Restaurant review | Burgers, fried food and natural wine at the Pick Up

Through the good shots and, sometimes, the not so good, our restaurant critics tell you about their experience, introduce the team in the dining room and in the kitchen, while explaining what motivated the choice of the restaurant. This week: the restaurant-bar Le Pick Up.

Eve Dumas
The Press

Why talk about it?

Because sometimes we just want a good burger with fries, but sometimes we also want a fresh salad on the side and maybe even an exceptional beer or quality wine. All this is possible at the restaurant-bar Le Pick Up, opened on rue Ontario Est (Hochelaga), two years ago, in a former La Belle Province.

Who are they ?

Bernadette Houde and Penny Pattinson have created some of the most “Montreal” places to socialize in the metropolis, with the Dépanneur Le Pick Up and the late Alexandraplatz (which became the chic WILLS Beer, just a few weeks ago), in the Mile-Ex district. Inclusiveness, openness and originality are the basis of all the projects of the duo, which has also joined chef Marc Giroux. The resto-bar is no exception to the rule.

Our experience

After two years of COVID-19, the restaurant-bar Le Pick Up must now deal with a piece of rue Ontario under construction and will not be able to install its picnic tables this summer. If you want to enjoy your fried chicken sandwich outside, during the summer season, you will have to order take-out and settle in a park.

As our desire for a burger fell on a gray and chilly Wednesday evening, it was with pleasure that we settled on one of the benches in the dining room. On the decor side, it is difficult to do more retro. It’s the dinner slightly rundown brown that every good North American should have in his life, adapted to the Quebec sauce.

To eat, even the growing teenager did not dare the Big Bernie Mac, a very dirty double that we saw land on the next table. The Drive-Thru, with cheese, caramelized onions and house sauce, did the trick. In my case, the dumpling was replaced with a generous portion of fried chicken. Fried cauliflower can substitute for meat. This slightly sweet and salty “Nashville” is topped with marinated zucchini, spicy mayonnaise and lettuce.

We have a bias for crispy fries here. It is particularly good, whether you choose the plain or the garlic and coriander one. To bring some vitamins to the table, the “perfect green salad” lives up to its name. Lettuce, radicchio, thinly sliced ​​apples, fennel, pumpkin seeds and herb-packed Green Goddess sauce give this greenery the qualities of a complete meal. In large format, it would!

When we passed by, Le Pick Up was out of desserts. The team was waiting for the first deliveries of Les Folles qui popotent, a beautiful pastry shop that also opened in Hochelaga in 2020. We can’t wait to get back to the area to taste the lime pie and the upside-down pineapple cake, two proposals that fit well with the personality of the Pick Up.

In our glass

The beer, cider and wine list is one of the major attractions of the Pick Up. A Cantillon with your burger? Yes please ! There are also local options on tap, can and bottle, including a collaboration of the restaurant with the brasserie Espace public, meant to recall the Déli-Cinq drink. The ciders from Revel, Ontario, weren’t available last week, but those from Alma were. Then there were some great choices of artisan wines, especially by the bottle.

Good to know

Unfortunately, the Pick Up is located in the heart of the Zone de Rencontre Simon-Valois construction site, between rue Nicolet and rue Bourbonnière, until the end of the fall. It cannot therefore be reached by car, but the Joliette metro station is a stone’s throw away and access is obviously guaranteed to pedestrians.

Price

Alas, yes, my son, we live in the era where two trios (including one with beer!) prepared with quality meats and other fresh ingredients cost $50, I had to explain to the McDonald’s regular. At $9-15 a burger, we are in the norm of a small independent snack bar.

Information

For now, the Resto-bar Le Pick Up is open Wednesday to Saturday, from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., at 3739, rue Ontario Est.