I finished out August in Montréal, tasting and chatting with the brewers there for a city profile in beer I'm writing for a future edition of All About Beer Magazine. For my last dinner, however, I decided to pass on the beer destinations and instead ambled across the Old City to Chez L'Epicier (311 rue St-Paul Est; 514-878-2232), a restaurant I had previously featured in a story for the in-flight magazine of United Airlines, Hemispheres. (To read that story, go to http://www.hemispheresmagazine.com, click on 'Three Perfect Days' and select Montréal.)
What impressed me previously about Chez L'Epicier was the playful and inventive nature of the chef, an attitude that becomes immediately apparent when you are handed the menu -- printed on a brown paper bag. Further evidence is provided by one of the appetizers, listed on the bag as simply Boîte à Surpris, or the 'surprise box.' (The actual English translation on the menu is "It's a Surprise!")
Never one to resist a surprise, I ordered the box and was presented with a three tier 'shelving unit' of food, each level of which contained an appetizer that alone would command close to the $14.00 price tag I paid for the whole thing. On top was a perfectly roasted half-quail accompanied by vermicelli noodles; in the middle was a pair of duck confit-stuffed dumplings; and in the bottom 'drawer' was a 'lasagne' made out of layers of rare duck and chicken liver mousse.
For imagination, playfulness and, most of all, excellence in the creative blending of flavours, this most delightful and delicious surprise rates highly as my Taste of the Month.
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