536, rue Duluth est, Montréal | Tel.: (514) 281-1114
any South European and South American cities still have bustling produce, fish and meat markets with restaurants that blend in with the chaos. Wooden tables without napkins. Sturdy cutlery. Pots, pans, dishes, and plates in all sorts of shapes and textures, just like the patrons. Lobsters making love for the last time with their claws tied behind their backs. Mushrooms and onions sizzling and wriggling for the chef's attention. Loudmouths and boozeniks engulfed in an orgy of noises and smells. Mostly their own.
Except, we are not in Montevideo, but in Montreal, the only city where 30 below and 30 above are only a few weeks apart. We are at Au Pied de Cochon, chef Martin Picard's small restaurant in the guts of Le Plateau, off the tourist radar. Still, reservations are a must, and waiting lines are not uncommon.
I would not dream of going here without the BIG guy, my most robust friend and trusted wine connoisseur. Some diners show up accompanied by half-sized girlfriends, but they will get stomped on in this pig's foot restaurant where portions are the size of the state of Iowa.
We were tempted by but did not try any of the large plates of seafood on a bed of crushed ice ($45 to $100). The BIG guy sported a black eye from a recent late night brawl with a Ferrari owner during the (invariably awful) Formula I week-end. His hormones still revved up from that encounter, he meant business and ordered a maki of salmon and foie gras ($34). When the waitress warned him that that appetizer is usually meant for a table of four, his good eye lit up: he finished his multi-salmon-and-geese combination in three minutes.
Our female companion had a half dozen oysters ($12), fresher and shinier than the BIG guy's shiner. I had a salmon sashimi ($14), tender and juicy, as if plucked from the river a minute earlier. Now I finally understand why Canadian bears love salmon rivers in between garbage can raids. It was a pity that neither the salmon nor the sauce were salted.
magret de canard
sashimi de saumon
The main courses are for carnivores and pescivores. I have had dozens of magret de canards (duck) in Montreal, but none came close in size to the one I ordered. A heap of juicy mushrooms and onions covered the shy pink duck strips, which were teased to perfection by the chef ($24 per tease). Just to make the other restaurateurs on Le Plateau jealous, the kitchen served me an entire terrine of lovingly mashed potatoes. Not a spoonful, not a portion, but an entire terrine of the kind farmers have in France after manuring ten hectares of beet fields in a maudit fog the day before the Germans attack.
The whole scene reminded me of the Gallic wild boar evenings chez Asterix and Obelix. My important friend, whose real name is Ottawastix, tried a tartare of deer ($20), and since he did not complain, I assume that his digestion went smoothly. His French fries were presented in a large paper cone, which he would have eaten too had I not stopped him. Our woman had a fresh fish catch of the day (mackerel, $25), which was also cooked to perfection.
The wine list is extensive. We started with a very respectable Sancerre Mont Damnes 2000 ($85), and finished with a decent Médoc Chateau Tour Haut Caussan 2001 ($67) which was just right for the environmentally correct post-agricultural feast we had. Expensive as this may sound, they were among the cheaper wines on the menu. Most are priced between $100 and $250. For example, a Brunello costs $175, and the list extends exponentially to $5000. Many diners were ordering cervoise!
Big farmers have big children, and big cochon restos have big desserts. My poached pear and unpoached vanilla ice cream ($5.50) was as I expected it from a top notch cook – -absolument parfait. My companions had the lemon pie ($5.75), well aware that this was not an establishment for sensitive stomachs and underperforming livers!
Dinner for three, including tax, but excluding tip, pancreas transplants and Alka Seltzer, came to $362.04. The gallbladder stone was free. -- Reviewed by RestoSpy
