Méchant Boeuf

Clockwise: Grilled Salmon with Pesto and Grilled Vegetables, Tatare Trio (Beef, Tuna, Salmon), Peacan Pie, Méchant Burger with Fries.

Between Jan 15-31 2009, Montreal had their 2nd Annual Happening Gourmand event. This is a great opportunity to try out restaurants. Eight restaurants in the Old Port would have a 3 course meal at a discounted fixed price. For example, at Restaurant Vieux-Port (yummy steak place), I had garlic snails, filet mignon medallions, and crème brulée for $22. I kept forgetting my camera. Fortunetly, Rachelle brought her camera when we went to Méchant Boeuf. I was expecially excited to try Méchant Boeuf because of their famous Méchant Burger. They call it the best burger in the city.

Before I start talking about the food, I'd like to mention the frustration Rachelle and I went through to make a reservation at this place. They have an incredibly frustrating system. For starters, I have to mention that this restaurant does not open during lunch time. It opens at 5pm every day. When I called the restaurant during my lunch hour at work, I was greeted by their voice messaging system. It advised me that they normally take reservations through the system, with the exception of the Happening Gourmand event. In this case, they told callers to call back at 2pm. So at 2pm, I called...It either gave me a busy signal or the voice messaging system would pick up...I called on and off until 3pm. At one point, I was looking on their website and they had a different number. So I tried calling it and someone picked up. I soon realized that I was talking to the front desk of hotel Nelligan, which is connected to Méchant Boeuf. She kept transferring my call back to the voice messaging system. After my third time calling, I asked the woman at hotel Nelligan what the deal was. And she told me that the restaurant only opens at 5pm, but that normally someone is there starting at 3pm. Apparently not that day. So I got Rachelle to call after 5pm.

She called after 5pm and she didn't have any luck either, so she left our reservation with the front desk of hotel Nelligan. Someone at Méchant Boeuf finally called Rachelle back to confirm the reservation, only to call back the next day to say they had 3 services at night and that our 6pm reservation would have to be moved to 5:45pm. We finally arrived at 6:15.

At least when we got there, we were seated right away. The waiters there are hubba-hubba! lol after a long week, Rachelle and I decided to reward ourselves with an extra apetizer. The tartare trio look good on the menu, and even better in our mouth. Rachelle knows my weakness with tartare. We started out 3 course meal with the onion soup. It was very good, but the smell of the cheese attack us when it got to our table. For the main course, Rachelle had the salmon (the only thing she could have, she doesn't eat meat, but she chose this restaurant). She told me the salmon was good, but I think she prefers it extra well-done...blech. I order the mechant burger and I have to admit that it was one of the best burgers I have ever had...and i'm not a big burger fan. The meat pattie was huge, thick, and juicy. I would definitely recommend it. However, the fries were a disappointment. They are what Rachelle and I call "La Belle Province fries". The pecan pie was mediocre. I guess I'm not a huge fan of pecan pie afterall. The service was pretty good. The waiters were attentive, but we did have to ask for a water refill.

In general, a good place to eat. I will most probably be going back for the burger, since Kevin wants to try it out now. But I don't think i'll be going back regularly, especially if I have so much trouble making a reservation.

Méchant Boeuf/ 124 St-Paul West/ 514.788.4020
http://mechantboeuf.com/