Griffintown: Food Spots

SKYMTL · 4 mars 2014

Went to Code Ambiance on Saturday night. Absolutely AWESOME.

However, I worry about the restaurant. Other than our table of four, there were only two other couples there between 6:30PM and 8:30PM.

SynosiK · 4 mars 2014

Went to Code Ambiance on Saturday night. Absolutely AWESOME.

However, I worry about the restaurant. Other than our table of four, there were only two other couples there between 6:30PM and 8:30PM.

I agree with you (as you can read in my original description in first post). Food is very high quality, unfortunately not a busy place compared to Richmond, Grinder, Boucan or Shinji...

I am happy you encouraged the neighbourhood and hopefully Code Ambiance is here to stay!

ScarletCoral · 7 mars 2014

Pour les intéressés, une promo de MTLARABAIS pour La Trattoria

Rabais du Jour: 35$ pour un menu 3 services pour deux personnes au restaurant La Trattoria– Apportez votre vin! (valeur de 102$)

La Trattoria

1551 rue Notre-Dame Ouest

Montréal, QC, H3C 1L2

514-935-5050

http://www.latrattoria.ca

Simon-Alexandre Rivière · 8 mars 2014

Si vous passez devant le 1744 Notre-Dame Ouest, ne manquez surtout pas la dégustation gratuite de Sushi Taxi.

SynosiK · 4 juillet 2014

Nouveau restaurant sur Notre-Dame: Chez Sophie.

Une chef d'experience qui offre un menu degustation abordable!

http://www.chezsophiemontreal.com/about/

ScarletCoral · 28 juillet 2014

Nouveau restaurant sur Notre-Dame: Chez Sophie.

Une chef d'experience qui offre un menu degustation abordable!

http://www.chezsophiemontreal.com/about/

Critique de Lesley Chesterman dans la Gazette

Lesley Chesterman’s Fine Dining: Civilized dining at Griffintown's Chez Sophie

Chez Sophie's husband-and-wife team serve up charming experience with French and Italian cuisine in a modern setting

BY LESLEY CHESTERMAN,

SPECIAL TO THE GAZETTE

JULY 24, 2014

Chez Sophie

Rating: 2.5 out of 4

$$$-$$$$

1974 Notre Dame St. W. (near Canning St.)

Phone: 438-380-2365

Website: www.chezsophiemontreal.com

Open: Lunch: Tues.-Fri. 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; Dinner: Tues.-Sat. 5:30 p.m. to 11 p.m.; Brunch: Sat. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sun. 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Licensed: Yes

Credit cards: All major

Wheelchair access: No

Parking: on the street

Vegetarian friendly: Yes

Reservations: Essential

Price range: Starters $14-$18; main courses $22-$39; desserts $10-$12. Tasting menu $70.

MONTREAL - When I was a kid, I was lucky enough to dine in a restaurant in Oxford called The Elizabeth. Renowned for serving the best food in arguably the world’s most famous college city, The Elizabeth offered a predictable menu of roasted meats and Downton Abbey classics. Yet what grabbed me most here was not the vichyssoise, rack of lamb, or even the vanilla Bavarian cream dessert. No, what seduced me most about The Elizabeth was the Old World ambience. The waiters were white-gloved, the port was poured from Waterford crystal decanters, the flatware was solid sterling silver, and the linen was as starched as the maître d’s collar. My God, it was exciting! No matter how many great restaurants I’ve dined at, nothing beats The Elizabeth for sheer class.

Google my beloved Elizabeth today and you’ll discover it’s now an establishment called Shanghai 30’s, which judging by online reviews, appears to be an excellent Chinese restaurant. Alas, the tuxedos, decanters and silverware are long gone. Lunch is apparently the deal here, $10 for two large portions, or cheaper if you bring something call a meal card. Heavy sigh ...

There are countless restaurants like Shanghai 30’s on this planet, but the Elizabeths of this world as rare as Sumatran rhinoceros or a black-eyed tree frogs. In Montreal, there’s a tidal wave of restaurants where the music is loud, portions are copious, tableware is flimsy, and the sommeliers aren’t tuxedoed so much as baseball-capped. I hate to sound like a granny here, but civilized dining is about as passé as baked brie, Kir Royales, and Keanu Reeves. And I’m not even talking Elizabeth level here. I’m talking about places where, if you showed up in your pyjamas, people would notice.

Yet just when I had given up all hope of finding a restaurant where someone might offer to place my purse on a chair instead of a hook beneath the bar, along came Chez Sophie.

Open in early June, Chez Sophie is the team effort of chef Sophie Tabet and her sommelier husband, Marco Marangi. Located in Griffintown on the hip-restaurant-laden stretch of Notre Dame St. W., their restaurant is a sight for sore eyes. Bright, modern and beautifully lit, the long dining room finishes with a terrasse out back. A few places are set at the bar, but most customers are seated alongside the west wall. The background music is played at a comfortable volume, and the tables are topped with bamboo mats and stylish plates. The space has a refreshing modern European look, and feels very grown up in the best sense of that expression.

Tabet and Marangi have quite the interesting background. A native of Lebanon, Tabet grew up in Montreal, attended cooking school at the Institut Paul Bocuse near Lyon, and then worked in top restaurants in France and Italy, where she crossed paths with Marangi. She also worked in Montreal at the excellent Italian restaurant, Primo and Secondo. Tabet moved back to Lebanon in 2013 and opened not one but three restaurants, one of which shared the name of her new Montreal restaurant, Chez Sophie. The couple, along with Tabet’s brother, still run restaurants in Beirut. An upcoming project is also planned for Dubai. These two are busy, yet that said, on the night I dined at Chez Sophie, there was Tabet in the kitchen churning out some pretty spiffy assiettes.

The menu here reflects the chef’s training. There are modern French and Italian-inspired dishes, including a selection of risottos. Prices run from quite reasonable to quite steep, but the quality of ingredients is there. A great way to begin dinner here is with a cocktail. I tried three — one made with beet juice, whisky and bitter orange, a second composed of fennel, tequila, Cointreau and grapefruit juice, and my favourite, a sublime mix of yuzu, gin, ginger and lemon grass. I’m not a usual cocktail lover, but these babies are definitely worth the added expense.

As for the food, presentations are elegant and flavours are precise. I began with a plate of beets, tomatoes and burrata garnished simply with a few basil sprigs and an orange vinaigrette. No, it wasn’t earth shattering, but it was delicious — the perfect summer starter. The next appetizer featured a deep-fried, soft-boiled egg served atop sautéed mushrooms and spinach. The final one was a bacon-flavoured emulsion with a bit of beef “jus” (braising juices); the dish was nice, yet the mushroom count here was almost nil, meaning the $15 price mostly covered one egg. A few wild mushrooms in the mix would make it sing. A cassolette of snails fared better. Served atop crunchy chopped vegetables, the snails were garnished with sliced radishes and a parsley emulsion. I love a good escargot, and these ones were tender and succulent and the contrasting texture of the vegetables made what might have been a dreary dish, fun.

Main courses turned up two winners and one loser, the loser being the confit of pork cheek. Paired with potato mousseline and smoked leek, the cheeks — usually meaty and lush — were oddly tough. The puréed potatoes underneath were fine, but the smoked leek was awful (or should I say, not to my taste?). And why serve a dish this wintry in the heart of our ingredient-rich Montreal summer?

A better bet would be the sea bass filet. Topped with a breadcrumb crust, the delicate filet arrived with a celery root mousseline, sautéed rapini, and that great mix of tomatoes, garlic, parsley, onions and capers known as sauce vierge. What a perfect July dish! But my absolute favourite plate was the seafood risotto, a saffron heavy mix of rice and spinach, as well as perfectly cooked shrimp, scallops and chunks of assorted fish. With the ideal al-dente consistency and lovely seafood taste, this risotto was miles from the usual restaurant mattress-stuffing-like risottos that are all starch and no flavour.

Desserts finished our meal on a major high. First up was a pistachio cream millefeuille sandwiched between layers of phyllo pastry with a scoop of chocolate ice cream. Pistachio is one of my favourite ingredients, and it couldn’t have been put to better use than this, paired with the dark-chocolate ice cream and the sugary phyllo shards. Equally gorgeous was the pain perdu with salted butter caramel and a vanilla pecan ice cream. Just reading that I’m sure you can see what I mean, but trust me, it was even better tasting than it sounds. The only slight disappointment was the mango and passion fruit cheesecake. Topped with a blizzard of lime zests, the cake consisted of a dome of cheesecake set on a butter cookies smothered with a thick mango/passion sauce. As much as I liked the idea and loved the flavours, the presentation could use sprucing up. And again, in summer, why all these off-season ingredients?

Service throughout the evening was knowledgeable and friendly from the presentation of the amuse-bouche until the last dish was cleared. The wine list is another of Chez Sophie’s strengths. Marangi’s selections are not only excellent, but the inexpensive bottles are given as much consideration here are the expensive ones.

Granted you can find edgier food in many Montreal restaurants and Tabet may want to take a few more risks in her cuisine and kick up the seasonal selections. Yet what charmed me most was the civilized/sophisticated ambience. If pulsing background beats, double thick pork chops and too-cool-for-school waiters are not your speed, I’d highly recommend giving Chez Sophie a try. It’s a long way from The Elizabeth, but perhaps it’s time my definition of a classy restaurant evolved.

There’s no denying, white gloves and crystal decanters are sooo 150 years ago.

criticsnotebook@gmail.com

Twitter: LesleyChestrman

You can hear Lesley Chesterman on ICI Radio-Canada Première’s (95.1 FM) Médium Large Tuesdays at 10 a.m., and on CHOM (97.7 FM) Wednesdays at 7:10 a.m.

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