Once more, and probably for the final time this spring, I spent the weekend in Montreal.

Thursday

Work. Flight. Pizza. The usual.

Friday

I spent the morning in our Montreal office after picking up a capp and croissant from the nearby Café Myriade.

 

After that I made a quick stop at Le Creuset, then had a burger at La Belle Et La Boeuf and grabbed a shit-ton of sweets at Cocobun before heading home. Then it was back downtown for a talk, followed by a snowy cab up to Maison Publique where we had a typically excellent meal:

• tomato, mozzarella, pepperoni
  • with Closson Chase Chardonnay and a cocktail
• fresh scallop crudo, smoked celery, squid ink + onion sauce
  • with Tawse sparkling Riesling
• cappellacci pasta with veal
• herbed roasted bass
  • w/ Sperling Pinot Noir
• pôt de crème, pear ice cream

It was all good, but the scallop dish was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten.

Saturday

A day of complete relaxation: we slept in, relaxed, laid about, watched Arrested Development, and ate leftover pizza and cocobun treats. Really, we had no plans until dinner at Le Filet. And, holy shit: what a dinner. The food was stellar, and the wine (a bit of a splurge) was transcendent.

• oysters: 2 plain, 2 jalapeño & maple crisp, 2 baked in miso gratin
• hamachi w/ sesame, sumac
  • with Francis Boulard brut rose Champagne
• tataki of Wagyu w/ eggplant, miso
• maple-glazed smoked duck w/ topinambour, chestnuts, Cremona mostard
• cavatelli w/ foie gras, veal cheek
  • with Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Pinot Noir
• maple syrup square w/ whipped cream, pecans
  • vin Santo
  • cognac

Sunday

Like the last Sunday I spent there, we had brunch in Mile End and grabbed beers after.

Brunch was at Nouveau Palais, a diner reformed into…well, a slightly more fancy diner. The brunch was outstanding though — Lindsay had eggs benny and I had the smoked meat hash with fried eggs. There were some service hiccups because they were so busy, but overall it was very solid indeed. Relatively cheap too.

After that we happened upon SW Welch and bought some used books, bought some coffee at galactic hipster nexus Le Cagibi, and walked to Vice et Versa, which we’d tried and failed to hit on a previous visit. It was terrific: Lindsay had a Bière de Coin d’Rue, I had a Dunham LaPatt robust porter, and we split a bottle of Dunham Oro Zurr (Batch 1 – Mosiac).

 

We left there and made delicious nachos at home before my flight. Au revoir Montreal! See you in…the summer, maybe?

.:.

Cover photo from the Domaine Mugneret-Gibourg site