Quebec Food Archives - Cool Food Dude

Squash Stuffed Pasta with Sage and Parmesan, Au Pied de Cochon’s Harvest Season Sugar Shack

There were 12 courses at Au Pied de Cochon’s Harvest Season Sugar Shack in Mirabel, and I can tell you exactly which one I would drive two hours to eat again. It was the squash stuffed pasta with sage and Parmesan. Not the most elaborate dish of the meal. Not the biggest. Not even remotely the sort of thing you would expect to be thinking about weeks later. But here we are.

A friend managed to get us a reservation at the sugar shack of celebrated Quebec chef Martin Picard. Located in Mirabel, about an hour outside Montreal and less than two hours from home, it is a destination for people who take their eating seriously, or at least seriously enough to spend a good chunk of a day doing it.

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Le Louis Cyr, Ma Poule Mouillée, 969, rue Rachel Est, Montréal, QC.

Every time I go to Montreal, I make a promise to myself: this time, I am going to try somewhere new.

Montreal has an almost embarrassing number of great restaurants. I have a list. I have recommendations. I have friends who send me messages that begin with, “You have to try this place.” There is no shortage of places to eat.

And yet, sooner or later, I find myself at Ma Poule Mouillée eating chicken.

At this point, it is less a restaurant visit than a failure of character.

Ma Poule Mouillée has been serving Portuguese charcoal grilled chicken in the Plateau Mont Royal since 2013. It is famous, there is almost always a lineup, and nobody seems particularly concerned about keeping it a secret. You stand outside with everyone else, watching people walk out carrying enough food to feed a small wedding, and think, yes, this is probably where I belong.

The chicken is the reason.

Charcoal does a lot of heavy lifting here, in the best possible way. The skin gets smoky and deeply seasoned while the meat stays juicy, and then there is the sauce. The restaurant makes a big deal about its house spicy sauce, and for once the promotional copy is not lying. Chef Tony Alves has said that anyone can grill a chicken, but it is the sauce that makes the difference.

He is right. (more…)