Restaurant review | Rediscover the urban “foot”

Do established Montreal tables still live up to their reputation? We will be visiting a few throughout the year to reconnect with these restaurants that have stood the test of time. This week, an institution of circumstance: At the foot of a pig.

Why are we talking about it ?

It’s sugar time. The PDC on avenue Duluth may not be the Cabane de Mirabel, but maple products nevertheless have pride of place there, from cocktails to dessert, including the famous “plogue à Champlain”.

Au Pied de Cochon’s contribution to Montreal’s culinary reputation is no secret. The late Anthony Bourdain said that chef Martin Picard’s restaurant, opened in 2001, was one of his favorites in the world. This is one of the reasons why, for several years, the majority of the clientele has come from all over the world – “80% tourists”, estimates the young chef Michael Picard, Martin’s nephew.

Do Quebecers, and Montrealers in particular, still have an interest in attending this institution? Certainly ! Local patrons are always welcome, whether to feast or take a quick seat at the bar with a glass of wine and a dish of the day.

A little history

When Martin Picard opened Au Pied de Cochon, with his right-hand man Marc Beaudin, he had just come from the Club des Pins, a fine, mostly Provençal restaurant on Avenue Laurier Ouest. As well say that he made a 180 degree turn, abandoning the song of the cicadas to practice a cuisine closer to his roots.

“Should we see a trend here? wrote the late Françoise Kayler, food critic at The Press, in its review of the year 2001. We speak less of gastronomy, these days, than of culinary culture and, in every connection, we refer to the terroir. Without digging deep, staying only on the surface of the table, some clues suggest that the climate may be changing. He is warming up. »

And that was the beginning of this cult of excess that several other restaurants followed suit. Foie gras poutine carried the torch of Montreal gastronomy for at least a few years. Then the sugar shack did it again, from 2009. Rebelote in 2018, with the opening of the nevertheless more delicate Cabane d’à Côté.

For many years, it was Emily Homsy (now co-owner of Bar St-Denis) who led the kitchens of the urban “Pied”. When he left, seven years ago, Michael Picard ascended to the leadership. He was only 23 years old. Respectful of the family heritage, he bows to the great immutable classics while making his own the proposals of the day, according to the arrivals.

Our experience

There was no question of disembarking at the Pied de Cochon after a very long hiatus to eat salad! (That said, the one with endives, goat cheese, pear and walnuts is exquisite.) It was an early Saturday evening and we were ready to attack – at four – a good number of classics.

But first, a little aperitif. A glass of cider, perhaps? The house produces its own, using fruit from the Mirabel orchard and apples grown near the cider house. At my table, the cuvee Eating dandelion by the roots, a Russet apple juice dosed with dandelion honey from Anicet, is unanimously acclaimed. It’s fresh, with a little bitterness that whets the appetite even more.

Unfortunately, we will have less success with the wines that evening. It’s not that the PDC menu, fueled by Alexandre Meilleur, is lacking in fine bottles. It fills eight pages of fine print, with nearly 500 references. Burgundy occupies a lot of space. Italian reds too. A great lover of sharp Riesling, the sommelier always puts one by the glass. The failure, that evening, is more in the communication. I ask to be surprised, giving many qualifiers and examples of favorite wines, but we are brought boring bottles. Damage.

The dishes, for the most part, correspond to expectations. The plogue, a buckwheat pancake topped with smoked bacon, cheddar cheese, a generous foie gras escalope and a maple sauce, launches hostilities with relish.

Maybe it’s because Quebec has been bombarded with hundreds of equally “nasty” versions for 22 years, but the foie gras poutine seems almost anecdotal in 2023. Alongside, the two temakis filled with rice, duck tartare and matchstick potatoes serve as a “freshness” and pleasant reminder that “Montreal gastronomy” is a matter of fusions and influences.

Afterwards, the main courses will all be stronger than each other. Just because you order the brook trout doesn’t mean your liver will be any better off! The very beautiful fish (whole), which comes from the Kenauk fish farm, is bathed in a rich white sorrel butter.

You have to like pork fat to appreciate aged pork chops. As long as you let yourself go, canned duck is a better option to share, with duck breast, foie gras, smoked bacon and tender cabbage. It’s practically all the tastes of the PDC together on a large plate, with mashed Jerusalem artichokes as a bonus.

If you make it to dessert, well done! At our table, professionalism requires, we ordered the chômeur pudding and the pecan pie, with four forks. This section of the menu deserves some love. Certainly, we are in the house of excess, but why not offer at least a more digestible… and refined sweetness.

At the end of the day, it’s better not to eat at Pied de Cochon every week – which would also risk breaking the bank, as our meal for four cost almost $700 all-inclusive with two bottles of wine (under $100 each) and two glasses of cider. But we can certainly keep this emblematic restaurant in our address book and be proud to bring visitors there.

536 Duluth Avenue East