I have a few questions to ask about restaurants in Montreal. Yes, I know I've presided over a website called montrealfood for almost ten years now.
But I still have the same nagging questions that I did ten years ago about restaurants in Montreal.
Here are some random nagging thoughts that have yet to go away, and most of them begin with "Why?":
Why are there seemingly 4,000 "Pho" restaurants in Montreal? Why are there maybe only one or two Cambodian restaurants? Lao? And why are most of them so terribly mediocre?
Why are all the "Japanese" restaurants in Montreal run by Chinese or Vietnamese, and why, if they're actually run by actual Japanese, are they so expensive?
Why is pizza in Montreal so very, very bad, to the point that a pizzeria that actually might serve something other than "all dressed" causes a sensation among "foodies" here, when they're a dime a dozen in, say, San Francisco?
Why is even fast food so bad in Montreal? So tired, so hackneyed, so predictable? That a chain like "LaFleur" actually exists?
Why are hamburgers in Montreal so bad? Why does it take an ambitious effort by some deep-pocketed ones (m:brgr) to come up with an actual concept of upscale burgers? Not that I'm saying that they're particularly any good, but only that there's only ONE of them. In San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver, Denver -- the list goes on -- I'll bet you could find better hamburgers than m:brgr at half the price.
Why are the ethnic restaurants in Montreal so provincial, so tame, so unwilling to step out and serve their own food the way it's supposed to be served, not catering to the pathetic Canadian sensitive palate? All the Indian restaurants are the same. They all serve the same food. Very few exceptions.
Italian food here is pathetic, unless you have very,very deep pockets. Chinese food belongs in a 70's-era episode of All In The Family. French food -- well, they try to dress it up in Quebec colors, but hey, just having Arctic Char on a menu doesn't make it innovatively Montréalais. In general, it's bland, overpriced or deliberately gimmicky -- witness Joe Beef or any number of these "foodie" joints that serve comfort food at executive-level prices.
There is probably only one thing that I can come up with to recommend restaurants in Montreal as opposed to restaurants across North America.
And that's that you rarely have to stand in line or make a reservation. Hmm. I wonder why exactly that is.
Oh, sorry, forgot Schwartz's. The only place I can actually count as an anomaly: a place that serves mediocre food mediocrely, that rests on its considerable laurels as a Montreal "institution" and that actually has lineups for slices of meat on grocery-store bread in a cafeteria-style atmosphere with indifferent service.
That sums up Montreal food quite nicely, I think.
Ha, I love it! Did you write these about montreal?:
ReplyDeletehttp://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/theappetizer/archive/2009/09/24/fake-chef-michael-smith-hates-montreal-food-scene-takes-to-twitter-real-michael-smith-gets-quot-very-very-angry-quot.aspx
Anyways, I feel the same way about a lot of what you are saying, but I have come across some good places that are note worthy. Try Massis on Monkland, it just opened and is incredible, with a good price.
Wow, I like Michael Smith. I wonder why _he_ hates the Montreal food scene.
ReplyDeleteDon't get me wrong, I love Montreal, but these days I'll rarely go to a new restaurant for the "sake of adventure" because I'm just so used to being disappointed.
I will check out Massis, although I just read somewhere that Monkland has a bad rep with restaurants . . . thanks for the heads-up!
Oh, okay, I read the article -- it's some FAKE Michael Smith posting rants about Montreal and Smith is angry about THAT.
ReplyDeleteHmm *wistful sigh* I kinda wish Michael Smith DID hate Montreal food.
But no, I DON'T hate Montreal food. Certainly not the service or the people. I'm just not blown away, like I am, say in NY or SFO.
I think one could write an entire ethno-social dissertation on this topic, so I'm not even going to try to cover it in a blog comment. But I'll say this: part of it (not all of it) is the "Canadian character" of settling for what's passable. It's an old and dated characteristic, but Montreal lost a lot of its mojo 40 years ago and has never fully recovered. So people fall back into the old habits when not challenged. Compounding that is an element of the Quebecois culture, a remnant of the old days when the church dominated everything and people were deliberately and conspicuously pious. Pious people are content to put up with soggy, tired food, because otherwise would be depraved.
ReplyDeleteI know what you're thinking... "This is 2009 fer chrissakes!" and you're right. But that kind of baggage has a way of weighing down a culture, especially one that's already bogged down under seemingly endless economic hardship. So yes, there are a lot of people with much higher standards, and many of them are vocal. But the critical mass isn't really there.
BTW, another one to add to your list of questions: why are virtually all Thai restaurants in Montreal owned and operated by Vietnamese and Chinese people? (Answer: because you can charge more when you call it "Thai." Simple as that. Same applies to Japanese.)
Yep,
ReplyDeleteThe Chinese and Vietnamese sure got wise that"Spicy Tuna Roll" or "Tom Yung Goong" had a little more cachet than "Chicken Chow" Mein and "Tonkinese soup."
Hey, a Greek place near my house is run by Taiwanese. Khyber Pass is run by Tunisians.
But you're right. Montreal's food future sure ain't what it used to be.
I can sum up the reason behind several of your complaints in one word: selective immigration and settler destinations. Montreal doesn't have the same selection and/or critical mass in certain cuisines, because we simply don't have significant populations who cook them at home. Other factors include dealing with different waves of immigration at different times.
ReplyDeleteFor instance, thanks to your francophonie-friendly policies, Montreal has a distinct Vietnamese population instead of Laotians or Cambodians, and as it gets you 'points' to have family already settled here, it effectively means certain populations take longer (if ever) to establish themselves. I don't think Montreal has ever had a significant Japanese population (I could be wrong), for instance. But the trade-off is that I can get a kick-ass banh mi at Jarry metro station for next to nothing.
Likewise, the first wave of Indian immigrants, like my dad, came in the 1960s, and were responsible for the first-wave boom of Indian restaurants that are, as you correctly note, well past their prime, and have promulgated a kind of 'Canadian Punjabi' food which isn't very authentic -- esp. if you've ever had the pleasure of a home-cooked regional meal.
Now we're in the middle of a 2nd or even 3rd wave and there are many much more authentic places in Parc Ex (Punjab Palace, the 786, etc.) and elsewhere, and even the formerly whitebread West Island has some places where you can get quite good South Indian dosas etc.
Regarding pizza, burgers, and fast food, your complaints seem very general and subjective. They're bad...why? and compared to what? Where? which places?
If there's one complaint I have about Montreal restaurants, it's inattentive service. But I've rarely been disappointed in the food at places that come with slightly heightened expectations.
AJ,
ReplyDeleteI guess I'll ramble a bit instead of answering you point by point.
Apparently the whole "London School of Indian Cooking" originated with Sylhetis (from Sylhet, a province of what is now Bangladesh). It seems that they were boatmen who at the end of the 19th century went to Calcutta (where I was born) in search for work.
From there, they worked on steamships that went to many destinations, like Britain, and due to the appalling working conditions they tended to jump ship in various ports. Then they formed small communities, which obviously needed to be fed, and had to find work, which often was starting little restaurants. (Fascinating stuff -- you can find the whole history in "Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors.)
Thus, the Anglo-Indian curry houses were born, except when they came to America and Canada they obviously had to be reshaped for the tastes.
So it's more than likely that they mostly serve the tikka masalas and the tandoori stuff because when they cook real Indian (read: Bangladeshi/Pakistani) cuisine it's probably only at home. Canadians just don't seem to be ready for anything more than the usual stuff that is derived from the London Curry School (epitomised by Star of India, one of the longest-running Indian restaurants in Montreal). In San Francisco (and Vancouver!) the menus are much more adventurous, and this goes for most of Montreal’s “ethnic” restaurants.
As far as I know, there is only a real “native” population of about 1,000 Japanese who’ve been here all their lives and whose families settled here. Most of the rest are transient. But it’s tiny compared to the 10,000+ Vietnamese. But you’re right — the Francophonie part of the equation is the settler. Thus we will always be somewhat marginalized as far as ethnic food goes. We’re getting there, slowly, but I do remember in the early 80s when I had to make a drive to Montreal North (?) to get fresh pasta.
That there is no lemongrass in my local Metro. That corn tortillas are still hard to find. That you’ll have good luck finding serrano chilies (or anything besides “poivres doux”) in any mainstream Quebec grocery store.
I digress, but it extends to the restaurants. The hamburgers, while only now seeming to break out of a bland Canadian mode, are usually somewhat dry (due to the “pink” proscription), the rolls are generic and the toppings all seem to be the same.
If La Paryse (which I held up as the “best of Montreal” burgers in my erstwhile junk-food article that was commisioned by the Gazette) has the best burgers in Montreal, we’re in a sorry state. But like I said, things are improving. But I’m used to Montreal being at least a decade behind Europe, ROC and the US in terms of innovation, because everyone is being hamstrung by bureaucracy (no street food, no smoked ducks in storefront windows) and sheer Québecois intransigence.
It will take time, but it will be a while before I agree with the Gourmet magazines of this world that Montreal is the food mecca of North America.
Nick, that's a fascinating story and I'll have to find that book. My parents went to Vij's (and got the cookbook) in Vancouver and raved about it. I will say Toronto and the GTA definitely have an edge in Asian cuisine due to settlement patterns - friends found real Indonesian curry (with laksa leaves etc), you can get real "Indian Chinese food" i.e. as it's done in India and not our Wing Wong steam-table sugary stuff. If there is a renaissance here it's in the local-food revolution. There've been so many good new restaurants opening in the last 5 years, the influence of Food TV, A La Di Stasio etc is helping people realize where their food comes from and encourage them to be more adventurous. I'm with you on the chillies front, my local metro stocks exactly ONE variety of jalapenos and that's it. Then again, the Atwater Market is just a short walk away...
ReplyDeleteAh, good old Vij! I'd love to try that place. People don't realise (or don't care much) that India has a million regional cuisines, all quite different. The only recipe books on Indian food I seem to be able to get (and the Indian section is easily the biggest in my cookbook collection) has all those Anglo-Indian staples like Jalfrezi, Tikka, Bhuna, Roghan etc. etc. What I'd like is, say, "Recipes from Kerala"! Or things like that. I have a bunch of Balti cookbooks but the recipes never turn out very well . . . I don't know if they're just not good recipes or it's me, but . . . I know I'd kill if a Balti house opened up its doors in Montreal! (not likely).
ReplyDeleteAnd other Pan-Asian cuisines . . . wouldn't it be great to have an actual Indonesian restaurant in Montreal? There's Singapore (or there was) but it was just dolled-up Chinese food.
The problem with regional cuisine is that I'm just not particularly fond of the particular hybrid found in Quebec (Arctic char, fiddleheads etc.) And always the French influence to boot. I spent several months in France, and frankly, the food bored me to tears. (Supermarket aisle: grated cheese: 16 different brands of Emmenthal and little else. I kid you not.)
But it really would be nice if the grocery stores around here would get wise and stock some other brand of chili-garlic sauce than Lee Kum Kee.
Yep, you're right -- there's always JT and Atwater markets, plus a host of Asian markets (does anyone from Metro, say, ever go into one of these stores? They're PACKED to the brim at all hours -- their inventory turnover rate must be phenomenal). But back when I had to take public transport to go to the markets, it was a very rare treat.
Thank god it isn't any longer!
BTW I got the curry book by saving a search on eBay. It sometimes wanders off a bit (a whole chapter on chai) but it has recipes and is chock-full of history.
I don't like Punjab Palace. I brought champagne there one night with three champagne glasses, left them there like an idiot, didn't get back for three months and of course they were gone. So (shh!) I lifted two of THEIR water glasses (good ones!) =+) The food was okay, though . . . however, the quest for authenticity has not come to an end.
Here's a great site about food history (and on this page, the origins of Tikka Masala!)
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