By Michael Minorgan for Curtains Up
www.globalgourmets.ca michael@globalgourmets.ca
I lay in bed last night with so many thoughts, words and images dancing around in my head. Where do I begin? How do I approach this column and do it the justice it deserves. One thing is for sure, the mere ritualistic mention of the decor, ambiance, service and the food with all the accompanying words of praise or failure would in no way suffice.
As my erudite colleague Tracy Hill so aptly and beautifully described on these pages, just a few days ago, dining at Joe Beef is, by any stretch of the imagination, a total dining experience. I just thank God that I am writing this in the digital age where my allotted space is limited only by your willingness to use the scroll wheel on your mouse!
To do Joe beef the true justice it deserves you must talk about its two founders and owners, David McMillan and Frederic Morin. Joe Beef is a reflection of their passion and personalities and how they perceive cooking and preparing food for others should be. I haven’t personally met Frederic yet so I will limit my reflections to Dave who told me last night told me that, unbeknownst to me, he had visited La Louisiane, a restaurant that I co founded in 1991, many times and had eagerly watched as I cooked and prepared food in our open kitchen. His kind words of respect touched me.
It wasn’t long after however that David McMillan started to make a name for himself on the Montreal dining stage, first at The Globe on St Laurent and shortly after at Rosalie, downtown on Mountain street. After his stint at Rosalie I remember reading at the time, that he wanted to take some time away from the rigors of the restaurant business, of which I can attest there are many, to spend more time with his family. He would maybe, just maybe, open a small place to more or less run as a hobby, cooking occasionally for friends and perhaps a few passerby’s (honorable intentions indeed!)
With all this in mind he moved into a little run down place in Little Burgundy and guess what happened, his little ‘pastime’ known as Joe Beef suddenly mushroomed and leaped into that rarefied atmosphere of best restaurants, not only in Quebec and Canada, but worldwide and along the way it garnering a bunch of national and international exposure .
So much for the well intentioned hobby.
In so many ways this baby that Dave, Frederic and their other partner Allison gave birth to and have so lovingly nourished and cared for over the years expresses what is missing in most restaurants today, an honest and passionate respect and use of ingredients.
Joe Beef is also very much an anomaly when you consider fine dining establishments. Much like another like minded cook, Martin Picard at Au Pied de Cochon, Joe Beef shuns all the regular accoutrements of such places. From the moment you approach the restaurant at its very inconspicuous location on Notre Dame Street, acknowledged only by a small wooden sign attached to the wall, you are immediately struck by the complete unpretentious, but warm and welcoming ambiance that awaits inside. The interior quite literally reeks of atmosphere and history under the flickering candlelight. You can almost imagine the restaurant’s namesake, 19th century innkeeper Charles “Joe Beef” McKiernan, sitting at the small bar in one of the dining rooms sipping a tankard of beer!
There are no starched linen table cloths, no white napkins, but in their place large checkered dish towels, offering a tongue in cheek wink to snobbery and pretension. The staff is a wonderful mix of personalities all working as a team and many of them proudly resplendent with body art and piercings. Their comraderie is sincere and their service impeccable.
And the food….yes the food, the ‘thing’ that has made every restaurant that David McMillan has ever been associated with, famous. Yes, it is at a higher price than many, but certainly not all and boy do you get what you pay for. I am not going to attempt to discuss the merits of every dish we ate that would be entirely redundant and unnecessary and it might take a while as Dave kept the food coming all night long! At last count we were regaled with five appetizers, two huge main courses, one a luscious grilled veal chop resplendent with its own fried egg (okay, I described one…sorry!), two magnificent desserts, a bottle of red wine and two over sized cocktails both served in large mason jars, one of them a copious bloody Caesar adorned with an olive, a pickle, a huge celery stick, two fresh head on shrimp and a monstrous fresh oyster proudly sitting atop it all (okay two, but honestly I couldn’t restrain myself!)
All the dishes at Joe Beef are displayed on large blackboards located in each of the three dining areas. We sat on the terrasse surrounded by their beautiful garden where a lot of the ingredients come from for many of the dishes they prepare. I am told there is also a smoker lurking amongst this luscious vegetation where they smoke their own meat and fish and prepare food for BBQ”s.
There is no hint of “grand cuisine” or the “nouvelle cuisine” of Paul Bocuse here, no plates of food that were more akin to food art than food you can actually unapologetically eat. Every dish served on wonderfully mismatched dinnerware is an honest homage to its ingredients and all are a combination of flavors and textures that are truly magical, created and prepared by someone who has a true passion for food and letting others share in this love. The flavors are bold, but true, each one complimenting each other seamlessly and deliciously. The portions, by any standard, are huge; many of the appetizers could pass for main courses in most restaurants.
Dave is a giant of a man in many ways. To many he may seem gruff and a bit rough around the edges, but to me he is a warm, extremely confident and passionate man, who truly cares about his food and the people he serves it to. A man, lest I be too presumptuous, like me, who I think would rather be known simply as a ‘cook ’than a ‘chef’ because bottom line that’s what we all are, those of us who enter this honorable profession. More importantly, he is a man who knows and has experienced the rigors of owning a restaurant and how, if you let it, can run you into the ground pretty quickly. So in spite of all his well earned success he has kept his family noticeably at the top of his priorities. The night we were there he had to cut our talk short as his daughter had hurt herself and he had to rush home to care for her
What else can I say?
I can’t wait to come back to this hospitable gem that has played such a huge part in not only reviving this neighborhood of Little Burgundy, but also has brought us a wonderful place to hang out. Where else in Montreal can you eat at such a restaurant and rub elbows with customers enjoying such fine fare dressed only in tees and tanks…I love it! . A place that plays undisputed homage to the true meaning of dining and good honest food.
