Restaurant review | Air-conditioned room: in all simplicity

Restaurant criticism takes a new turn at Press. As always, our critics tell you about their experience, highlighting the good and, sometimes, the bad ones. But we now explain the choice of one restaurant or another. We also present the team in the dining room and in the kitchen. This week: Air-conditioned room, in Little Italy.

Eve Dumas
Press

Why talk about it?

Like many other establishments opened over the past 20 months, Salle climatisée first served its dishes in trays and then sold its wine to take away. A spontaneous project by three restaurant buddies, this “dining cellar” did not put too much pressure on itself to define at all costs what it wanted to become. So it was relevant to see where it was, soon a year later, with a furnished dining room and real plates!

Who are they ?

Brendan Lavery, Harrison Shewchuk and Darcy Gervais-Wood have a deep love for the City of Lights. The name of their establishment comes from the fact that several Parisian dining rooms announce the freshness of their installations to attract customers in the summer heat. Darcy, who shares the management of the kitchen with his friend Harrison (public house, Tiers paysage), has also worked at Septime, in Paris. Brendan was a butler at the must-see Maison publique before going out with the other two buddies. He buys and serves the wine, which flows freely in the warm gourmet snack bar.

Our experience

All that’s missing is a row of noisy standing revelers, facing the counter, to make you think you’re in a pre-COVID-19 Parisian wine bar. It is the narrowness of the space, its simple and succinct menu and of course its wines written by hand on a mobile slate that have this effect.

You may be offered to start with a glass of bubbles, while you study the other slate, the one that gives an overview of the dishes you can share. Because yes, here as in many other establishments, you are invited to choose for the table an assortment of dishes which will complement each other.

Three or four people can easily order the entire menu, that’s for sure. Together, unfortunately, we have to make choices. Ours: squash, eggplant, beef tartare, black pudding and roasted cabbage.

Darcy and Harrison don’t stack a thousand ingredients on a plate. They usually pick one in the lead role and then two or three in supporting roles. Squash, for example, goes well with the very aromatic habanada pepper. A few drops of camelina oil bind them together forever. Eggplant, a rather neutral fruit vegetable, made even sweeter by steaming, benefits for its part from the acidity of a mushroom vinaigrette. Mustard grain and lemon balm enhance and texture the dish.

Vintage lovers will appreciate the soft and natural side of the beef tartare, covered with very thin slices of matsutake. The black pudding from Aliments Viens is very well complemented by sweet quince slices and vinegar sour cherries.

We had a weakness for humble cabbage, served en pointe. The caramelization gives it a comforting depth of taste and is reminiscent of the one prepared by Harrison at the Tiers paysage restaurant in the Old Port. Rather than being served with brown butter and maple, it is here spiced up with lovage (in cream) and horseradish.

There were two desserts on the board as we passed, a sweet clover panna cotta with potatoes cooked in tea and a “sticky pudding”. If the first option really gave you desire, we did not regret having chosen the very dense square of cake containing pieces of sweet carrot (replacing the dates normally used in the traditional recipe). With its quenelle of cream and a drizzle of butterscotch, this pudding was the most enveloping fall dessert ever.

In our glass

Last winter, the wine choices were oriented towards the vineyards of Central Europe (Germany, Austria, Czech Republic). This fall, Brendan only has one for France and Italy. There are around thirty labels to discover in the “Bubbles”, “Macerations”, “Whites” and “Reds” categories. These are very vibrant artisanal wines, but benefiting from standing and straightforwardness. Our glass of Fleuve 2018, a red cuvée from the Languedoc region La Bancale, was very fruity and juicy, but with toasted notes that gave it seriousness. Eugenio Rosi’s Poiema 2018, made in Trentino from Marzemino grapes, is much more fleshy. Its aromas of black cherries and star anise go perfectly with black pudding.

How much ?

Small meals in the Air-conditioned Room cost between $ 12 and $ 21. There are bigger plates that we haven’t tasted (chicken and trout, last week), which are priced at $ 30 and $ 32. A sweet finish will revolve around a dozen dollars. Do you prefer cheese? The plate with a choice of three cheeses costs $ 15. There are wines for all portfolios (except maybe those overflowing with big bills!), Between $ 46 for a “con fondo” prosecco and $ 137 for beautiful Burgundy.

Good to know

There are a lot of vegetable dishes on the menu, which makes the place appealing to vegetarians. There may be vegan options as well, but that’s not the house specialty. Air-conditioned room is a very small restaurant with 22 well packed seats, with a tiny bathroom at the back. It is not particularly suitable for wheelchairs.

Information

Formerly also open for lunch, the air-conditioned room is now an evening table, open from Wednesday to Sunday, from 5 pm to 10:30 pm Reservations strongly recommended.

6448, boulevard Saint-Laurent, Montreal

Visit the Air-conditioned room website