LE BOUCAN - BBQ SMOKEHOUSE

STUB REVIEW - LE BOUCAN

HEARTY, MEATY, AND UTTERLY AWESOME

Their website:  http://www.leboucan.com/v1.1/home/index.php

1886 Notre-Dame St W, Montreal, QC H3J 1M6

Telehone:(514) 439-4555

Reservations: http://www.opentable.com/le-boucan-reservations-montreal?rid=48649&ref=1068

Price range:  $20+ for one person including drink, meal, and tip

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Mouthwatering Summary:  Heaping helpings of hearty good food! It's a tiny place, but the flavour is massive!

Meal to try: Five napkin burger and a BACON BROWNIE for dessert! 

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.

CAFE LOCAL - BURGERS, SANDWICHES, BRUNCH, AND HEARTY FARE

STUB REVIEW: CAFE LOCAL - 

THEIR PULLED PORK MAKES EVERYTHING BETTER

 

Their website:  http://cafelocal.wordpress.com/

200 Rue Saint Viateur Ouest, Montreal, QC H2T 2L4  Telephone:(514) 274-3651

Their menu:  http://cafelocal.wordpress.com/menu-3/

 

Price Range:  ~$15-30 per person including one drink, meal, tax, and tip

 


*This restaurant is a Mouthwatering favorite! 

Two of my fave sandwiches! Black N'Blue and pulled pork!

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Café Local is just lovely. Its staff, decor, and overall ambiance is warm and inviting, and the inclusion of a fireplace makes Café Local a great place for date night in winters. Some years back, I was introduced to this place by a friend who was (and is) a very enthusiastic fan of Café Local. And I have become a big fan ever since myself.

Why? Well, the two words that best describe my first visit are "flavor explosion".  Hell, I came back twice the following week just to have more! Friends, the foods that caused this initial flavor explosion were the pulled pork yam-frie poutine and the pulled pork sandwich served by Café Local.

To illustrate, on a recent trip I got a yam-frie poutine ($8.50) (no pulled pork in this case - I was just recovering from a heavy weekend of celebratory eating - having pulled pork twice in the same meal was just a bit too much) (and for the uninitiated, poutine is a dish of fries topped with gravy and cheese curds or shredded cheese):

Yam frie poutine. Heavenly...

FAVORITE HAMBURGER JOINTS!

FAVORITES:  HAMBURGERS (YOU WILL NOT FIND FAST FOOD CHAINS ON THIS LIST, LEMME TELL YA)

I have this friend who, by all appearances, cares a little too much about his appearance at times. His hair's pretty obviously very coiffed (with nary a single hair out of place or yielding to the blowing wind), he takes care to always dress in clothes that highlight his trim physique, and he maintains a pretty careful diet. I mean, seriously, at one point the boy knew the calorie count of orange juice, ferchrissake. Yeesh.

That said, he does have at least one weekly indulgence - hamburgers and french fries. The problem? He used to get this fix at McDonald's. UGH. I had to re-educate the boy, post-haste. The following list was basically what I threw at him, just before I started dragging him by the ear to get some real fast food (seriously, if you're going to indulge, why would you indulge in McDonald's of all things? The stuff's terrible. Are their french fries even organic anymore? Morgan Spurlock left his fries out for two and a half months and the stuff didn't even show a single speck of mold. There's something seriously wrong with food that refuses to decompose - if even mold, nature's eaters of the dead, won't touch your food, why in the HELL are YOU touching it, idiot? I mean, just look at this! http://youtu.be/4wmac-INoXg

*ahem* Sorry, that paragraph kinda ran away from me there.

So, with that out of my system, here are my favorite hamburger spots in the city.

L'Anecdote - Plateau Mont-Royal
Their Urbanspoon website: http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/67/722607/restaurant/Montreal/Plateau-Mont-Royal/Restaurant-LAnecdote-Montreal
801 Rue Rachel East, Montreal, QC H2J 2H6  Telephone: (514) 526-7967


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I've already done a review on this place (see http://mouthwateringmontreal.blogspot.ca/2013/07/stub-review-lanecdote-excellent.html ), but this definitely bears mentioning:  EAT THEIR HAMBURGERS AND DO IT NOW. Especially, their venison burger. This is a tiny diner with fantastic burgers and fries cooked in peanut oil. Their burgers are nice and thick and served in nice, chewy buns. They do have other food, but I can't comment on those items because I can never resist their burgers. So, uh, go. Now. Don't walk. Run!

L'ANECDOTE - HAMBURGERS

 L'ANECDOTE:

CRAMPED BOOTHS, EXPANSIVE FLAVOUR

Their Urbanspoon website: http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/67/722607/restaurant/Montreal/Plateau-Mont-Royal/Restaurant-LAnecdote-Montreal

801 Rue Rachel East, Montreal, QC H2J 2H6  

Telephone: (514) 526-7967
Price Range:  ~$15-$30 per person including one drink, meal, tax, and tip 

*This restaurant is a Mouthwatering Favorite!

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There are few things in life that are as good as a damn fine burger.

Except, y'know, maybe two damn fine burgers. (I have to say, with how much I eat, there are days where I"m amazed I'm not obese! Lovely thing, exercising like a fiend! You get to eat like a fiend as well!)

As with many other types of food, Montreal is home to a number of different places with exemplary burgers. And the lovely thing about the exemplary places is that they each largely have their own character. Something about the patty, or the seasoning, or the texture of the meat. Or the type of meat.

Which brings us to L'Anecdote. It's a smallish diner, with diner-style booths that are clearly made to accommodate very tiny people. Each time I go (with one other person, typically), I largely sit at tables usually reserved for six, just to stretch my legs out. And to get breathing room. And to be able to put my arms on the table. And even then:  Small space. I'm a fairly big guy - years of weight-lifting and martial arts have made me broad. And as a broad man, one of the visual things that stick out in a restaurant (at any place, really) is the size of the accommodations.

Still and all, none of that matters at L'Anecdote, not even remotely. Because I really only come here for one reason:  The burgers are AWESOME. They have four signature burgers, Anecdotes 1 through 4. Each is worth repeatedly having. Repeatedly. Oh YES. 

Anecdote 1:  beef patty, mushrooms, emmental cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise

Anecdote 2: lamb patty, mushrooms, blue cheese, lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise

Anecdote 3:  veal patty, curry, mushrooms, emmental cheese, lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise

Anecdote 4*:  venison patty (OOOOOOOH YEAH), mushrooms, dijon mustard, Zante currants, goat cheese, smoked bison, lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise

*My favorite burger here!

On the outside, they all look like this:

One of four externally-identical awesome burgers. Hm. Is "quadruplet" the appropriate term?