I used to work for a company in Montreal for nearly 20 years, and once the company was sold, the new owners ran-off or fired everyone that made the business a huge success. I made a lot of good friends who are still good friends who worked at the main office in Montreal and it's always a treat to see some of them when I go to Montreal. Two of my former colleagues, Todd and Eric, now work for another audio company in Montreal and we always try to get together for poutine and craft beers when I come into Montreal. A couple years ago they took me to one of the more famous poutine places in Montreal - La Banquise. (Click here to see the Road Tips account of the visit to La Banquise.) This time, Todd suggested we go to a real poutine diner, nothing fancy, and somewhat famous for being a weekend stop for late night poutine. He took us to a place in the Mile End/Plateau neighborhood by the name of Chez Claudette.
Actually, this is going to be a three-part entry as we did start out at a local brewpub that had a contract kitchen, then ended up the evening at a trendy bar that Todd loved to go to when he lived in the neighborhood many years ago.
Todd had gone on to the brew pub while Eric picked me up at my hotel. After about a 15 minute drive, we ended up in a graffiti-laden industrial area southwest of downtown Montreal on a side street that was packed with cars. We passed a nondescript front door with Messorum and a partial logo. (see map) "That's where we're going," Eric said. We were able to find parking when a car was pulling out just past our destination. I was a bit incredulous walking into what appeared to be an old warehouse.
But once inside, I found a vibrant repurposed brew works that had large tanks just beyond a glass wall, two areas of communal and high-top tables, and a sort of den area where people could sit in comfy chairs with low-slung tables. Todd was holding two spots for us at one of the wooden communal tables that had slide-out benches. It wasn't all that comfortable and it was extremely loud in the large room with the concrete floor, high ceiling and brick walls.
Messorum was established in 2015 by three men - Marc-André Filion, Sébastien Chaput and Vincent Ménard - all of whom were heavy metal/hip-hop musicians in Montreal's underground music scene. Vincent Ménard had taken up home-brewing and the other two were impressed with his beer making prowess. They came up with a business plan and helped along by Filion's father, they were able to secure an additional investor - who happened to be a childhood friend of Filion's father who was looking for something to do as he slid into retirement from being a longtime college professor. They found an old warehouse that was empty and secured the funding to put in a full brewery. And Messorum turned out to be one of the most popular brewpubs in Montreal.
It was counter service at Messorum - which means one who harvests in Latin - and they had a 30 beers on tap. There were three lines to order - two for beer and one for food that was provided by a contract operation called Mitch Deli that was located in the back of the building. Most of the food on the menu were burgers and sandwiches along with fish & chips, popcorn chicken, and salads. And they did have poutine, but more on that later. Todd already had a beer, so Eric and I went to the counter to get a beer. They did have a nice hazy IPA on tap that I tried.
In the back just past the back room and kitchen area was an expansive beer garden that I was told was very popular in the warmer months. It was pretty chilly when I was up in Montreal (we had snow and freezing rain on occasion during my time there) and there were just a few people out smoking in areas around the patio when I was there. Montreal is a bike-friendly town and Todd has been an avid biker in the past. "There are a lot of bike paths in this area," he told me. "And on the weekends with nice days this place is slammed with people."
Todd intimated that there was poutine at Messorum, but when Eric caught a glance of one of the orders of poutine that were brought out, he chastised Todd. "That's not the poutine we want, Todd," he said with a tinge of derision. "That stuff is served in those shitty boats." And it was just one kind of poutine - just your basic fries and cheese curds covered in gravy, not the type of poutine place where you could order various toppings to go along with the regular poutine.
Somewhat defensive, Todd retorted. "Oh, you guys want really down and dirty poutine served in a not very fancy neighborhood diner?"
Eric said, "Is there any other kind of poutine?" I said that as long as they had beer, I was up for it. Todd said that we should drink up and head to a place that he frequented late at night when he lived in the Mile End/Plateau neighborhood after he moved to Montreal over 20 years ago.
Eric left his car at Messorum and we jumped in Todd's car for about a 20-minute journey. As we drove along, I remarked that Montreal had some of the most interesting and artistic street art/graffiti I've encountered in my travels. I was intrigued by some of the artwork that seemed to be in places where I couldn't believe the artist was putting their self at risk from having to climb the outside of tall buildings to artistically tag the edifice. Some of the designs were actually pretty neat - not someone just spray painting something like a penis or a goofy face. I was especially impressed by two graffiti artists who went by the respective names of Fento and Kong who climbed the overhead freeway signs to paint their monikers on the back of the signs. They actually have a graffiti festival in Montreal - it's been around for 29 years - and they also have a number of colorful murals throughout the city. (Above photo courtesy of the Montreal Gazette.)
We parked on Rue St. Denis and walked about a block and a half to Chez Claudette which was on the corner of Laurier Ave. and Rue Drolet. (see map) Chez Claudette has been around since 1982 when Claudette Boudreault (or Boudreau) opened her little counter diner. Whereas La Banquise was popular with locals and tourists alike, Chez Claudette was definitely a locals diner serving various styles of poutine along with burgers and hot dogs to the late night crowds emptying out from the nearby bars. (I found it interesting on my last couple of visits to Montreal that the city has a well-known hot dog culinary culture.)
In 2001, Claudette sold the diner to one of her longtime employees Adel Bakry and his sister Lucie Paquin. Bakry was instrumental in coming up with the various styles of poutine Chez Claudette served over the years. And Claudette didn't just hand over the keys to Adel Bakry and his sister and sail off into the sunset - she stuck around working behind the counter for a number of years before retiring for good.
Pictured left - Adel Bakry, Claudette Boudreault and Lucie Paquin. Photo courtesy Debeur Magazine.
We walked into Chez Claudette around 8:30. There was a small counter with the grill behind it. The menu was on the wall above the grill, but they also had printed menus to pass out at the tables. Opposite the counter area was a tiled wall with Claudette Boudreault's picture on it with along with a handful of photos of the different types of poutine they have at Chez Claudette. There were a couple two-seater tables along the brick part of the wall under the pictures.
It was actually pretty busy when we walked in and we ended up going to a six-seat table in the small brick-walled back room. There were pictures of pop-culture icons such as Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe on the brick walls. In fact on the wall behind where Todd and Eric were seated was an artists rendition of "The Last Supper". And directly underneath it was a funny and - some would call - irreverent rendition of the same painting only with Marilyn Monroe sitting in the center surrounded by the likes of James Dean, Laurel & Hardy, Clark Gable and Marlon Brando. "That picture's been there for years," Todd told me as I chuckled as I was studying it.
There was just one waitress working the place that evening and she was running her butt off. But she was that typical, happy-go-lucky Montreal woman who was cheerful and helpful all throughout our visit. She had dropped off menus and while they also had sandwiches, salads, and combo dishes, we were there for the poutine. Along with the regular brown gravy they use as part of the base for straight poutine, they had chili and a marinara-style gravy to put on different types of poutine.
And they did have beer. I got a Belle Geuele IPA from the Brasseurs RJ brewery located just a 15-minute walk from Chez Claudette. The presentation wasn't anything fancy - it was served in a 16 ounce (473 ml) can. There was something just sort of cute and quaint by being served a can of craft beer without a glass in a poutine diner.
I had been craving smoked meat poutine since I got to Montreal. Smoked meat - Montreal-style - is basically a beef brisket that has been cured, smoked, then steamed, then cut into thin strips. And that's how it was presented to me that evening. It was a base of fries and cheese curds, topped with smoked meat and I had her add mushrooms before dousing the plate with brown gravy. I can't say that it was delicious more than it was an artery-hardener. But it was good poutine. And very filling. I couldn't finish the fries and curds concentrating more on the meat and the fresh mushrooms.
Eric went a bit more exotic - he got the New York poutine. It consisted of the regular poutine base with gravy along with ground beef, onions, mushrooms and a picante sauce added in. I've always been intrigued with Eric's eating prowess. He's not a big guy, but he can pack away the food. "I didn't eat today knowing that I was going to have poutine tonight." Eric basically cleaned his plate.
Todd was intrigued with my order and he decided to do pretty much the same thing. Only he didn't have mushrooms on his poutine. "Oh, man," he said between bites. "This brings back a lot of memories of a lot of late nights in this place."
As we sat back and savored the meal, Todd suggested we make one more stop for a nightcap to a bar that he also frequented a number of years ago. "My second date with my wife was at this place," he said. "It's a pretty cool place." He said it was about a 10 minute walk from the restaurant.
After paying the bill at Chez Claudette, we took off down Rue St. Denis to Ave. Mont-Royal E. and walked into a place by the name of Bílý Kůň. Co-owner/founder Fabien Lacaille had been working at the Le Cheval Blanc brewery for about a dozen years when he and his friend Bruce Hackensack went to the Czech Republic to hang out for a few days. They ended up staying at a hotel in the small town of Loket that happened to have a bar by the name of Bílý Kůň (pronounced beely koon). When they asked the owner what the name meant and he said, "White horse." Which is also Cheval Blanc in French! Lacaiile had been thinking about opening a bar and he took this revelation as a sign that he needed to go back to Montreal and open a bar.
After he got back to Montreal, Lacaille talked to the owner of the Cheval Blanc brewery about opening a bar that was a bit more upscale than the tasting room Cheval Blanc, someplace that was more of a laid-back place where jazz music could be playing. But the owner wasn't interested in doing anything like that, so the idea sort of sat in the back of Lacaille's head. But by 1998, the owner of Cheval Blanc decided to merge with two other microbreweries in the area (including Brasseurs RJ) and he helped put up the money for Lacaille and Hackenbeck to open their dream bar in the Plateau neighborhood and name it after the little Czech bar they had visited 3 years prior. Just this last Friday, April 25th, Bílý Kůň celebrated its 27th year in business.
Finding Bílý Kůň just off St. Denis along Ave. Mont-Royal E., the place was cozy, to say the least. (see map) Tables seemed to be on top of tables in the long narrow space with a full bar along one wall. We were able to score a table at the very front of the bar in front of the big window that looked out onto Ave. Mont-Royal where a crowd of 20-somethings had congregated in front of the bar to smoke pot. Todd ordered up some Saint-Ambroise beers for us from the McAuslan Brewery in Montreal - his favorite craft brewery in the city. Bílý Kůň is also known for having Czechvar beer, one of the premium beers from the Czech Republic. Quite understandably, Bílý Kůň sells more Czechvar beer than any establishment in Canada.
On the walls opposite the bar were about six or seven stuffed ostrich heads. The reasoning behind having ostrich taxidermy on the wall goes back to the founder Fabian Lacaille who knew that Bílý Kůň would be hard to pronounce in French, so he wanted something that people would remember. Having the stuffed ostrich heads proved to be the perfect idea as people could say, "Let's go to that place with the ostrich heads."
Todd told us a story of one ostrich head that was evidently snatched off the wall and the owners offered a cash reward to get it back, but the ostrich head never materialized. However, a few months later they started to receive pictures of the ostrich head in exotic places around the world. They put the pictures up on the wall where the mount used to be as a memorial for the wayward ostrich head.
Bílý Kůň features live jazz music from 6:00 to 8:00 each evening, then around 10:00 p.m. they open the second floor as a dance floor with a D.J. playing pulsating music until 3:00 p.m. It was around 10:00 p.m. when we finished up at Bílý Kůň and the place was starting to get very young. I decided to head back to the hotel. Todd was going to give me a lift and then take Eric back to his car, but it would have been a bit out of his way to drop me off so I took an Uber back to the hotel. It was a full night, to say the least.
And it was a full night taking in the sights, sounds and cuisine of Montreal. It was a tour of one of the most popular craft brewery in Messorum, one of the most popular poutine places for locals in Chez Claudette, and a nightcap at a popular hangout in Bílý Kůň. I love Montreal and to be chauffeured around the city by my friends to discover the areas and places they like to go is always a treat. It was truly a memorable night and for just a few hours, I sort of felt I was part of the local Montreal scene.