GRINDER

Griffintown has quite arguably solidified its recent reputation as the hub of some of the most exciting new culinary ventures and up and coming chefs in our city. It’s street s once lined with noble antique dealers and art galleries are now being ‘gentrified’ and ‘yuppie-fied’ with restaurants of all stripes.

Most certainly one of the biggest and boldest of these new comers is Grinder. It’s modest street signage belies what is to behold inside. It is a huge space boldly and beautifully designed with a large slanted wooden beamed ceiling, undulating upholstered banquettes and a large horseshoe shaped bar and gleaming stainless steel open kitchen.

The ambiance is most assuredly chic but casual with tongue in cheek industrial lighting supplied by strategically placed hanging hospital operating room lights. There are two terraces, one majestically covered by poles supporting a cathedral tented ceiling and the other neatly located at street level just outside the sliding garage doors.

Reading through various reviews of Grinder before my visit it was mentioned that the food was great, but the service left something to be desired.

Let me put one thing to rest at the outset. If this may have been the case in the past, it is most certainly no longer true. The night we were there the restaurant was packed and remained that way until we left, close to midnight. Everywhere you looked there was a staff member there to serve you. Acting as a team, the service was flawless, friendly and professional.

As its name might suggest, meat reigns supreme at Grinder. They have recently opened up their own ‘boucherie’ just down the street where they personally age their own beef for the restaurant. The shop is open to the public where you can shop in person or on line and take advantage of their complementary delivery service. After sampling some of their meat I just might take them up on this offer.

The menu at Grinder, as mentioned, is heavily weighted towards beef served both raw and cooked. Their main menu does however also offer an excellent selection of seafood and fish also served in the same manner.
The raw selections are in the form of carpaccios, tatakis, tartares, ceviches and a selection of oysters (served in the evenings only). All the main course come with a choice of fries, potatoes ‘aligote’, seasonal vegetables or salad. The wine cellar at Grinder is immense, but has reasonable selections in all categories at pocket pleasing prices.

The diners at Grinder are attractive, young and definitely upwardly mobile most looking like they spend a large amount of their leisure time at the gym and stylish boutiques. The music is at a reasonable level but the atmosphere is decidedly electric and celebratory so leave your romantic interludes at home and ‘go with the flow’, I guarantee it will carry you away and only add to the enjoyment of your evening.

After enjoying our delicious grapefruit mojitos ($10) we started with two of the raw appetizers: Tuna Carpaccio with fresh ataulfo mango, avocado puree, crispy shallots and soy wasabi dressing ($17) and Salmon Tartare with avocado, miso, ginger, cilantro, sesame oil and lime ($14).
The carpaccio consisted of paper thin slices of yellow fin tuna garnished with slivers of green onions, crispy shards of shallots and drizzled with the salty and slightly spicy wasabi vinaigrette. The combination of flavors and textures were perfect. Wasabi can sometime overpower a dish but in this presentation it was perfect. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Ditto for the salmon tartare, its mix of flavors and textures were equally delicious. It was fresh, refreshing and delicious….A great start!

For main courses we chose one dish from the special ‘meat menu’, Chimichurri Marinated Grilled Onglet ($33) and from the main menu I chose the Tandoori Halibut with quinoa tabbouleh, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, ginger yogurt, beets and fried won tons ($35)
Halibut is one of my favorite fish and this preparation didn’t disappoint. The fish, with its subtle tandoori flavors, was perfectly pan roasted and moist. The tabbouleh, a mix of regular and red quinoa was a perfect match and the gingered yogurt added a slightly spicy and tart addition…Delicious!

The onglet of beef was perfectly grilled to order and tender to a fault. It was accompanied with a fresh and herbaceous chimichurri sauce. Served alongside in a small cast iron pan were the gratineed potatoes ‘aligote’ that delightfully sinful concoction of pureed potatoes and cheese…Yum!

We chose a light and fruity Italian red wine: Rossi di Montepulciano 2013, DEI ($55)

When it came time for dessert we ran into a small problem. It seemed that our waiter was unable to locate the dessert menu. After various attempts at retrieving one by various people, including a manager, we were finally informed after almost thirty minutes that they did not have any dessert menus and that our waiter would be more than glad to recite the desserts to us orally (surely this could have been done at the outset!)

We finally received our two desserts: Pineapple Express a compote of pineapple puree, passion fruit mousse, lemon cream and almond vanilla crumble ($9) and a Pouding Chomeur with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce ($9). Both were excellent ways to end a fantastic meal. When our bill arrived we were told, that because of the snafu with the dessert menu, our desserts would be on the house (a classy solution!)

An evening at Grinder was definitely a satisfying experience ensconced in beautiful surroundings with ‘beautiful people’, excellent food and professional and attentive service.

In spite of me trying over the past few reviews I don’t seem to be able to find a restaurant worthy of the pent up curmudgeon in me…maybe next time!

If you visit Grinder be sure to hop down the street to their boucherie and purchase some of their fantastic aged beef to take home for your BBQ.

Our meal came to $199 including cocktails, wine and taxes but not the tip

Grinder
1708 Notre dame O
Reservations: 514 439-1130
info@restaurantgrinder.ca
www.restaurantgrinder.ca
Mon – Wed 12h00 – 15h00 17h30 – 23h00
Thurs & Fri 12h00 – 15h.00 17h30 – 24h00
Sat 17h30 – 24h00
Sun 17h30 – 23h00

Boucherie Grinder
1654 Notre Dame O
514 903-0763
www.boucheriegrinder.ca
Mon Closed
Tues 10h00 – 20h00
Wed – Sat 10h00 – 22h00
Sun 10h00 19h00