This was actually our second attempt at eating at Pintxo. We had tried to make a reservation around Valentine’s Day. I’d called several times and repeatedly received the answering machine. I left a message asking for a reservation, my number and request for confirmation. When I didn’t receive one, I tried calling again, but received the machine, so I sent a follow-up e-mail. I assumed, after all this, that someone would have heard our message and/or read our e-mail, and a reservation would have been made.

Unfortunately, when we showed up to dine, this was not the case, and we failed miserably at finding a back up restaurant at 8:00pm on a Saturday. We ended up returning home to make taco salad from bits of stuff leftover in our refrigerator.

That Monday, the manager replied to my e-mail to make sure that our reservation was successful. I explained that it wasn’t and he gave me his personal information and told me I could contact him directly the next time we needed to.

This week we were ready to give it another go, and a reservation was set in stone by the manager himself. I should hope that when you try to visit you don’t have similar problems. Making a reservation well in advance is perhaps your best bet as the whole restaurant was seamlessly filled for our dining duration.
Pintxo cuisine Espagnole…

Over the years Moishe’s has built itself quite a reputation, enjoying success and longevity by delivering consistent excellence to a growing, dedicated clientele. It is known the world over and was recently being named one of the world’s best steakhouses by Forbes Traveler. If Moishe’s is considered one of the best steakhouses in the world, it is most certainly one of, if not the best steakhouse in Montreal.

M:Brgr is the spin off restaurant of Moishe’s, featuring gourmet burgers and accompaniments. After numerous recommendations and a claim that they’ve perhaps fashioned the greatest burger ever made, I deemed it required eating, as their slogan suggests. After all, it does not seem like a big leap for a master of beef steak to create a masterful burger as well.
M:Brgr…

We entered Le Nil Bleu directly in the restaurant. The foyer could more properly be called a doorway, and soon I was occupying the same space as the coat rack as people shuffled in behind us. We stood uncomfortably in the entrance looking for our dining companions, envious of those sitting and enjoying their meals in the dimly lit African decor.

After several minutes, we were seated and I fixated on the crowd until our friends arrived and joined us. While I was waiting, I had noticed a thin and fragile looking statue wobble, perched upon a tiny table, swaying to the movement of the floorboards as wait staff walked by. This was foreshadowing unbeknown to me. As a waiter walked by, the floor collapsed in part, and our and the adjacent party’s tables shifted inward, as if losing one of their legs. We were soon relocated to a table at the perimeter, the vent from the wall pouring heat into my side as if part of my leg had been transported to Africa. Later, we’d notice that our old table now featured an engraved “reserved” plate, presumably for undesirable, but mindful guests.

At our new table we had great difficulty deciding on the menu options. The menu is not littered with many unnecessary items making a choice difficult, in fact, it is like a two page high school essay using no smaller than 14 point font. However, our goal was to maximize our selection, and choosing combination platters omitted a few dishes we had wanted, duplicated others, and allowed for absolutely no substitutions. Despite our previous disarrangement, we still managed to choose a balanced meal featuring a vegetarian sampler, the one vegetarian dish omitted from the vegetarian sampler, and a beef and chicken dish.
Le Nil Bleu…

Riding in a horse-drawn carriage through old Montreal in the month of December is very cold. Despite the heavy blankets and the rather temperate weather during our excursion, the wind coming in from the St. Lawrence can chill to the bone, making it rather difficult to take tourist photos. I fumbled off with my gloves and tried to conjure enough warmth into my bare shutter finger to snap a few pictures for my mother, but soon gave up. Luckily for me I live here and already have these photographs anyway. I could easily make duplicates of anything I’d missed.

As our driver mentions local points of interest, a few restaurants are mentioned as well. I don’t know if the drivers get kickbacks from the restaurants themselves, but there are three that are invariably mentioned during every carriage tour. The only one of those which has been recommended to me by locals is Gibby’s.

Gibby’s…

We nearly passed Il Trullo as we walked up St. Denis, as the entryway looks more akin to a coffee shop than a restaurant. Once inside though, the dozen or so tables were adorned with table cloths and candlelight and the decor had a sort of contemporary hominess rather than something of a tiny espresso bar. Our waiter looked like a first cousin of David Rocco, adding a point of Italian authenticity to the environment.

Il Trullo…

Shannon asked me what I wanted for dinner tonight and I had a hankering’ for some good old fashioned fish and chips, so I consulted my best friend Internet for some eatery advice and came up with a few selections around town. An Irish pub named Hurley’s was supposed to bring in fresh fish every Friday, batter it on the premises and serve it with some home cut fries and fresh tartar sauce until they ran out of stock. A one night only special of freshly prepared fish and chips sounded exactly what I had in mind, so we headed to Crescent street.
O’Regans Irish Pub…

After finishing my review of Kanda and mentioning Odaki, I figured it was necessary to try their buffet for the purpose of comparison. Odaki’s à volonté is notably more expensive ($13.99 for Kanda versus $18.99 for Odaki for comparative week day lunch pricing) but also offers more luxurious menu items, such as soft shell crab and, my personal favorite, mackerel. On our previous attempt to eat at Odaki we arrived quite late, half an hour before closing of the lunch service, and decided to dine elsewhere. The atmosphere then was upbeat, people were chatting, it was friendly and inviting. Odaki Sushi and Japanese Restaurant…

One of the first things I looked for when I got to this city was all you can eat sushi. While Shannon was looking for her poutine fix, my vision was focused on shoveling copious amounts of California rolls into my gullet. I had found a single “à volonté” restaurant about a 5 minute walk from our basement suite and somehow, just finding the restaurant sedated my desire to eat sushi anymore. Simply knowing that all the sushi I could handle was available sated my appetite for it.

Over a year later, and after moving literally directly across from it, Shannon and I finally decided to check out this restaurant, Kanda Sushi Bar and Restaurant…

The eating in the dark concept originated in Zurich from a blind pastor who went from part-time dinner party blindfolder to aspiring restaurateur. Fast-forward less than a decade and the idea has caught on throughout the rest of Europe, Australia and western hot spots like LA, NY and MO…ntreal. I’d spent the better portion of the year debating eating at our “eating in the dark” restaurant, O.Noir. This weekend we had a house guest that we wanted to give a memorable experience, so we decided to check it out.
O.Noir…

About a week after we first moved to Montreal, our landlords had us over for a barbecue and drinks. Since the language of food is the only one I am fluent in, it wasn’t long before I was commenting on the barbecue, explaining why you salt pasta water and, of course, asking for new restaurant recommendations. My first question was what “all you can eat” translates to in French, since I’d been spending the last week trying to find an all you can eat sushi bar. À volonté sushi is still something to this day that I have not eaten, but at least now I know what I’m looking for.

Then came the recommendations. There were a couple restaurants recommended to us, many of which we’ve now dined at, but one in particular stood out in my mind: Beauty’s. However, this was a recommendation to go and enjoy their wonderful food and atmosphere, but a warning to not believe the hype, fully accompanied by a story involving calling a radio rant line to complain about a certain “iconic institution at Mont-Royal and St. Urbain”, a rude server and a prank phone call. Despite this we were curious, though skeptical, to try it for ourselves. Exactly one year later we find ourselves, totally by coincidence, dining there for breakfast. Beauty’s…