- today
Chef Laurent Dagenais joins Condé Nast Traveler to guide you through Montreal’s must-try food spots. Discover where to find the city’s best poutine, smoked meat sandwiches, and local favorites that define Montreal’s vibrant food scene.
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00:00This is the perfect sandwich.
00:02Mmm. You know what it tastes like?
00:04It tastes like Montreal.
00:11I am Chef Laurent Dagenet and today I am taking you to the most iconic restaurants in Montreal.
00:17And this is where the chefs eat.
00:25We are here at stop number one, Schwartz.
00:31Hello.
00:32Hello.
00:33So you know, New York City has pastrami, they have cat's deli.
00:36But we in Montreal have Schwartz and Schwartz is all about smoked meat.
00:40What's different is the way the brisket is prepared.
00:43Here, it's a dry cure for 10 days and then it goes for 8 to 10 hours of smoking.
00:49And then it goes for 4 hours in the steamer.
00:52You have a dry rub that's made of salt, black pepper, garlic, onions, mustard, coriander.
00:58But you know, what's the amount, no one knows.
01:03Our queen, Celine Dion, she's a partner here.
01:06And her late husband also is a partner here, René.
01:08And now let's see if my heart will go on for that smoked meat.
01:12What's up, Frank? How are you? Good.
01:13Can I please get the usual, a smoked meat sandwich, medium, side of fries, a pickle and dark cherry cut.
01:21Excellent.
01:23There we go.
01:32Oh, amazing. Thank you.
01:33So what you see here is nothing less than perfection.
01:37It's a piece of art.
01:38Smoked meat sandwich, beautiful rye bread, not toasted.
01:42And as we like to call it here, baseball mustard or just yellow mustard.
01:47And then you see this meat here before I get in there.
01:50This is the medium.
01:51You can also get the fatty one that's very juicy and fat or the even leaner one.
01:57All right, let's dig in.
01:59Yeah. Every bite.
02:00Every bite.
02:09I miss you so much.
02:10This is so good.
02:11You know, every time a perfect bite.
02:14The nice rye bread is like the perfect vessel for this fatty, smoky beef.
02:23You know what it tastes like?
02:24It tastes like Montreal.
02:25That's what it tastes like.
02:26The family vibe, it's old, it's smoky.
02:30It's greasy in a good way.
02:31You can come here at 10 a.m.
02:33You can come here at 9.30 p.m.
02:34It's always a good time.
02:35You know, I like my pickles sliced up.
02:37Also, there's rules to this.
02:38Never put your pickle on the sandwich.
02:40That's a side.
02:41You know, you take a bite of your smoked meat.
02:43Extra musty.
02:49And of course, after that, you wash it down with a good little sip of dark cherry cup.
02:56You know, it just feels like home.
02:57I was probably five years old, sitting at the same place with my dad and my bro.
03:01It's just one of those places.
03:02It just feels special.
03:09And here we are.
03:10The best fast food in Montreal.
03:11Green spot.
03:12This is the ultimate chef's hangout.
03:14Speaking of chefs, I have the honor today of being joined by my good friend, Chef Jeremy Falissa.
03:20You're good or what?
03:21Good, how are you?
03:22Yeah, man.
03:23Good to see you.
03:24Good to see you.
03:25Ready for a good time?
03:26It smells so good, man.
03:27Can you smell that from here?
03:28I'm ready for a big poutine, baby.
03:30I'm down.
03:31For those who don't know, I thought why not ask my good friend Jeremy here, who's from France, what is a poutine?
03:37Well, I've been here for 20 years, though.
03:38You're still French.
03:39Well, listen, it's the go-to.
03:42We're in Quebec.
03:43This is where it's from.
03:44Especially in Montreal, there's like a lot of different places to have a nice poutine.
03:48Yeah.
03:49It's my go-to after clubbing usually, but now it became slowly and slowly my go-to daytime.
03:53Because you don't club anymore, because you have kids.
03:55Exactly.
03:56So basically, let's break it down.
03:57A poutine is what?
03:58It's French fries, not the crispy, nice golden fries, brown, overcooked fries to perfection.
04:05Some gravy, which is usually powder-based gravy.
04:09And cheese curds.
04:10Cheese curds are basically the youngest form of cheddar.
04:13And you can find those in every single corner store in the province.
04:17And it's always room temperature.
04:19The second your cheese curds hit the fridge, they're done.
04:22Why?
04:23Because to get squeaky-ness.
04:25People always say you need squeaky cheese, right?
04:27And if it hits the fridge, that squeaky-ness is gone.
04:30What was that noise again?
04:31Like squeak squeak squeak squeak.
04:35Yes!
04:36So Henry put it.
04:37Oh, yeah.
04:38And the onion rings.
04:39Lovely, thank you.
04:41Cool.
04:42We have the classic here, obviously.
04:43The wild card.
04:44Onion rings.
04:45So Henry with the peppers, yeah.
04:46And this is the patis chinois.
04:47Let's go.
04:48I'm kind of very hyped for this one for some reason.
04:49Yeah.
04:50Now, I feel like we should just start with the classic, because, you know, we all know what
04:51it tastes like, but...
04:52Exactly.
04:53You have to judge.
04:54Same way when you...
04:55When you...
04:56When you...
04:57When you...
04:58When you...
04:59When you...
05:00When you...
05:01When you...
05:02When you...
05:03When you...
05:04When you're tasting a pizza, you go with the margarita.
05:07Yeah.
05:08Because it's the one thing.
05:09Then you go crazy.
05:10Perfect.
05:11Exactly.
05:12Let's see how it goes.
05:13It's quite good.
05:14I like that.
05:15Let me just try the sauce by itself.
05:18At first, I thought it was some cinnamon, but it's...
05:20I don't think so.
05:21Sometimes you think that two chefs compare it out with some of the sauce, but guess what?
05:25Not today.
05:26Onion?
05:27No.
05:28Wait.
05:29Sound guy, get closer.
05:30I want to make you hear the squeak squeak.
05:35Can you pick this up?
05:36Can you hear it?
05:38Come on now.
05:40Okay.
05:41The wild card.
05:43This is interesting.
05:44First time for you.
05:45Yeah.
05:46First time for me.
05:47I think it's a good idea.
05:48I think it's a good idea.
05:49I feel like I'm going to go with my fingers too for some reason.
05:50It's hard to...
05:52You want to do cheese?
05:55Mmm-hmm.
05:56Oh.
05:57Mmm.
06:00Bro.
06:01That's pretty good.
06:02Bro.
06:05Surprised?
06:06I mean, I wasn't sure, but to be honest, this is like a 9 out of 10.
06:08I like it because there's the sweetness of the onions coming out.
06:11Obviously, it's fried, so you have the French fry kind of feeling.
06:15Yeah, it's a batter, so it's probably...
06:17With the gravy and everything, it makes totally sense.
06:19People have a bunch of weird things they do with poutine.
06:22People put ketchup, people put some vinegar on there.
06:25Some guy told me he was putting coleslaw on his poutine, which is crazy.
06:28Yeah.
06:29But I think we should try ketchup since it's the number one topping for...
06:31For the pâté chinois.
06:32Oh, it feels so wrong to do this.
06:34Also, it feels so right.
06:35I'm free.
06:37Mmm.
06:38Is it good actually?
06:39Is it better?
06:40Makes sense though.
06:41It's not weird.
06:42It's good.
06:43Oh, now I can smell pâté chinois though with the ketchup on there.
06:45Yeah, it feels like you're literally eating a pâté chinois.
06:48I guess anyone outside of Quebec probably don't know this, but...
06:50Pâté chinois is pretty much the most popular household dish that you've probably had at least once or a thousand times growing up.
06:58It's a classic.
06:59It's just like ground beef, mashed potatoes, and canned corn all stacked up.
07:02The order is beef, corn, potatoes.
07:05And then this is a poutine version of it.
07:07So it's just fries, gravy, canned corn, ground beef, and now ketchup.
07:11It translates to Chinese pâté, which is crazy because there's nothing Chinese about this.
07:16And last but not least, this is the Saint Henri.
07:19Because we are in...
07:20Saint Henri.
07:21Let's go.
07:22That's the hood.
07:23That's the hood.
07:24And that's ground beef, bell peppers, and...
07:26Mushrooms?
07:27I don't see mushrooms, but...
07:28Yeah, yeah.
07:29There's like thin sliced of...
07:30Mushrooms in there?
07:31Oh yeah, I see it.
07:32I see it.
07:33Cool.
07:34Oh my God.
07:35Look at this.
07:36Haha.
07:37Mmm.
07:38Mmm.
07:39When it comes down to poutine, I'm a bit of a purist, you know?
07:42So, I always ordered a classic one for myself.
07:45So, anything too crazy.
07:46Like, these was fun.
07:48That was fun to try, the onion rings.
07:49This was also very fun with the ketchup and whatever, but...
07:52This, not for me.
07:53Well, I like it.
07:54I'll just eat...
07:55I'm gonna eat my pâté chinois then.
07:56I'll take it from me.
08:04Good morning, my Lapin.
08:09And here we are, sitting down at my favorite table in my favorite restaurant,
08:14Mon Lapin.
08:15They have all the accolades you can imagine.
08:17Best food, best service, best wine, and it's a nice neighborhood.
08:21We are now in Little Italy.
08:23The thing I really like about this place, it's a corner restaurant.
08:25That's always the thing I really enjoy.
08:27People watching on the side.
08:28You have an open kitchen.
08:30I like the decoration.
08:31You have a bit of Lapin everywhere.
08:33You have the Jura because they're a big fan of Jura wine.
08:36Chef, what are we eating for lunch?
08:38Not telling you.
08:39Perfect.
08:40You know what?
08:41I never choose anyone.
08:42We'll have some asparagus, some lobster.
08:44We just got the first small nettle.
08:47We'll cook nettle, rhubarb.
08:48Nice.
08:49You know what?
08:50The usual, I'm not gonna order anything.
08:51You can just bring the, you know.
08:53Of course.
08:58The croque-pétanque scallop sandwich.
09:00Your 10th one, the 11th one's on us.
09:02Wow.
09:03I've never seen this before.
09:04Wow.
09:05Crazy.
09:06Wow.
09:07Amazing.
09:08Thank you so much.
09:09It looks like a grilled cheese almost, but it's not.
09:10It's a scallop muslin.
09:11It's very light, very delicate.
09:13Nice crunchy bread from Boulangerie Autumn.
09:16I've probably had this 10 times and guess what?
09:19I'm probably gonna have 10 more times because it's just that good.
09:21And then you have, it's like this, that's like the ultimate mayo.
09:24Aioli with garlic.
09:25And then you add saffron, which is originally served with the very classic French dish from
09:30Marseille called La Bouillabaisse.
09:32So it just, it's perfect.
09:34Wow.
09:35Look at this.
09:36And that's for me.
09:38Hmm.
09:39Hmm.
09:40Hmm.
09:41Hmm.
09:42The nicest muslin.
09:43Look how it jiggles.
09:44Basically in, you know, French cuisine, a muslin is always either like it could be like
09:48a salmon muslin.
09:49It's like salmon that's blended with a bit of cream.
09:52So I don't know if there's cream in there because the chef won't tell me, but yeah,
09:55it just basically scallops and you just blend those into a paste and voila.
09:59If you close your eyes, you can imagine yourself sitting down somewhere in Marseille close to
10:05the watery, like in the old port, a nice glass of white wine.
10:08And you're just eating a bouillabaisse.
10:10You can hear the seagulls in the distance.
10:13And that's where I'm at right now.
10:15Hmm.
10:16The next service.
10:18So we have barbecue spinach with lobster cooked in beef fat and tomato vinaigrette.
10:25Wow.
10:26Thank you, chef.
10:29Mmm.
10:34I don't know why it does it.
10:35You know, it's so simple.
10:36Just spinach, lobster and fat.
10:39What's the ultimate surf and turf?
10:41You have the lobster, the lard, best of both worlds combined.
10:44It's not like the usual filet mignon with a fat piece of lobster.
10:48It's just delicate, well balanced.
10:49And then you have a nice little touch of the onion flour at the end.
10:52That just brings a bit of a je ne sais quoi.
11:00I hope you're still hungry, huh?
11:02Thank you, chef.
11:03First of the seasoned asparagus in a nettle sauce.
11:06And on top we have the sweetbread glaze with spruce honey.
11:09Wow. And what's this, chef?
11:11Nettle chips.
11:12Thank you, chef.
11:13Mmm.
11:14Also sweetbreads are always a tricky one for chefs to cook to perfection.
11:24You have the perfect crispy outside of the sweetbreads and the soft inside.
11:28So texture wise, it's very interesting to eat for sure.
11:31And the spruce honey just brings you like in a forest almost.
11:34It's just very nice.
11:35You want to film the soft serve machine?
11:37Yes.
11:38I'm like the biggest fan of Dairy Queen and I wanted my own soft serve machine.
11:41This is very simple, just rhubarb soft serve.
11:44A nice palate cleanser in between courses or at the end of your meal.
11:47We always do it 100% fruit.
11:49This one's rhubarb.
11:50We'll go into strawberries, hascap berries, cantaloupe later in this season.
11:54This one's rhubarb.
11:55Does Dairy Queen have something like this?
11:57I'm the Dairy King.
12:04Monsieur.
12:05Wow.
12:09Double dessert.
12:10Rhubarb soft serve with sesame.
12:12And this one is brown butter meringue with brown butter fruits and brown butter cream.
12:18That's beautiful. Thank you, chef.
12:19I could use a spoon, but to be honest, I've been looking at this thing for a minute now and I want to just go right in there.
12:24This is like the perfect balance.
12:32The acidity of the rhubarb doesn't make it too sweet and the mouthful is just perfect.
12:36So this is a new one for me.
12:37So we have a Crème Diplomate, which is a mix of pastry cream and the Chancy cream combined together.
12:43Then we have a beautiful meringue.
12:45Wow.
12:46The lightest meringue I've ever tried in my whole life.
12:52Brown butter blueberries?
12:53That's crazy.
12:54I don't know why, but it's so good.
12:55And this Hazelnut Diplomate on top just makes it, just brings everything together.
13:05And this is a perfect grand finale for a feast at Mont Lapin.
13:11And guys, I think that's the end of our day together.
13:13I took you guys to my favorite spots in all of Montreal.
13:16We did Mont Lapin, we did Schwarz on Greenspa.
13:19Bye Condé Nast!
13:20Bye Condé Nast!
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