Day 6

Wednesday, 05 December 2007










Today is the big day for me. Today is dinner at Restaurant Au Pied de Cochon. This is why we, or me at least, came to Montreal.

But first, breakfast. Rose woke up and distinctly signed hungry and distinctly said, “waffle,” repeatedly. So we decided to go back to Eggspectation where we can get Rose a waffle. Our waiter from yesterday, Alexandre is not there but Emeraud takes care of us wonderfully. She even brings Rose some crayons to color with. We ordered Rose a blueberry waffle with a side of sausage. I am feeling smart today because I ask if we can order a half waffle and we can. Dinah gets basically the same thing as yesterday except with pancakes instead of French toast. I order the Bagel Benedict which is incredible. Toasted sesame bagel halves with a poached egg in the center covered in smoked salmon and Hollandaise sauce and plump capers.

I think I am making the mistake of ordering the side of sausage for Rose. She eats two links before she even starts in on the waffle and by that point all she wants is more sausage and loses interest in the waffle. And she asked for waffles! We had a small temper tantrum which we walked off. Then she had to have mommy's pancakes. After that she had another half sausage and finally some waffle. The blueberries were the tiny wild canned kind and she ate many of those straight before losing interest and it was time to go.

Instead of heading directly back we went up a block to the Notre Dame Basilica Square and let Rose stomp in the deep snow. I got some good pictures until her boot got stuck in a snow bank and she got a cold wet foot and it was time to go back. It was time anyway as she had the sleepiest face for a little girl, Eleven o' clock nap time, perfect timing.

Rose and Dinah each napped. Rose's was a little short. Rather than venture out for a big lunch we headed down to the food court in the building next door. Dinah got some Chinese, simple egg roll and noodles. She said the egg roll was so so but that the whole thing was better than what you get at the Great Wok or what ever it is called at your local mall. I stopped by the Muffin Place and got two toasted bagels. Dinah had picked up some Brie for me at the Gare Centrale that I was going to spread on my bagels. Wow, that makes three bagels in one day. That can't be good. I've noticed that all of the bagels I have had here in Montreal have been sesame. Interesting. At the Muffin Place, the guy behind the counter gave Rose a chocolate chocolate chip cookie. Rose keeps getting free stuff here. She had one bite and then threw a temper tantrum because I would not let her hold the cookie. Yes the nap was too short. We got back to our room and I ate my bagels and Rose and Dinah ate some cheese curds that Dinah bought at a convenience store downstairs. After that it was lights out and we forced Rose to take a nap.

Restaurant au Pied de Cochon – The Foot of the Pig

We had a little scare on getting to the restaurant. Apparently we got the one cab driver who had never heard of the restaurant and didn't know where it was. We hoped the directions the doorman gave him would get us there. We ended up on a side street in a hip section of town that looked nowhere near right. But the cab driver insisted this was it. He was pointing at a place called Vertigo. We got out of the cab and stumbled through a knee deep drift from the snow plow to get up onto the sidewalk. We walked past the place he had pointed to and I am deep in doubt. We're lost and there is no taxi. But... Dinah reads the menu on the outside of the building and points to the restaurant logo and name. This is it, it's just not marked.

My culinary hero Anthony Bourdain waxes about the wonders of this restaurant. His short paragraph on it made it a must go to destination for me. On line reviews are either love it or hate it, some of them quite scathing and the hateful ones all seems to feel the same way about Bourdain. The fare is classic French peasant food which is today's upper echelon gourmet cuisine. The theme here is deconstruction which I believe is to be interpreted as the fanciest, most exquisite cuisine in a casual atmosphere, bring the tastes back to the masses. and so it was.

We walked in and were seated in the front window. It is not a large restaurant, very upscale tavern-like, a typical Atlanta bistro. Our reservation was for 5:30pm which was good timing because in about an hour the place was packed. There were quite a few walk-ins. A big roaring fire was behind the bar that separates the kitchen from the dining room. They cook some meals in that fireplace. You could watch them prepare the dishes though I did not have a good view other than someone slicing some meat. Deliveries of fresh food came in during our whole meal. We saw one person carrying in a box of pork limbs.

I took pictures of all of our dishes. It seemed that the wait staff was used to that. Our waiter was excellent, I wish I knew his name to recommend him. At the table next to us, a woman was also taking pictures of their meal. She felt less embarrassed seeing someone else do the same.

We began our meal with the Cochonnailles platter and the appetizer special of the day, salmon tartare. We also order the house beer. All of it was phenomenal. The beer was easy to drink, very smooth. The tartare was complex, bits of raw salmon, tiny, tiny roe, and many other bits we could not identify. It was excellent on toast. You could serve at a party as fish spread and no one would be the wiser.

I'm not 100% sure what all was on our Cochonnailles platter. We had three pieces of very nice toast. There were three thick slabs of pork creton which I believe is a French Canadian pate. It was very good and of the strange items this was the one Dinah preferred. She ate most of it. Next was a black gelatinous slice of pork fat that had been infused with black beer. It tasted a lot like Worcestershire sauce and was not bad on the toast but not good enough for Dinah. I ate nearly all of that. The hardboiled egg was simple yet complex. Maybe a hint if vinegar but not pickled. In the center of the plate was a small pile of salsa. They described it as homemade ketchup. It had a spiciness to it that was not from peppers, maybe horseradish. Dinah ate nearly all of it on the bread. There was a very thin slice of tender meat with a dot of Hollandaise sauce in the middle. This was the pickled venison tongue. We grew up eating calf tongue so I found it very good. Dinah had a tiny taste. Finally there were two small discs pork, kind of like a summer sausage. I believe they called these pork villettes but I'm not sure. They were very good, though Rose had no interest. Dinah and I split the two.

Dinah debated ordering the Pied de Cochon which was a de-boned pork shank (foot) or the confit lamb shank. Our waiter said the lamb was far better. I had no idea what to order but at the last moment decided on a house specialty, Duck in a Can. For Rose we ordered the house mashed potatoes, PDC potatoes, which were mashed potatoes with cheese curds and garlic. We also ordered another house specialty, foie gras poutine. We passed on the entrée special of the evening, roast suckling pig's head for two.

Rose's mashed potatoes came out first. They were divine. The cheese curds had fully melted giving the potatoes a gooey factor. The garlic was so fine you could only taste it. It added no texture to the perfectly smooth potatoes. In the end Rose ate about half of the dish.

The lamb, duck and poutine all came out together. We attacked the poutine first. I had never had foie gras before and it was excellent, soft, buttery and savory though difficult to cut through with a fork. It added a rich butteryness to the poutine gravy. Rose had a cheese curd and a few fries. I don't think she cared for the foie gras but she ate some.

The duck in a can was amazing. You could easily taste the wine. The duck was thick and meaty, tough to cut with a knife but melt in your mouth tender. Strange. There was one slab of duck fat that I couldn't bring myself to eat. I'm not sure what else was in with the duck, onion? Potato? But on the gravy soaked toast who could not love it. Rose had a few small bites of duck.

Dinah declared her lamb better than Blairsville's Comfort Cafe's braised lamb. I had a bite and thought it was better than my duck. She had a bite of my duck and felt it was better than her lamb. Rose ate more of the lamb than the duck, so I guess that settles it. We had to pace ourselves to save room for dessert. But I finished Dinah's lamb for her. It was so moist, so tender with perfect saltiness, there was no need for a knife.

We were in awe of the table behind us. The an had ordered the PDC pork chop which Dinah had considered. It is a half kilo pork chop, 16 ounces, and was the size of a volleyball with the potatoes and/our onions served on top.

For desert we ordered the evening specialty, chocolate pie for two. It was a six inch pie with a shortbread crust and a milk chocolate pudding filling. On top it was sprinkled with sea salt and then torched in the same way that crème brûlée is prepared. It was exquisite. The salt added a wonderful balance to the sweetness of the chocolate. There was a subtle burnt taste that oddly did not detract from the experience. Rose did not like the salt crust but this was by far her favorite dish.

Rose was a perfect angel. I really needed her to behave so I could enjoy this experience and she sat through a two hour meal with no tears, no screams. Boy that second nap was critical. The hostess commented at the end how wonderful Rose was and how expressionable she is.

Was it the best meal I have ever had? No. But it will be one of the most memorable meals I'll ever have. It had huge expectations going in and every moment exceeded those expectations. It was a $200 meal that was worth every cent. Dinah and I thoroughly enjoyed the indulgence and I think it could not have been a better fancy birthday dinner (a day early) for her.

We got back to the hotel and just relaxed. My Part II of Life was due to come on at 10:00pm. Part I was Monday night. I'm addicted to that show, which is fine, it's the only TV show I watch. Rose was completely wound up. She didn't go to sleep until after 11:00pm even though she was in bed by 8:30pm.

Inside of Eggspectation:

Stomping in the snow:

Getting ready for dinner:

Outside of Au Pied de Cochon:

Cochonnailles platter and salmon tartare:

Rose's mashed potatoes and Dinah's lamb:

Lamb confit on a bed of lentils:

Base of my dish, toasted bread and mashed potatoes:

Duck in a Can:

Foie Gras poutine:

Chocolate Pie: