EN CACHETTE SPEAKEASY - COCKTAIL LOUNGE

  EN CACHETTE SPEAKEASY - 

GREAT DRINKS AND A BURGER TO KILL FOR

Their webpage (not as yet finished):  http://www.encachette.ca/final/

Their Facebook page:  
https://www.facebook.com/pages/En-Cachette/236973259707378

1765 St Denis St, Montreal, QC H2X 3K4    Telephone:  (514) 419-1986

Price Range:  ~$20-30 per person including one drink, meal, tax, and tip

On the approach...

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Past the sign, and on the way down into the speakeasy...

And the burger to KILL for!

Speakeasies have come a pretty long way. Historically, this was a type of bar that illegally sold alcohol during Prohibition. No matter  how many speakeasies were raided by cops, these bars were simply too profitable for their owners to shut down. So, what does this say about human nature? Basically, nothing is going to stop us from having our fun :). Okay. Pseudo-sociologically-valid commentary is now out of my system.

Speakeasies are now (obviously) perfectly legal, and are now fairly synonymous with retro-style, swanky places. And that's pretty much what we have with the En Cachette Speakeasy on St-Denis Street:  Swanky bar, swanky food, and swanky drinks. Now, I have to say, En Cachette is pretty accurately named - it is VERY well hidden. The first time I went was to meet up with ten people, and we ALL walked past the place by accident. But, as we discovered, En Cachette is well worth finding! They have interesting, flavorful drinks and even more flavorful food.

DIABLOS - BBQ SMOKEHOUSE AND COCKTAIL BAR

  SINFULLY DELICIOUS BBQ AND DRINKS:

DIABLOS SMOKEHOUSE AND COCKTAIL BAR

Their Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/DiablosBbq

1693A St-Denis, Montréal QC   Telephone:  514-283-4666

Price Range:  ~$15-30+ per person including one drink, meal, tax, and tip (drinks and meals have a fairly wide range in price).  CASH ONLY!!!

*This restaurant is a Mouthwatering Favorite!
 

Diablos: Meaty, drinky goodness!

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Oh man, where do I even begin...

Let's just start simply and build from there, shall we?

Point the first:  I love this place.

Point the second:  I. LOVE. THIS. PLACE.

Readers of this blog (if any) will have noticed that I loves me some serious meat. There's something just so awesomely satisfying about ripping into a rare t-bone steak or whole bbq chicken. ESPECIALLY if I do it caveman style - no utensils, just my hands and teeth, wrenching and gnawing away! I like finding my inner neanderthal from time to time, y'know? And one of the best places to explore this more primal version of my being is Diablos BBQ Smokehouse and Cocktail Bar.

Rather than jumping into the meat dishes here, I am going to begin by describing the drinks. Specifically, I am starting with a little something called Grace's Apple:

Tastes like liquid apple pie.

LE RESERVOIR - MICROBREWERY

 

LE RESERVOIR - 

MICROBREWS, TONS OF PEOPLE, GOOD TIMES

Their website (in French only):  http://brasseriereservoir.ca/
9 Avenue Duluth Est, Montreal, QC H2W 1G6 
Telephone:(514) 849-7779
Price Range:  
Meal - $30+ per person including one drink, meal, tax, and tip
Drinks only - Before 8pm:  $3.50 for a glass of beer, $5.50 for a pint
                     After 8pm:  $4 for a glass of beer, $6 for a pint

 

Exterior, nighttime. Have I EVER been here during daytime?

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Here's a place that hearkens right back to my university days - i.e., a HEAVY drinking period. Just what is it about university life that incites such high volumes of alcohol consumption? Is it the movies, the beer commercials starring schlubby guys and hot women, the WB dramas? Who knows - it just happens, and I got swept along with the massive drinking. I am currently well past those days, and if a pub managed to stay with me till now, it's only because I love the taste of their food or the taste of their beers.With the microbrewery Le Reservoir, it's because I loooooove their beer, especially the cream ale.

Now, one of my buddies is convinced that I still love this place just because it's dark and gloomy. LORDY, the boy don't know me none (I am well aware that the previous sentence was grammatically incorrect. Grammar sticklers:  Down! Down I say!)! Yes, the place is thoroughly dark at night, with candles seemingly purposefully chosen to be poorly illuminating. And, come to think of it, most bars and restaurants that I like and frequent are, coincidentally, dimly-lit. But man alive, I come for here for the beer! The lovely, wonderful microbrewed beer! Drinking microbrews nearly exclusively IS part of my low-rent food snobbery, after all! The darkness is just something I live with to get access to the delicious beer nectar! So, with that in mind, here are my thoughts and impressions of the beers on tap at this place. One of the first things you'll notice coming here is the fact that the place is PACKED and that you might not get a table right away. On a recent trip, me and my drinking companion were crammed into a corner underneath the stairs. That's fine though - still a good view of the action in the place, and besides, I came for the beer. And so, I present their beer menu:

We begin with my absolute favorite here, a glass of cream ale ($4):

Right after serving.

One minute, twenty seconds after serving (yes, I timed it).

MECHANT BOEUF - STEAKHOUSE

STUB REVIEW:  MECHANT BOEUF -

SOME SERIOUSLY GOOD TARTARE AND A DRINK THAT TASTES A LOT LIKE BLACK FOREST CAKE

Their website:  http://mechantboeuf.com/en/
124 Rue Saint Paul Ouest, Montreal, QC H2Y1Z3   
Telephone:  514-788-4020
Price Range:  ~$30-$60 per person including one drink, meal, tax, and tip 




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Readers of this blog, if any, have probably come to realize that I'm a bit of a carnivore. If it weren't for issues of health, meat would probably constitute 90% of the food I eat, with desserts making up the remaining 10%. Setting aside my (admittedly silly) fears of getting scurvy, there is the very real fact that not balancing out meat consumption with the eating of fruits and veggies over the long-term will lead to all sorts of realistic and all-too-common nasty ailments such as heart disease and diabetes. And since I don't want nasty ailments, fruits and veggies I will eat. In great bulk. Sigh. Oh well. Such is my concession to reality and human biology. Damn you, frail crude human frame!

That said, I loooooooooove meat-centric restaurants. In fact, my grudging concession to healthy eating probably makes me love meat-centric restos even more! I especially love discovering fantastic ones. And that is exactly what happened recently. Immediately after her flight touched down from Toronto, a friend was seriously jonesing for Méchant Boeuf. Being a good host, I acquiesced to the request, and off we went. My WORD I was not disappointed.

As it turns out, Méchant Boeuf has a late-night menu that runs on the following special, one-size fits all pricing:  After 11pm, it costs $14 for one person and $23 for two people for everything on the planchette menu. Their late-night menu link:  http://www.mechantboeuf.com/images/MB_latenight-menu.pdf .

From the menu, we chose the "Tout Cru" ("Raw" in English).

Tiny, but positively bursting with flavor!

L'AMERE À BOIRE - MICROBREWERY

L'AMERE A BOIRE - 

LOTS OF GREAT MICROBREWED BEER

...PLUS RABBIT BURGER!

Their website (in French only): 
http://www.amereaboire.com/index.php?page=home&hl=fr_FR
2049 St Denis St, Montreal, H2X 3K8  Telephone:(514) 282-7448  
Price Range:  ~$15-$30 per person including one drink, meal, tax, and tip 

*This restaurant is a Mouthwatering Favorite!


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Let me tell you about my first experience with drinking beer. So, as a child, I was endlessly curious. I used to drive my father crazy with questions. To his credit, he did his damndest to answer all my questions, no matter how inane or crazy they may have been. My father is also a bonafide, diehard, hardcore manly MAN. So, when the time came for me to ask about beer - specifically, the one he was having over supper, y'know what my father did? 

He let me have some.

Oof. Me, age seven - first sip of beer. Lemme tell ya, that was my LAST sip of beer for well over TEN YEARS. My child's tongue didn't know what precisely to think about beer, except that it was profoundly AWFUL. 

That was probably the smartest bit of parenting my father ever did - in my adolescence, while all the rest of my contemporaries were getting powerfully drunk in isolated parks or while their parents were away, I abstained. The memory of my first sip of beer was just. That. Visceral.

Well, those days have long since passed. And now, I do enjoy a pint with friends every week. Which brings us to my currently-favorite pub in Montreal:  L'Amère à Boire. This is evident from the fact that L'Amère à Boire is the first pub listed on my favorites list of pubs (http://mouthwateringmontreal.blogspot.ca/2013/08/favorites-pubs-and-bars-part-1-update.html). This is a microbrewery on St-Denis, and it makes TONS of awesome beers. There's only one beer here that I find truly disappointing - everything else, I keep on comin' back for. So, let's begin, shall we? To properly describe their beers to all of y'all, I went and got me sample glasses of ALL of their beers:

Even at small sizes, this is enough beer to pack a wallop!

HURLEY'S IRISH PUB

  STUB REVIEW:  

HURLEY'S IRISH PUB - 

YOU REALLY WANT TO EAT HERE, GUYS!

Their website:  http://www.hurleysirishpub.com/

1225 Rue Crescent, Montréal, QC H3G 2B1   Telephone:  514.861.4111 
Price Range:  ~$15-$30 per person including one drink, meal, tax, and tip 

 *This restaurant is a Mouthwatering Favorite!


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Ah, Hurley's. One of the pubs I go to for food rather than for drink. I mean, I do buy drinks here, but it's not the primary purpose for the visit. There's just nothing special about their alcohol, in the end. What IS special though? Their sandwiches and their savory pies!

As I've said on my list of favorite pubs (http://mouthwateringmontreal.blogspot.ca/2013/08/favorites-pubs-and-bars-part-1-update.html), my favorite thing here is the steak and kidney pie. Basically, it's huge, tender chunks of both steak and kidney cooked in a wonderfully savory gravy baked right inside a thick, chewy crust. It's all served next to a bed of salad and is just the thing to hit the spot on a cold winter's night (uh, the steak and kidney pie and not the salad, folks). Sadly, it's only available on Wednesdays. Even more sadly, because the pie is made to order, the moment they run out, they've run OUT. So, after a certain point, like say, after 8pm on Wednesday, you really do have to call ahead to make sure that they still have some. When they say, "Yes", you GO. You only live once, people! Make the most of it! Now, sadly, my cameraphone ran out of battery just before I could take some pictures last time; I will post some up the next time I get one.

Other things that are great here are their sandwiches. In fact, that's what got me to start coming here in the first place. They are all good bets, but the one that stands above the rest is the beef dip sandwich ($11.50).

Beef. Beef drippings. Curry mayo. How does one STOP eating this? It's impossible, I tell you!

YE OLDE ORCHARD IN NDG - PUB AND BRUNCH

YE OLDE ORCHARD BAR & GRILL in NDG

GREEN EGGS AND HAM, AND OTHER FUN THINGS!

Ye Olde Orchard Bar & Grill - Pub Food and Brunches - NDG 

Their website: http://yeoldeorchard.com/

5563 Monkland Avenue, Montreal Qc H4A 1E1  Telephone: (514) 315-7932
Price Range:  ~$15-$30 per person including one drink, meal, tax, and tip 

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"Would you like green eggs and ham?... Would you like them here or there?"

The immortal Dr. Seuss

(Note:  Dr. Seuss not actually immortal. Nor a doctor.)

I like green eggs and ham a lot, at Ye Olde Orchard in NDG!

I've been coming to this pub for breakfast for years now. I gotta say though, I was skeptical the very first time I had brunch here. Pesto in scrambled eggs? Really? It's not the most intuitive of combinations, but hey, I'll try anything (non-illegal, non-lethal, non-self-maiming, non-[INSERT HARMFUL CONCEPT HERE]) once. As it turns out, my doubts were unfounded. Green eggs and ham are pretty damn great. There's enough pesto not just to dye the eggs, but to legitimately leave its flavor stamp as well. The green eggs are one reason why I keep coming back. That said, it sure doesn't look that appetizing though. Look past the presentation though, and you will be well-rewarded: 

Tastes waaaaaaaaaay better than it looks. Also, evokes fond memories of Dr. Seuss literature.