Montreal Summer Food Wrap Up

Le Mondial de la Bière Celebrates 20 years

Summer is winding down, yes already, so here are our thoughts. We kicked off the estivale season with The Mondial de la Bière (May 29 – June 2, 2013). As if we needed a reason to celebrate with a beer but the fest did mark their 20^th anniversary. Safe to say with this many notches under their belt the Mondial marks the beginning of Montreal’s summer and slew of events.

Like any big anniversary this is a chance for reflection on the past. Taste evokes memory and beer is no exception. Where and what beer you were drinking 20 years ago might not be the moon landing in terms of significant life events but the old brands and labels do have a certain nostalgia. We remember the big beer companies launching their “dry beer” lines. The promo package for Labatt Dry included an audio cassette featuring a phone sex operator voice describing the sensual new smooth flavour of their beer. Carling Black Label was marketing itself as the alternative cool counter-culture beer. St-Ambrose was starting to appear on the scene only to become the granddaddy of craft brewing in Quebec. If anything the Mondial today illustrates the rise of the microbrewery industry. Come to think of it the first time we tried a St-Ambroise was compliments of Montreal journalist and Boulevardier Nic Auf der Maur who was buying a round of drinks at Grumpy's. Auf der Maur was declaring something to the effect "if I buy you a beer it has to be a Montréal beer." You can switch gears and ask yourself where you might be twenty years from now but also what kind of brews will we be drinking in 2033?

Cold Beer & the great outdoors - Mondial 2013

In honour of their 20th anniversary the Mondial moved from Place Bonaventure to some new digs at Le Palais des Congrès. The venue is a nice contrast to the tomb like atmosphere of Place Bonaventure mainly because the outdoor site is back. No secret beer fest fans missed the open outdoor pub since the fest left Windsor Station three years ago. During our visit this year we were treated to some delicious sunny summer weather. The De La Gauchetière outdoor site, behind the Palais des Congrès, has some great cachet and in addition to the regular beer fest food offerings we found some food trucks. With Chinatown next door, offering bites and respite, from all the excitement and crowds we were glad to discover that The Mondial will be back at the Palais in 2014.  

Déserables Beer Braised Ribs

While beer, memories and sunshine might sound like enough we do have to mention a few faves from the fest. Since it is an Ontario brew, we cannot get it here in La Belle Province, a must stop is Beau’s Brewery who make organic beer made from some rather unique ingredients. Much to our disappointment there were no samples of their kimchi beer so instead we tried their Bog Water made with bog myrtle. The beer has a nice malt taste with some dark fruity notes. Also from Ontario, we enjoyed Crosswind Ale from Lake of Bays Brewery. The bottle boasts “brewed in small batches” and had some nice citrus flavours. Over the past few years we have developed a fondness for beers from Quebec brewery La Grimoire mainly because of the great flavours that pair nicely with food but are also for cooking. This year we had the Déserables maple beer, refreshing, a nice balance of sweet and bitter. Déserables beer makes a great braising liquid for pork ribs – trust us we have tried it. Speaking of favorite beers cherry beer still remains on top of our lists. That’s 2 years in a row Brasseurs de Montreal ran out of their cherry beer at the fest but we did find some sweet solace in a glass of Belgian Kriek (cherry beer). Since our first sip, over 10 years ago, Kriek remains one of our favorite beers of all time.

Food Truck Feeding Frenzy

“We got a great big convoy…” The big Montreal food story this summer is the return of food trucks to our city streets. We know a lot about this subject because we attended all the public consultations on street food at City Hall last year. We have been sampling the food trucks and have only had a couple of let downs. Perhaps our disappointing dishes warrant a second visit before laying the smack down and since the Montreal food truck movement is a new initiative we will hold back on the negative comments. This does have us wondering how many people will decide to continue with their street food endeavors next year. Not sure if it has to do with experience but we have noticed that the food trucks that were around last year seem to offer some of the best food. We have not tried all the trucks and like everything in life a few are ahead of the pack so here are a few items that we think are worth the detour.

Grumman ’78: Order a taco and taste a piece of Montreal street food history. The Grumman crew is the Granddaddy or Mother of food trucks in Montreal having played a major role in bringing food back to the streets. Besides leading the way for food trucks we have noticed restos popping up in Saint-Henri around their H.Q. (restaurant). As influencers of the Montreal culinary scene none of this would have been possible without serving up great food. 

Lucky’s Food Truck: “I know what you’re thinking, punk did I eat six poutines or only five?” Do you feel Lucky Punk? The duck confit poutine is pure pleasure and the only dish sampled at Lucky’s because that is all that we want. Needless to say we love duck so we actively sought out this dish last year when food trucks made casual city appearances. With a couple of food trucks offering poutines Lucky's was the only one with squeaky cheese curds. As poutine purists insist it is not a real poutine if there is no squeak when you bite into your cheese. We also always seem to find ourselves scrapping our dish to get every drop of the sauce.

Lucky's Duck Confit Poutine

Nouveau Palais Winneburger: A little side note, Nouveau Palais Chef and co-owner Gita Seaton has become a bit of a star on the Omnivore Young Chef World Tour (see our listing below). The Winneburger does one dish and they do it right. No easy feat considering they make the ubiquitous hamburger. We have always been of the opinion that a good homemade burger is the best way to go but the Winneburger has us challenging our beliefs. The bun, Challaleujah, egg bread. Perfect size patties we like the small size because it leaves you wanting more. Our burger is usually gone in sixty seconds. We recently caved and bought the double burger and all we can say is nobody does it better.

Pas D'Cochon Dans Mon Salon: We have tried the pulled pork sandwich but more importantly we have seen them do a cooking demo. Anybody that breaks down an entire pig as part of their process knows what good food is about. We have heard complaints about the cost of Montreal street food trucks but this is a perfect example of why it is worth the money when done right. You might also want to consider that some of the big sandwich shop chains, offering industrial made pulled pork, charge roughly the same amount.

Pas D'Cochon: This is how we pull our pork

Chaud Dogs: To quote one of our colleagues “I paid $7 for a hot dog and it was the best hot dog I have ever tasted in my life.” No secret we love cooking and eating all things Korean so we were more than excited to try the Chaud Dog Bibimbap. Our dog was topped with rows of Korean pickles (kale kimchi was amazing) offering different flavours as you chow down. The grilled buttery bread, more baguette than bun, was just a bonus.

Best in show: Bibimbap chez Chaud Dogs

Dispatch Coffee: Another thing we love, in addition to summer, beer, duck and Korean food is espresso. We will never forget our first double espresso from Dispatch because it knocks the cockles off. Deep tasting and robust flavours we love the way it made our back teeth tingle with caffeine excitement for the afternoon. If we had hair it would have been standing up on the back of our neck. We have also tried the Dispatch espresso and ice cream based drinks (affogato and Vietnamese style coffee) that are great summer treats. If you see the ricotta and spinach pop tart on menu get at least one.

P.A. & Gargantua: “You know, I've always liked that word, ‘gargantuan’… I so rarely have an opportunity to use it in a sentence.” When we first started our summer foray into food trucks we kept running into P.A. & Gargantua. We were run over rather early with springtime fiddlehead salad and later impressed with a caramelized cheddar, strawberry rhubarb grilled cheese. Anyone that uses seasonal items, appreciates fiddleheads and make a grilled cheese with rhubarb work is ok in our books. 

Caramelized grilled cheddar cheese with strawberry & rhubarb

Le Super Truck: Reading the menu online we could see that Le Super Truck is on the right track. The fact they had a duck dish, with poached amaretto apples, and another with fried cheese also helped. The whole grain wrap, part of their cornet de verdures canard, had a really nice light texture, a perfect package to the dish.

Au Pied de Cochon Food Truck: Martin Picard, Le Roi du Foie Gras, seems to be vying for top spot as King of The Road. What can we say about Picard’s food? So much has been written about Picard’s cuisine we think all the words have been used up. We also wish to avoid getting into the whole gentrification of poutine debate. We do want to mention PDC’s homemade maple soda and how much we love it only because it must get overlooked when compared to the other crowd pleasing plates. 

King of The Road: Smoked Meat Pied de Cochon Style

For the locations of food trucks and individual contact info check out this website. 

The good news is that summer is still over yet so there is still plenty of time to enjoy food trucks and events.

Upcoming Food Events

 

Cooking Under the Dome: Omnivore World Tour (August 14 – 10, 2013)

The uber cool European food event, that makes stops in Istanbul, Brussels, Moscow, Shanghai, New York, San Francisco, Rio and Sydney, is coming to Montreal for a second year at the Société des Arts Technologiques. Last year we attended 3 days of cooking demos, featuring local and international Chefs with outstanding examples of Master classes and the culinary arts. If you are unsure of the difference between a cook and a Chef then look no further to this event. The platings alone often looked like masterpieces. Should you wish to sample the food you can attend the Omnivorous cocktail party. Also on the menu are "The F*cking Dinners,” four handed dinners, collaborative menus featuring Omnivore’s lineup of international and local Chefs at their respective restaurants.

For Omnivore ticket info click here.

Channeling Chagall: Culinary Arts with Chef John Horne - MTL Omnivore 2012

Burger Week (September 1-7, 2013)

In case you did not get your fill this summer Burger Week is just around the corner. A perfect reason to justify eating at least one burger a day for an entire week. We had fun last year sampling the signature burgers created exclusively for the occasion but also getting out to some restos that we have never tried.

For information on Burger Week click here.

Oyster Fest (September 8, 2013)

Thumbs Up for Oyster Fest: Bob Le Chef - Oyster Fest 2012

Oyster Fest was our favorite food event of 2012. Great food means great fun and we were amazed with the food offerings last year. Need we say more? For information click here.

Seeing Food at Oyster Fest - Oyster Fest 2012

To purchase tickets for oyster fest click here.

Back for More: 19e Mondial de la Bière

Last year was our first outing to Montreal’s annual Mondial de la Bière in a long time. We remember attending the fest,  now celebrating its 19^th year, in its early inception in the mid-90’s when it was held on the paved area behind Place des Arts, now the beautifully landscaped Quartier des Spectacles. There were about 12 tents with the highlight being Peter McAuslan in a kilt. Also at that time we had a job that involved a lot of free beer. This might sound like a great perk but it was generally in lieu of any real monetary payment. Our free beer was also not of the exotic variety, as now found at the Mondial de la Bière, except maybe the odd hemp beer in Whistler, B.C. After several years of drinking too much of the big label brands we definitely had our fill and just stopped drinking beer. We decided to attend the beer fest last year for the food but we did end up staying for the beer. Besides enjoying some amazing beers and flavors we love the fact that it is great place to meet lots of interesting characters.

Beer Buffalo

Last year we were lucky enough to speak with Mondial Judge Gary Lohin who happens to be brewmaster at B.C.’s Red Racer brewery. During our discussion we informed Lohin of our preference for wine over beer. Lohin explained to us how beer can be just as enjoyable with food and there was no reason for our dislike of beer. If you love food and flavors then why not enjoy a great-tasting beer. Based on Lohin’s advice we took it upon ourselves to spend the year doing gallons of research for our next Mondial. Our homework has definitely paid off because we have rediscovered the enjoyment of a great beer. Our dislike of beer for so many years came from drinking too much of the bad big label stuff.

Brazilian Beer Barons: Samuel & Paulo Cavalcanti from Boderbrown

During our past year of intensive research we have come to the realization that we are perhaps lightweights in the beer department. We are not big beer drinkers, the kind that play Edward Beer Can Hands, and we still have not done enough research in order to be full blown beer snobs. Where does that leave us? Our favorite beers seem to be white, like Hoegaarden and fruit, like Kriek- Cherry beer. Why are we mentioning this? It would seem to us that the type of beer you drink says a lot about the type of person you are. Think about it, Pabst Blue Ribbon seems synonymous with hipsters. How about the world’s most interesting man? We all know what he drinks even though he was not at the beer fest this year. And who drinks Labatt Blue? Given all the characters at the beer fest it only makes sense to us to look around at people and their beer because we think we need a new beer and image.

Denis Caciuc & Friends

We were a bit disappointed because last year we saw Captain Jack Sparrow and Al Capone at the Sleeman space. Considering the number of breweries which use serving wenches at their kiosques we suppose the Jester of Tortuga was in the right place. Captain Sparrow may have stayed away this year because the beach area was limited to a tiny patch of sand with no volleyball courts. We thought he might be at Microbrasserie Le Naufrageur's kiosque but no luck. Besides the regular festival parade of serving wenches we did run into a few familiar faces. Denis Caciuc, who teaches Restauration Services at the École Hôtelerie de Laval, once-again gets the Coolest Teacher award because he brings his class to the beer fest. Talk about your fun field trips. We also saw the beer fest mascot who last year looked yellow but this year sported a cool brass finish. Maybe they are going to change his color every year. How about a nice stout or rousse finish? In terms of dressing up we did notice this year a few people sporting fun T-shirts with slogans like I'm Drunk and Beer Gut. We also spotted funny hats. It seems that putting your beer fest tote-bag on your head is becoming a Montreal festival fashion phenomenon especially when visiting the bar after opening night. Since the Mondial is part of our summer festival calendar why not dress up for the occasion? The staff at the kiosques dress up in costume so why not the public? The organizers could give prizes for best costumes, T-shirts and they could tap into the whole cosplay / Comic-Con market. Keeping in step with the vampire trend we'll go as Beercula. 

New Look?

The first step to improve our beer drinking image was choosing a new weapon. What better way to get in touch with your inner Ninja than the BBbarfly bottle opener. The guys behind BBbarfly told us they had made the trip from Toronto by renting an RV in order to transport their stock  to the beer fest and also to have a place to sleep. We are glad they came because we love kitchen gadgets and this is just about as cool as it gets. The BBbarfly opener is almost as awesome as our kitchen blowtorch. The opener uses the same design as a Balisong or Butterfly knife but without the sharp danger because it only opens beer bottles. You also get to chose your own artwork and color to fully accessorize your weapon. We of course chose the Tiki Idol motif because we love retro inspired designs. Cosplayers take note that the BBbarfly is the perfect accessory for a Hit Girl costume from the movie Kick Ass. 

For ordering and additional information visit the BBbarfly website here.
 

One stand immediately caught our eye with their copy of François Chartier’s book Papilles & Molécules (Taste Buds & Molecules). Brasseurs Sans Gluten (Gluten Free Brewers) are obviously up to some interesting things besides making gluten free beer with ingredients like millet, buckwheat and brown rice. Papilles & Molécules is about the science of wine pairing and food so why not apply his theories to beer? Chartier’s methodology and research (some of which was carried out at ElBulli) is to look at food ingredients (herbs, spices...) and their aromatics at the molecular level. By isolating these individual composites Chartier is able to find relationships, "chains of flavor", to the same composites found in wine. Aromatics (smell) is one of our senses and plays a major role in how we taste food. Inspired by Chartier’s research, the brewers at Brasseurs Sans Gluten (BSG) have made a beer using sotolon, a compound that when concentrated has the smell of fennugrec or curry powder. The chemical compound can also smell like molasses, caramel and maple syrup at lower concentrations. Sotolon also appears in highly fermented (brown and black) beers. The Brasseurs Sans Gluten beer, Sotolon Impériale, features all the above mentioned tasting notes giving it a unique flavor profile.  As cool as molecular brewing might be, we are not sure if this is the type of beer we want to drink as part of our new image. A bottle of gluten-free beer with sotolon would certainly be a great conversation starter at a party but our only worry is that all this science talk might make us sound even nerdier, no matter how many BBbarfly tricks we learn.  A fine sipping beer that should not be rushed.

The Face of L'Alchimiste's La Métropole

 Our next stop was a little side booth next to L'Alchimiste’s main stand and featuring their Métropole (5.14% alcohol get it? 514 = MTL) that is the official beer of the Montreal XV Rugby Club. A golden Pilsner that is very smooth and easy to drink, the beer branded with the image of rugby players is definitely tough looking. Right away we imagined ourselves hanging out at the Rover’s Return pub with our mates after a game and everybody speaking the Queen’s English. We turned around to find two guys from Dubai wearing kilts, Burberry and Fred Perry sampling the Métropole confirming our fantasy. Our one problem with this picture is that it might involve playing rugby. Given the rugby games we have seen and our low threshold for pain, and tendency to break into tears, we doubt we would be much of an asset to any team no matter how much we enjoyed their beer.

Two Guys from Dubai avec La Métropole

 Feeling a bit lost and disoriented in the foray of so many beer stands, or perhaps tastings, we did decide to go into some familiar territory at Brasseur de Montreal (BdM). Since tasting their beers, BdM has become a favorite. Each beer offers a distinctive flavor and taste. Of course we were immediately drawn to their fruit beers and fell in love with their Cherry Ô Fruit from our first sip. This light tasting beer (4% alcohol) reminded us of a watery melted cherry Popsicle – we meant this in a good way. After an inquiry we were told at the Mondial that cherry is no longer available. Fruit beers often come across as heavy and syrupy but this is not the case with the Brasseur. These beers often taste more like beer than fruit. BdM's balance of beer to fruit is perfect. We tried their apple and cranberry fruit beers that were both excellent with similar light and refreshing tastes. We could not resist taking a sample of our personal favorite the Chi Orientale because we love the strong ginger taste of this pale beer. The Ghost Town stout with absinthe flavor is another winner as its dark taste plays well with the anise flavor of absinthe. We are not sure what drinking these beers says about your personality as a beer drinker but they sure are tasty with their wide array of flavors. We guess there is something for everybody so you could say this is a democratic choice.

Robot + Beau's = Le Robeau

Speaking of great beers, last year we were really impressed with Beau’s All Natural Brewing Company from Vankleek Hill, Ontario. Once-again Beau’s delivered the goods. Given our addiction to caffeine we liked the strong coffee taste of their Collabrrrewator. We also sampled their Winter Brew, also with coffee notes, and found it a bit more smooth and lighter than the Collabrrrewator. These beers are great tasting and good looking with some of the coolest artwork you will see on any label. The genuine quality of these products makes it hard for us to decide what type of image they convey. We think they say, I’m a cool original. Our major problem with this beer is that it is not available in Quebec. We heard that Beau's is launching a kimchi beer and we really hope to see it at the Mondial next year.

Crazy Rabbit: This is what we look like after the Mondial

Staying with the the familiar, we headed over to Le Grimoire’s stand because we sometimes use La Noire Soeur (The Black Nun) in our cooking. The holy sister beer has a strong chocolate and coffee taste that is really not sweet and makes amazing spiced nuts. At the Mondial we sampled Desérables, a maple beer that we were told by the Grimoire staff makes great braised ribs. We also tried Vie de Chateau, a rum beer with a very pleasant caramel aftertaste. Despite these sweet sounding flavors with all three beers they are very subtle and not overpowering. The flavors are dark rather than sweet.

Soul Sister

Being creatures of habit we could not resist trying Levrette’s White Cherry beer. Also the beer has a picture of a bunny on the bottle. In fact, after this many beers we were starting to look like the rabbit on the label. This beer did offer a nice contrast to all the dark beers we kept finding at the Mondial and was a nice palate cleanser. On the topic of fruit beers we discovered that Boréale now offers fruit beers as part of their lineup. The Cuvée Boréale beers feature the local flavors of Quebec. The apple/cranberry beer is obviously a very tasty combination. We were very impressed with the wild blueberry beer with a deep and royal taste of wild blueberries. The beer tasted like a fizzy watered down version of the deep tasting liquid that seeps out of homemade blueberry pie. The two drinks have some of the most beautiful colors that we have seen in a beer. The apple cranberry is amber and the wild blueberry a deep purple.

Proper Beer Fest Attire

 Obviously we were right back where we started when we arrived at the Mondial still drinking fruit beers. This leaves us another year for more research before the next edition of the Mondial. There are a few other beers that we sampled and think are worth mentioning. The Broadway Pub located in Shawinigan served up the Memorial and it is not the beer commemorating Jean Chrétien's famous handshake. The dark brew is a Bock made in the traditional manner. We also enjoyed the Pilsner from Tcheque beer. It's made in Contrecoeur (Québec) by brewers from the Czech Republic using ingredients imported from their homeland. Paying our respects we tried Gary Lohin's Red Racer White Ale and it was definitely one of our faves of the fest.

Painting the Town Red

Next year the Mondial de la Bière will be celebrating its 20^th anniversary. Amazing to think how much the Québec micro-brewing industry has grown in this time and the festival itself featuring over 30 Québec breweries. The Mondial will also be leaving the cavernous concrete walls of Place Bonaventure and setting up camp at the Palais des Congrès. We are excited about the idea of going for some early morning Dim Sum in Chinatown before the Mondial so if you would like to joins us we will be at La Maison Kam Fung.