A German Blonde and Something Czechoslovakian

Our last night in Monteal was spent dining at the best new restaurant in Canada - at least according to enRoute's November review of this country's top new restaurants. Coming so soon after our extravanganza of two nights earlier, Garcon had alot to compete against. For starters, its mere ranking as #1 created an unfair expectation. The setting itself, in a nondescript hotel on Sherbooke St, hardly measured up to the heritage-steeped backdrop of Le Club Chasse et Peche - although an elaborate ice carving outside, obviously seasonal, afforded an interesting entrance and would no doubt be massively entertaining once stocked and staffed.

Once inside Garcon took on a very different atmosphere. Its subdued ambient lighting, clean lines and warm ochre walls was more reflective of newer restaurants and promised a more typical contemporary cuisine.

Our waitress, however, was off to an ignominious start when she could name but 3 of the beers on offer (2 of which were shopping centre beers), and concluded with "I also have a German Blonde and something Czechoslovakian which I'm not necessarily recommending."

When asked for water the waitress brought us a bottle of Hildon Spring Water, "an English natural mineral water of exceptional taste". I hadn't intended for her to bring bottled water, and I'm not sure my palate is refined enough to detect exceptional taste in mineral water, but it was still a pleasant surprise. I'm tired of French and Italian spring water showing up on tables as the defacto standard for bottled water, and the bottle of Hildon offered an added entertainment value. Hildon's marketing tag line is "Delightfully Still". I have to pass you off to another blog (Conrad's Column) for a great dissertation on this tag line which aptly captures some of our dinner conversation after the bottle appeared.

The menu had 6 items offered as appetizers and an equal number on offer as entrees. As a first course I selected the Lambs Lettuce with Porcini Mushrooms, Marrow and Truffle Vinigrette. The plating of this dish was quite spectacular with a large bone standing upright, stuffed with oxtail and marrow, with the lambs lettuce salad to one side and the porcini mushrooms on the other. As was the case two nights earlier, my selection was driven by the fact that I had never had marrow before... but unfortunately it is one "nasty bit" that I won't add to my list of favorites. The oxtail and porcini mushrooms were perfect and thankfully I only encountered 3 pieces of marrow, albeit they were each the size of a small waterchestnut. Like a trooper I ate all three, vainly hoping that the first encounter was an anomoly; the second confirmation that it wasn't; and the third just a demonstration of my culinary stubborness. To me, marrow can best be described as a semi-glutinous amonia coated piece of sour milk.... Anthony may like it, but on that point we diverge.

Nevertheless, the oxtail was nicely shredded and rich in flavour, matching perfectly with the porcini mushrooms which were firm and flavourful. The lambs lettuce salad was lightly dressed and a refreshing accompaniment.

On the entree, however, Garcon failed to measure up. On the heals of my first experience with Sweetbreads as an appetizer at Chasse et Peche, I was intrigued by the main course offering of fried sweetbreads with truffles.... until I was informed that the restaurant was out of truffles. But the dish that I settled on, Chilean Sea Bass on an Oxtail Ravioli and Saboyan was also served with a truffle jus. How is it that the restaurant ranked as number #1 in Canada is missing an ingredient that is so crucial to two of the 6 items on its menu. I think that is shocking.

The Sea Bass was really nicely crusted but I could not get over the fact that it was clearly underdone in the centre. It was probably close to two inches thick - so granted it would be tough to get consistent throughout, but it should not be so underdone that it was difficult to cut - in fact you shouldn't have to cut it - it's sea bass for God's sakes... you should be able to eat it with a fork. This was not what I would expect from the number #1 new restaurant in Canada.

Something else that I thought was a poor show was the lack of support from our server. Nowhere on the menu was I informed that Oxtail was such a prominent part of my appetizer - on ordering Sea Bass on an Oxtail Ravioli (at the same time as I ordered my appetizer) I should have been told that I was going to have enough oxtail to satisfy me for the next twelve months. This was clearly an oversight on the part of the server.

On this occasion we did have desert and it was fine; although as an apparent theme for the evening they were already out of one of their offerings by the time we ordered at 9:30. But I was intrigued enough to try an Almond and Pear Soup with Meringue. This was served spectacularly in a large, deep soup bowl. It seemed to work quite well, with the soup serving as a broth for noodles made out of bartlett pears and then served with three small seckel pears that had been soaked in a wine. I could have used a fork along with the spoon that was provided to minimize the risk that one of those little seckel pairs went airborne and did damage - a tip I passed on to our server.

Finally, the service. The beer faux-pas was entertaining but actually a portent of things to come. Our server was pleasant but not particularly competent. Perhaps unfairly, but I believe I should have been warned about oxtail appearing in both of my appetizer and entree. That forgiven, our main course arrived at the exact time that my dining companion and I were finishing off the appetizer. We also had well over half a bottle of wine remaining when we finished our main course. We may drink slowly (though no one has ever accused me of that) but I suspect it was more a question of attentiveness. And while soup is logically served with a spoon I think the lack of a fork was oversight, not design.

This meal was pleasant enough but was definately not what I would hope was representative of the best new restaurant in Canada. I'm hard-pressed to pin this failing on the restaurant as much as on the review by enRoute. Garcon was fine, perhaps suffering an off night when we dined there. But they were far off Le Club Chasse et Peche. On another night I would like to think it would be better - but still unlikely to be #1.

And the cost? It was more expensive than Chasse et Peche. So perhaps that was the criteria that was used by enRoute. In my opinion there are far too many good restaurants in Montreal to warrant a return- although one visit, on a good night, is probably fair.