I cannot speak to the quality of the salads, but having just ordered one of their pies to lower Westmount I can attest to the quality of their ingredients being superior to anything I have been able to get delivered so far. I had some reservations about the crust being a little underwhelming - but overall this is a pizza I would recommend highly. I will most certainly being ordering from them again.

I too send an email on Dec 1 - spoke with them today and have made reservations. Everything comes to those who wait, apparently.

Two of us were there on a Sunday night: Two and a half pints of beer, 18 PEI oysters, one order of lobster rolls (2 large rolls with frites). We sat at the bar. The service was very competent, and the food was first class. Bill was $140 with tip. Not a cheap evening out - but dinner of oysters and lobster isn’t likely to be inexpensive. We’ll be back again, for exactly the same meal.

Zhoug / Zhoog or Zhug?

Whatever name it goes by, I'm looking for some Yemeni green chilli sauce for my New Year's dinner...

An arcane request to be sure - but then, this is the site for such inquiries.

Cheers,

E

I haven't been to Les Deux Singes, but I am unequivocal about suggesting Pied de Cochon over Joe Beef.
APDC, to my mind offers more interesting cuisine, at better prices with less attitude - and I have eaten at both many times...

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Joe Beef
2491 Rue Notre-Dame W, Montreal, QC H3J1N6, CA

Hello tah1234:

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my post. I had kind of forgotten about Da Emma - but it's a great idea. I've booked a table on the terrace for the end of the month. I will try to log back on here sometime after that to report back.

Thanks again.

In the last year I have dined at Le Club Chasse Et Peche, Joe Beef, Au Pied de Cochon, Les Trois Petits Bouchons, and L’Epxress.

Call me unlucky, hard to please, or both, but with the exception of Au Pied de Cochon, I have been totally underwhelmed by the others – each highly regarded on this board and others. Chasse Et Peche was merely disappointing, Joe Beef, which I have been to numerous times, is to my mind wholly undeserving of the reputation it has mysteriously accrued. L’Express was simply dreadful. Zevetching aside, I’m hosting a dinner at the end of the month, which for personal and sentimental reasons needs to be first class. Old Montreal would be lovely. Outdoors would be grand. Traditional would be preferable to 11 courses of gourmet foam… but I’m open to innovative as long as it’s not an end in itself. Price is no object.

BTW – this is a great site, and I am indebted to the many insightful contributors here for their astute insights into local nosh.

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Joe Beef
2491 Rue Notre-Dame W, Montreal, QC H3J1N6, CA

I have to go against the tide here and report that my recent meal at Club Chasse et Peche was underwhelming, so much so that I would not return. I loved the feel of the place, the service was excellent, but the food was nothing more than competent. We were there in March, and ordered what the wait staff suggested. Scallops were cloying, Sweat breads unremarkable, and my main, which if I recall was advertised as suckling pig, was nothing short of disappointing. Maybe we caught the kitchen on an off night - but the uniformly lacklustre quality of the offerings (there were four of us and many plates) makes me think wonder if they are coasting a bit in their reputation.

Schwartz's smoked turkey is great - but you might want to consider steaming it. It's tasty, but really dry if you eat it the way you get it.

Third!

Best:
Boucherie Atlantique
5060 Cote des Neiges

The one caveat is that these are very thin, truly like a pancake, which works wonderfully - they just aren't the thicker type some people might associate with the term "latke".

Worst:
Real Bagel
4940 Queen-Mary

Shockingly bad.

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Real Bagel
4160 Rue Sainte-Catherine W, Westmount, QC H3Z1P4, CA

A shade outside of NDG, and not new in any sense, but I find the falafel sandwich at Chez Benny (5071 Chemin Queen-Mary) to be a real winner by any cost/benefit analysis. It's under five dollars with the tax included and will make you forget all the nasty dry falafel wannabes that are as ubiquitous as they are disappointing.

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Chez Benny
5071 Ch Queen-Mary, Montreal, QC H3W1X4, CA

I agree that Bistro a Jojo is a excellent club for blues - but as lepuma points out, there is no kitchen.

Perhaps a postprandial popping of the question while being whisked through the old town in a horse-drawn caleche. For this I would propose (!) a flask of cognac and a couple of snifters or, if you can find a way to hide them, a split of champagne and flutes.

I confess I was going to do exactly this myself some 13 years ago, but found myself unable to find a caleche after dinner - I have no idea how we found ourselves on the only caleche-free summer evening in the history of Old Montreal...

I had to improvise with a proposal on the waterfront. Fortunately the answer to the question was the one I had hoped for. All’s well that ends well.

Good luck.

I am overwhelmed by the great ideas here - and have also found the list of private dining rooms elsewhere on the site to be a great source of inspiration. I'm going about checking out some of the more appealing suggestions now - thanks so much for your help with this.

Maximilien, thanks so much for the suggestion. The reviews I’ve found online are a little uneven, but I do like the idea of Old Montreal, and I appreciate the lead. I’ll probably swing by for a lunch and give it a test drive. Thanks for the idea – it’s greatly appreciated.

I'm hosting a surprise party for my wife early next month, and am looking for a restaurant with a private space for a little over a dozen people. I'm not looking for something ridiculously high-end, but upper mid-range is fine, bistro, etc. would be great, and inexpensive/ethnic would also be ok - Indian or Greek, etc. Just looking for a nice space and a competent kitchen. If anyone has a suggestion of a suitable venue in Montreal - please let me know.

I'm rarely disappointed by Brasserie Holder in old montreal. The room is handsome, the service competent, both the tartare and the frites are good, and the prices are reasonable.

What a marvelous notion. Trying to peel those little suckers actually does make me cry. I will be checking back frequently to see if anyone has located the frozen version.

Last time I got "sushi grade" tuna from Nouveau Falero it was displayed on the ice and proved to be unsatisfactory. Are you suggesting that the frozen is the way to go there? Truth is I've stopped serving raw tuna because I can't source it here - although I eat it all the time in sushi places.

I find Mr. Fixit to be a very charming guy - but I am always both underwhelmed by the work done, and taken aback by the price charged. That said, "small appliance repair" is up there with breeders of passenger pigeons - there are precious few practitioners left. Perhaps we should be happy that there are any at all.
Mr. Fixit does boast one bitch'n fish tank.

A few months ago I took a friend to Chao Phraya on Laurier, a restaurant I've enjoyed for more than a decade. I was underwhelmed by sticky rice that just seemed dried out, chicken satay that seemed more like "chicken tenders", even their squid/mint/chili appetizer, usually a stand out, failed to excite. As Thai restos have proliferated, it seems instead of improving their game they're instead just going through the motions. It's too bad, as I've had some very good meals there, but I don't see myself going back again.

I too have found that the food at Bangkok has slipped markedly of late, becoming very hit and miss when it was once quite reliable. I still “roll the dice” and swing by frequently, but I’m grateful for the leads on other places at the Faubourg worth visiting.

On another front, well outside the purview of this board, except to the degree to which environment influences one’s enjoyment of a meal: Is anyone else as dismayed as I about the state of advanced dilapidation that has beset the Faubourg St-Catherine? I mean really, it’s like East Berlin after the war. A near deserted, creepy, down-at-the-mouth ex-mall - Soon to become another “abandominium” blighting a part of Montreal that grows seedier by the year. I think we can consider it a minor miracle that the food hasn't slipped to the level of the building that surrounds it.

Be advised - Was going to go with a gang this evening but upon discovering they are without a liquor licence I’ve had to make other arrangements. They assure me a licence is in the works and they’ll be Tsingtao-equipped in about a month.

There are probably numerous viable options, but I tend towards one of two when I feel the need to sate my fowl desires. I'm not sure, however, if either will have birds for American thanksgiving...

For sheer novelty, Schwartz's sells birds smoked in a manner similar to their famous smoked meat. It’s not really a substitute for a freshly cooked turkey at the table, and it tends to be a bit on the dry side, but it’s a unique option with a distinctly Montreal feel.

Schwartz's
3895 Saint-Laurent Boulevard
Montreal, Quebec
H2W 1X9
Canada

Tel.: (514) 842-4813
Fax: (514) 842-0800
http://www.schwartzsdeli.com/index2.html

I go to a little German grocery store near where I live that is very serious about its butcher shop, and I’ve always been impressed by the Turkeys they sell. In truth, I think I get them at Christmas, but you could check, the might have them for American Thanksgiving. I always reserve one in advance. I think you’ll be well cared for there, and you’ll probably enjoy the store itself, as it has a wide variety of excellent foodstuffs

Boucherie Atlantique Ltee
5060 chemin de la cote-des-Neiges
Montréal, QC H3V 1G6
(514) 731-4764

There’s a wide divergence of opinion reflected in this thread and I can only add to the confusion as I’m at odds with many of the posts as to where best to eat dim sum. My experience with La Maison Kam Fung is that the food is ordinary, the selection ditto, and the atmosphere unappetizing. A few years ago I took a course in dim sum at L'Academie Culinaire and it was our instructor’s belief that the best dumplings in town were at Restaurant Ruby Rouge (1008 Clark Montreal) and Restaurant Lotte Furama (1115 rue Clark). The intervening years have only confirmed his recommendations, except that Lotte Furama is so filthy that I won’t set foot in the place except with a shop-vac and a HAZMAT suit. For me, that leaves Ruby Rouge where I believe you’ll find dumplings as good as anywhere in Chinatown, with pleasant service, in a most convivial setting.

I’ve tried Sul Viale, and I concur that their service is first class. They could give a customer-appreciation clinic for that harridan working the phone over at B and M. As to what elements of the pizza were stale, my wife believes it was the pepperoni – I can't recall, except that on two occasions it smelled and tasted “off”. The first time I called about it and was rudely dismissed, the second time I swore off the place for good. I will give both Mamma Mia's and California Pizza a try – thanks for the tip!

For this evening though, I making my own.

B&M makes an excellent pie, except that every now and then you’ll get one with really substandard, past their best-before date, ingredients. To me, serving anything in this state is unacceptable, and it’s put me off ever dealing with them again. Doubly so because a polite call about the problem to the women who answers the phone is met with a frosty, if not downright rude, reception. Too bad, because more reliable ingredients and decent staff and I’d be a regular.

Le Messob D'or was the best of the bunch, and it is no more. Joz likewise is long gone. Malibu Café serves up a heaping serving of attitude every time I’ve been through the door, so I’ve stopped making that mistake, and I suggest others do the same until they learn the basics of running a business.

Was at Mykanos recently for dinner, and although the food wasn’t bad, it was distinctly underwhelming, and not to be repeated.

Whoever mentioned the subs at Momesso's is right on – they’re a real treat, but Upper Lachine Road is a different thing entirely.

I’m pretty much at the point that when I find myself in the Monkland Village looking for dinner - I look for a cab.