
Thanks for the review! U tempted me