Get ready for excess. You’ll leave feeling like a glutton,
or if you’re a foie gras lover, marvel at how one menu can contain so many
renditions of a fatty goose liver. Au Pied de Cochon has been covered so
intensively that if you go expecting a light salad, you must be living under a
rock. With that in mind, I steeled myself for a rich dinner, albeit one that
doesn’t include the fatty liver and their duck in a can.
Even though their menu isn’t a “small” plate format, it
certainly lends itself for sharing. Trust me, the portions are huge and each
dish so heavy that you’ll need a helping hand. Take their cured ham from the
shack ($16), the wispy slices of fragrant salty meat delicious, but the plate
so filled that it’s best split amongst at least four.
Served with half a loaf of their warm toasted baguette and a
liquidity sweet maple smoked mustard, the sandwich you could make from the ham
would be first class. The mustard such a great touch that I even left with a
jar ($6.99).
Would you be surprised to hear the duck carpaccio ($14) was
the lightest thing we ate that evening? The large slice of fowl so tender that
even a toothless senior could plough through the dish. If only they served this
before the cured ham, the duck wouldn’t haven’t been overpowered by the
charcuterie’s saltiness. The carpaccio tasted bland, even though there was tons
of differing flavours and textures from the sriracha, creamy egg yolk, and
parmesan shavings.
I have to give Au Pied credit for their showmanship: the hot
can opened tableside with its juicy contents presented with a flourish or an entire
pig’s head stuffed with lobster. You can’t help but stare at the table beside
you and wonder what they ordered. Even a simple dish of bacon gnocchi ($30)
starts with a giant parmesan wheel.
Oh, how the heads turn as the gigantic block of cheese is
wheeled on a trolley and stops tableside. First, slices of parmesan is scrapped
into the centre. Then, a pan filled with gnocchi, huge chunks of bacon and peas
is added and slowly tossed and mixed so the pasta’s heat melts the cheese. Just
imagine how you’d react to the intoxicating scent.
Yet, it doesn’t stop there. Afterwards, a small jug of jus
is presented and you’re told that they’ll add that into the mixture so the
gnocchi isn’t dry. Really, it’s an unnecessary step and renders the dish a
watery mess… all that creaminess I watched them cox into the dish was ruined.
Another liberal sprinkling of parmesan and a healthy dollop of fresh ricotta - the
dish is finally done.
After all that, it’s a shame that the gnocchi is way too
salty, drowning in a pool of oily broth, and feels like you’re eating chunks of
pork belly as opposed to fluffy pasta. Disappointing to taste, but man how you
salivate as you watch it being prepared.
Sadly, everything thereafter wasn’t any better. The duck fat
fries ($5.75) were bordering on burnt, but somewhat salvaged by the lovely
house-made aioli incorporating a great citrus twist.
A special for the evening, the steamer clams and corn ($16),
was perhaps the worst course of the dinner. The cream sauce and bacon much too
heavy for clams; only to be made worse by adding maple syrup so everything’s
also sweet. Perhaps the chef was simply trying to cover the gritty rubbery
clams. Why did I order seafood at a restaurant known for meat?
Despite thinking we showed restraint while ordering (to save
room for dessert), our table of three could not get through everything. So, the
lone sweet incorporating the popular maple syrup came in a cocktail form. The gin
guay ($12.50) is a gin and tonic spiked with maple syrup and topped with champagne
and soda water. The first few sips, while the cocktail was nice and cold, was
tasty. But, once it warmed a tad, the drink tasted like ultra-sweet cough
syrup.
That’s a lesson for me: you don’t go to a place known for
excess and try to drink in moderation. Perhaps, if I downed the gin guay and
followed the cocktail with beer for the cured ham and wine throughout dinner,
the tone would have changed.
You need to be a little inebriated and carefree to
enjoy the rich overpowering dishes. Otherwise, you’ll leave like me, and wish
you merely stuck with an awesome cured ham sandwich.
How To Find Them
Location: Montreal, Canada
Address: 536 Avenue Duluth East
Address: 536 Avenue Duluth East
Website: http://aupieddecochon.ca/?lang=en
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____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System
- Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
- 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
- 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
- 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
- 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
- 10 - absolute perfection!
Is That It? I Want More!
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