A Beautiful Day
We had a slow start this morning and were thwarted at our first stop--the basilica at the heart of Vieux-Montreal, a couple of blocks from our hotel, was closed for a wedding. We got sandwiches and planned our next move, a visit to the Point a Calliere Musuem of Archeology and History of Montreal. It's a cool museum, built on a site that has housed the original settlers' fort, a cemetery, an early governor's chateau, an inn, and a customs house through the years since the French arrived in the area and they've excavated it and created a cool exhibit that winds through the exposed remains. After visiting similar museums in Europe, a well-documented site with only four hundred years of history does not seem quite worthy of the kind of treatment afforded to Roman baths and Egyptian temples. The temporary exhibit on Roman Gaul was very well done and the one on multiculturalism in Montreal did a good job of exploring the culture of a city often perceived as simply bilateral.
Dodging the skateboarders in the Place Royal, we stopped back by the hotel to drop off our jackets and pick up the car. The day had turned out to be very lovely, so we headed up to the park on Mont Royal. Because of a bike race, the main road into the park was closed, but we were able to leave the car and walk in. I was sorry I hadn't switched to a lighter shirt--even my light sweater was too warm in the bright sunshine--but after the past few weeks, I forgot about the possibility of sunshine. We made our way around the Lac des Castors, with its amusing signs ("Dynomitage! Fermez emitters radio!") and continued up and up and up to the Chalet at the top of the park, where we enjoyed the view from the terrace and got a snack in the cafe, which we ate while listening to a quartet rehearsing for this evening's performance, part of the Festival of Chamber Music happening this weekend. On the way back down the mountain, we stopped at Maison Smith and checked out the exhibit on the history and ecology of the mountain. Reunited with the MINI, we drove around to the other side of the park, through the "Golden Square Mile" of stately Victorian stone houses and then back to Vieux-Montreal. We were both a little pink from the unaccustomed exposure to sunlight and welcomed a nap in our cool, dark hotel room before dinner.
Just a couple of blocks from our hotel, Bonaparte is a lovely restaurant with an elegant, but not stifling atmosphere. The two drawbacks were the overly paced service and being seated such that one or the other of us was doomed to staring down an alley lit with very bright streetlights. Otherwise, all was skittles and beer. Or, rather, fois gras and Bordeaux. We chose to go with the five-course tasting menu that offered three or four choices in each category. For wines, we chose two half-bottles, starting off with a privately imported sancerre that had a flowery nose and a bright, clear taste.
Jason started off with the salad of mixed greens in a balsamic vinaigrette sprinkled with parmesan shavings and pine nuts that nicely complemented the sourness of the dressing. My first course was a lobster bisque with ginger that really changed the taste-profile of the dish for me--it was less smoky than usual and more aromatic. For his second course, Jason went with the goat cheese and almonds in filo, served on a bed of lettuce and richly flavorful fresh tomatoes, while I chose the terrine of fois gras served with apple jelly. That was less rich than a fois gras mousse and the sharp flavor of the apple worked well with it.
I should pause here for a brief ode to the butter--bread and butter on a restaurant table is so often about the bread (which here was a basket of heavenly light slices of a baguette and a rye light not only in color but texture as well), but here the real star was the spread. It was light and creamy and flavorful and salty--slightly too salty for Jason, but perfection for me!
Our next course brought Jason a "harmony" of vanilla-infused shrimp and scallops. The vanilla went nicely with the shrimp, but really melded with the scallops' flavor to create something very new and surprising and wonderful. My confit of quail with winter beans was a much heartier dish, reminiscent in flavor of sausage & peppers, so I switched over to our red half-bottle, a Bordeaux with a rich, buttered cinnamon nose and a straight-up hearty red flavor.
It was time to cleanse our palates before the main event, so they brought us small glasses of green lemon sherbet in champagne that slipped down easily.
As my main, I had picked the filet of veal with morels in a cream sauce, while Jason had the filet of beef with five peppercorns and cognac. Both were served with a sampling of spring vegetables--potato, parsnip, tomato with rosemary, white beans with red pepper, carrots, snow peas and zucchini. Both were rich and flavorful and delicious.
After all of that, it was hard to imagine eating dessert, but they brought us plates of little bites of the evening's sweet offerings--a tiny creme brulee (so delicate, more like creme anglaise than custard in texture and flavor), a bite of mango mousse topped with berry gelatin, a bite of cheesecake with maple syrup that brought out the cream cheese flavor more strongly than usual, and a bite of the most wonderful chocolate mousse cake with pralines that reminded me of Mozartkugel more than anything. This was accompanied by a drizzle of creme anglaise with berry coulis, a scoop of whipped cream, and a slice each of strawberry, kiwi and an intensely flavored grape. In general, the desserts were not as overwhelmingly sweet as they often are, allowing the individual flavors to dazzle.
We filled in the last corners with a cup of their excellent coffee, paid our bill--surprisingly reasonable for the level of food and atmosphere--bid our waiter, Francois, bon soir and strolled out into the pleasant summer evening.
Thanks, wrensis for the excellent suggestion!
Dodging the skateboarders in the Place Royal, we stopped back by the hotel to drop off our jackets and pick up the car. The day had turned out to be very lovely, so we headed up to the park on Mont Royal. Because of a bike race, the main road into the park was closed, but we were able to leave the car and walk in. I was sorry I hadn't switched to a lighter shirt--even my light sweater was too warm in the bright sunshine--but after the past few weeks, I forgot about the possibility of sunshine. We made our way around the Lac des Castors, with its amusing signs ("Dynomitage! Fermez emitters radio!") and continued up and up and up to the Chalet at the top of the park, where we enjoyed the view from the terrace and got a snack in the cafe, which we ate while listening to a quartet rehearsing for this evening's performance, part of the Festival of Chamber Music happening this weekend. On the way back down the mountain, we stopped at Maison Smith and checked out the exhibit on the history and ecology of the mountain. Reunited with the MINI, we drove around to the other side of the park, through the "Golden Square Mile" of stately Victorian stone houses and then back to Vieux-Montreal. We were both a little pink from the unaccustomed exposure to sunlight and welcomed a nap in our cool, dark hotel room before dinner.
Just a couple of blocks from our hotel, Bonaparte is a lovely restaurant with an elegant, but not stifling atmosphere. The two drawbacks were the overly paced service and being seated such that one or the other of us was doomed to staring down an alley lit with very bright streetlights. Otherwise, all was skittles and beer. Or, rather, fois gras and Bordeaux. We chose to go with the five-course tasting menu that offered three or four choices in each category. For wines, we chose two half-bottles, starting off with a privately imported sancerre that had a flowery nose and a bright, clear taste.
Jason started off with the salad of mixed greens in a balsamic vinaigrette sprinkled with parmesan shavings and pine nuts that nicely complemented the sourness of the dressing. My first course was a lobster bisque with ginger that really changed the taste-profile of the dish for me--it was less smoky than usual and more aromatic. For his second course, Jason went with the goat cheese and almonds in filo, served on a bed of lettuce and richly flavorful fresh tomatoes, while I chose the terrine of fois gras served with apple jelly. That was less rich than a fois gras mousse and the sharp flavor of the apple worked well with it.
I should pause here for a brief ode to the butter--bread and butter on a restaurant table is so often about the bread (which here was a basket of heavenly light slices of a baguette and a rye light not only in color but texture as well), but here the real star was the spread. It was light and creamy and flavorful and salty--slightly too salty for Jason, but perfection for me!
Our next course brought Jason a "harmony" of vanilla-infused shrimp and scallops. The vanilla went nicely with the shrimp, but really melded with the scallops' flavor to create something very new and surprising and wonderful. My confit of quail with winter beans was a much heartier dish, reminiscent in flavor of sausage & peppers, so I switched over to our red half-bottle, a Bordeaux with a rich, buttered cinnamon nose and a straight-up hearty red flavor.
It was time to cleanse our palates before the main event, so they brought us small glasses of green lemon sherbet in champagne that slipped down easily.
As my main, I had picked the filet of veal with morels in a cream sauce, while Jason had the filet of beef with five peppercorns and cognac. Both were served with a sampling of spring vegetables--potato, parsnip, tomato with rosemary, white beans with red pepper, carrots, snow peas and zucchini. Both were rich and flavorful and delicious.
After all of that, it was hard to imagine eating dessert, but they brought us plates of little bites of the evening's sweet offerings--a tiny creme brulee (so delicate, more like creme anglaise than custard in texture and flavor), a bite of mango mousse topped with berry gelatin, a bite of cheesecake with maple syrup that brought out the cream cheese flavor more strongly than usual, and a bite of the most wonderful chocolate mousse cake with pralines that reminded me of Mozartkugel more than anything. This was accompanied by a drizzle of creme anglaise with berry coulis, a scoop of whipped cream, and a slice each of strawberry, kiwi and an intensely flavored grape. In general, the desserts were not as overwhelmingly sweet as they often are, allowing the individual flavors to dazzle.
We filled in the last corners with a cup of their excellent coffee, paid our bill--surprisingly reasonable for the level of food and atmosphere--bid our waiter, Francois, bon soir and strolled out into the pleasant summer evening.
Thanks, wrensis for the excellent suggestion!