Road Tips

La Banquise - Montreal

On my first trip back to Montreal in over 4 years, I alerted a former colleague that I would be coming in on a certain date.  "Dinner, perhaps," he inquired as we were talking on the phone.  I told him, sure, dinner would be great.  Someplace local, someplace fun, someplace that had good food and good beer.  He immediately thought of a rather popular place in Montreal known for their poutine - La Banquise.  Here's the story of loading up on incredible poutine along with some great beer on my first night back in Montreal earlier this spring.

In the 1960's, Pierre Barsalou was a fireman for the city of Montreal based at Caserne (Fire Station) 16 in the Plateau-Mont-Royal neighborhood in the city.   He had longed to open an ice cream shop to while away his spare time when he wasn't at the fire station.  A fire at 994 Rue Rachel East - literally catty-corner from the fire station - had damaged the building and it effectively shut down the business that was in the space.  After cleaning up and renovating the space, the landlord was looking for a new business to come in.  Barsalou noticed the renovations while at work at the fire station and happened to tell the landlord of his dream to open an ice cream shop at some point.  The building owner offered Barsalou the space and in May of 1968 - right at 55 years ago - La Banquise (ban-KEESS) opened to the public. (My Montreal friend said that "Banquise" roughly translates into "a sheet of packed ice" in English.) 

At first, La Banquise sold just ice cream and milkshakes, but by the fall of 1968 Barsalou knew that he couldn't just sell ice cream into the cold winter months.  He then turned La Banquise into a 24-hour snack bar that sold burgers, hot dogs and some of the best French fries in all of Montreal.  (The "24h" with a crescent moon and a shining sun in La Banquise's logo signifies the place is open 24 hours, 7 days a week.)   On his days off from the fire station, you could find Pierre Barsalou behind the counter grilling and serving up food.  

The stories of the origin of poutine varies depending upon who you talk to.  Most people point to a restaurant in Warwick in the Arthabaska region of Quebec east and a little north of Montreal where in 1957 a patron asked the restaurant owner for a plate of cheese curds, fries and topped with gravy.  Other stories have different rural regions of Quebec coming up with poutine in the 1960's.  La Banquise has a link on their web site that goes through the different stories of the origin of poutine. 

And because it was relatively a rural dish found only in the backwoods of Quebec, it wasn't until the early 80's that Pierre Barsalou was introduced to poutine.  The story goes that an employee of Barsalou's had gone back to see family in a small town in rural Quebec and came back to tell his boss of the scrumptious - and heart-attack inducing - combo plate of fries, cheese curds and gravy that he had on his visit back home.  Intrigued, Barsalou decided to try to come up with his own rendition of poutine.  And to his surprise, he found it was pretty damned good!

Introducing poutine to the menu at La Banquise, at first Barsalou had classic poutine and an Italian-style poutine that added Italian sausage and substituted tomato sauce in place of gravy found in the classic poutine.  It was an immediate hit with the blue-collar workers, firemen, policemen and other residents in the Plateau neighborhood east of downtown Montreal.  

Over time, Barsalou added smoked meat - the Montreal version of corned beef - to poutine.  Customers suggested other additives to his poutine including bacon, ground beef, pepperoni, veggies and even fried chicken!  

It was Barsalou's youngest daughter Annie who came to the realization that the different types of poutine were the major draw for the restaurant.  After 25 years of running the restaurant, the elder Barsalou had been slowing down and he realized that a younger hand at the wheel was needed to continue on with the restaurant.  Annie Barsalou was working on her degree in hospitality management and stepped in to help her father with everything from bookkeeping to procurements to front-of-house help.  At the age of 19, she told her father that she wanted to take over the family business.  Her father, however, was skeptical that the young lady had it in her to run the restaurant full time.  

Pierre Barsalou suggested that Annie manage the restaurant for a year and see if she still wanted to take over.  A year passed and she was even more on board with taking over for her father.  Along with her partner - now her husband - Marc Latendresse - the couple purchased La Banquise from her father in 1994.  

Pictured right - Annie Barsalou and Marc Latendresse.  

When Annie Barsalou took over in the mid-90's, she employed 5 people.  She realized that the secret to the success of the place was going to be the poutine and the combinations of toppings that she wanted to regulate rather than having customers asking for certain toppings - sometimes outlandish requests - to put on plates of classic poutine.  She came up with a number of combinations that eventually drove more people into the restaurant. 

By 2006, the restaurant was deemed too small for the hundreds of people who were traipsing into the restaurant at all hours of the day.  Annie and Marc expanded the restaurant into its present size and updated the "kitschy" nature of the place which included more artwork and color schemes compliments of her graphic-artist sister Marie-Josée who helped her sister spruce up the place after she took over about 10 years prior.  

Today, La Banquise employs 80 people to keep the place humming 24/7.  In all, the restaurant goes through about 1800 pounds of cheese curds and anywhere from 14,000 to 20,000 pounds of red potatoes each week.  Each WEEK!

My buddy picked me up in front of the Hotel Bonaventure in downtown Montreal around 6:00 p.m.  His wife was working that evening and his 11-year-old (soon to be 12) son was with him.  I had met my friend's son along with my friend's wife when I came in for a meeting a number of years ago and we all went out to Bombay Mahal, an outstanding Indian restaurant in Montreal.  (Click here to read about our visit to Bombay Mahal.)   

It was about a 10 minute drive from the hotel to the front of La Banquise, just a half block away from the popular Parc La Fontaine on Rue Rachel E in the Plateau section north and east of downtown Montreal.  (see map)  Parking is at a premium along the streets in that section of the city, so my friend dropped us off in front of the building which has a dark blue facade with orange awings as he went to find a spot to park.  

Going into the restaurant, we were greeted by a young lady at the hostess stand.  We told her that there were 3 and could be 4 as another former colleague found out that I was going to be in town and asked if he could tag along.   The hostess said that she thought our 4th was already there.  She led us past the open kitchen that was a flurry of activity getting plates of poutine ready for hungry customers in the restaurant.  A few tables and booths were on the side where the kitchen was located.

Turning the corner into a larger - but very cramped - dining space, I immediately saw my other former colleague (who we figured we hadn't seen each other in over five years) seated at a table for four.  A quick, but prolonged hug preceded me jumping into the seat next to him.  And I was ready for a cold beer.  Our server for the evening was Melanie, a young lady with pink hair and big glasses.  She embodied the funky and fun vibe of La Banquise.  She pointed out the beer menu to me to look over.  

Thankfully, they had one of my favorite beers - the Boréale Blonde.  My former colleague immediately flipped me some good-natured crap over my choice as he favors the St-Ambroise stout from the McAuslan Brewery in Montreal.  "That beer is the closest thing to water," he said derisively to me.  I told him that I liked to "drink" beer, not "sip" it.  The first Boréale Blonde went down extremely fast.  By the time, my buddy showed up after parking the car I was ready to order another.  

Poutine plates rule the menu at La Banquise, but they also had a number of burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches and salads on the menu.  Breakfast is a big part of the menu at La Banquise (including breakfast poutines), and they had a kids menu that my buddy's son was probably going to order from.  "He's not going to get poutine," I asked somewhat jokingly.

My buddy said, "A plate of poutine here is bigger than my kid."  (My buddy's son got a burger.)  

And, boy, did they have poutine options!  Regular poutine with cheese curds, fries and gravy.  Poutine with ground beef and onions added.  Poutine with pulled pork, apples and bacon.  Poutine with smoked meat, spicy sausage, pepperoni and bacon.  There were 29 different styles of poutine on the menu and another 5 more breakfast-style poutines made with fried potatoes.  

They had two different sizes of poutine per plate - a regular size and a shit-pot-full size plate.  I had my eye set on one type of poutine, and one type only.  And I was scared to get the shit-pot-full size, so I got the regular sized L'Obelix - poutine with smoked meat.  (L'Obelix is a French cartoon character known for his strength and obesity.)  My buddy who brought me got the same thing.

Only I had our server add some Swiss cheese to mine.  My former colleague who had joined us was dumbfounded.  "I have never even thought about adding Swiss cheese to a plate of smoked meat poutine," he said to me.  My former colleague who brought me had the same thing, sans the Swiss cheese.  

My former colleague who met up with us went the full monty in getting the La Miam - basically "The Yum!" in French.   It was poutine topped with ground beef, merguez (North African lamb) sausage, onions, tomatoes and Swiss cheese.  And he got the large.  And he's a smaller guy than me.  And it was a pile of food.

I'm a huge Montreal "smoked meat" fan.  It's just basically kosher beef brisket that is salted and cured with a combination of spices for a week before it's slow smoked, then steamed to finish it off.  It's a different way to make smoked beef brisket, but the taste is fabulous.  Poutine - fries, cheese curds and gravy - is outstanding on its on.  But you throw some Montreal-style smoked meat with thin slices of Swiss cheese crossed over the top of the poutine and it goes from outstanding to orgasmic.  And that's exactly how the "L'Obelix" poutine was.   

I was having trouble finishing the plate of poutine and smoked meat that I had, but my former colleague literally plowed through his large plate of the "La Miam" poutine.  "I knew I was going to eat poutine tonight, so I didn't have anything for lunch," he said.  There would have been no way I would have been able to fully finish the "regular" plate of smoked meat poutine that I had.  

La Banquise has been lauded by high-brow culinary critics, respected travel magazines, and by a number of food enthusiasts who found their combinations of poutine to be both innovative and delicious.  I absolutely loved everything about La Banquise - the coziness, the fun and funky vibe, the food - it was all outstanding.  I'll be going back to Montreal a couple three times a year and I'm going back to La Banquise.  No matter how unhealthy it is for me.  

Hey, I'm not eating it once a week!  

Motley School Tavern - Des Moines, IA

Last summer, my wife and I went back to Des Moines to hang out with a friend of ours and to take in the Iowa State Fair.  We went out to dinner with our friend a couple three times including brunch on a Sunday morning at a fun little restaurant she recommended in the Beaverdale neighborhood of Des Moines - the Motley School Tavern.   

When Jason Simon opened the upscale-American restaurant Alba in the East Village of Des Moines in 2008, he had a young guy by the name of Nic Gonwa working with him at his side.  It wasn't long until Alba grew in notoriety as one of the top places to eat in Des Moines.  Six years later, Simon took over a former video store location on Ingersoll Ave. in Des Moines and turned it into a low-frills/straight-forward Mediterranean restaurant by the name of Eatery A.  He installed Gonwa as the head chef at the restaurant.  Eatery A was also a hit right off the bat with diners in and around the Des Moines area.  In 2015, Nic Gonwa was nominated as a James Beard Award recipient as a Rising Star Chef.   

Simon and Gonwa talked often about different restaurant concepts and one of the things they like to do is reminisce about some of the characters that they crossed paths with over the years of working in restaurants.  They would joke about educating a "motley" bunch of people over the years in their restaurants as they hashed out different types of restaurant concepts.  Simon and Gonwa thought it would be fun to run a restaurant that had sort of had an "after school"-vibe where people could chill out, watch a game on TV, and enjoy some good comfort food and good beverages.  They kept that idea in the back of their mind as they kept on working at their respective restaurants. 

In late 2018, Simon approached Steve Little, the owner of the Chef's Kitchen restaurant in Beaverdale, to inquire as to whether Little was thinking of ever selling his restaurant.  Little and his wife Kristi had run Chef's Kitchen for 14 years and hadn't really entertained any ideas of selling.  But the offer Simon gave him was too good to pass up.  The Chef's Kitchen served their last meal on Dec. 31, 2018.  

With Gonwa now on board, the two conjured up a casual eatery and bar that featured breakfast, lunch and dinner with a low-key and laid-back atmosphere.  Gonwa left Eatery A to run the new restaurant and a bit over six months after taking over the building, Motley School Tavern opened their doors to the public.  

Like most restaurants, Motley School Tavern was hit hard by the pandemic in the spring of 2020.  But they were able to pull through once social distancing measures were put in place and then subsequently thrive once most pandemic restrictions were lifted.  MST - as the locals refer to it as - is especially a popular breakfast destination on the weekends.  

And it was a Sunday morning when we went to Motley School Tavern located along Beaver Ave. where Franklin Ave., Forest and 41st Street all come together with Beaver in northwest Des Moines.  (see map)  We were able to park in front of the brick facade restaurant, but by the time we left people were parking on side streets as the small lot in front of the building filled up quickly.  

We were one of the first group of patrons to walk into the place just after 9 a.m. on that Sunday morning.  They were finishing up filming some interior shots of the restaurant for an upcoming local commercial that was going to air later in the fall.  We pretty much had our choice of seating in the place and we ended up taking a booth on the far side of restaurant against the east wall.

The bar area featured some classic audio electronics - which piqued my interest right away.  It was a double-sided bar with two flat-screen televisions on each side.  My interest was on one of the games that was on the television - the Davenport Southeast team was playing in the Little League World Series and the game was being shown on ESPN.  Between conversations, I was able to catch bits and pieces of the Quad Cities team (who ended up winning 10-2).  

Jasmine was our server that morning.  She had a cheery demeanor and was friendly and helpful throughout our visit.  She asked what we would like to drink.  My wife and our friend got coffee and orange juice.  I went with the holy trinity of Sunday morning selections - a Kona Big Wave with a bloody mary and four shots of espresso.  Usually when I order that, the server will recoil in amazement.  Jasmine didn't bat an eye when I placed my order.  "Sounds good," she said as she took off to get our drinks while we looked over the menu.  

The brunch offerings featured shrimp and grits, a flat-top grilled ham steak, chicken fried steak, biscuits and gravy, and chilaqualies rojo - a charbroiled chicken breast topped with a charred avocado, eggs (your choice) and sour cream.  Omelets, pancakes, sandwiches and salads were also available on the menu.  

I had my eye on a couple things - the sausage and wild mushroom omelet with goat cheese, or the pastrami hash with a mixture of peppers, onions and tomatoes mixed with the grilled potatoes.  A side of Southern-style cole slaw - chow-chow - came on the side.  Jasmine made the call for me.  "The pastrami hash is outrageous," she gushed.  Usually when a server tries to talk you into something, it's usually the more expensive item.  And the pastrami hash was more expensive than the omelet - but by just $2 bucks.

Now, I usually take pretty good pictures with my camera on my phone, but the pictures I took of the pastrami hash turned out to be dog crap.  I'm not even going to post the best of the crappy pictures I took of the plate because it still wouldn't do the meal justice.  The pastrami hash was just outstanding.  It was definitely the correct choice for me and I let Jasmine know.  "I knew you'd like it," she said confidently.  "It's one of our more popular brunch dishes." 

My wife and our friend were sort of torn between getting just the MST breakfast - eggs (1, 2 or 3) with toast, potatoes, and a choice of bacon or sausage - or getting some pancakes.  They had five different varieties of pancakes including a lemon curd and almond pancake, a buttermilk/blueberry pancake, and a caramel apple pancake.  When Jasmine pointed out that they could both get the MST breakfast AND a specialty pancake for $1 extra, they both bit.  

They both got the MST breakfast with two eggs over easy, bacon, potatoes and toast.  It was a basic breakfast that seemed to be fine to both of them.    

The pancakes, however, were winners.  They were thick pancakes, but crispy on the outside.  My wife doesn't care for fluffy pancakes - unless they're crispy - and these were to her liking.  The blueberry pancakes were doused in juicy blueberries with a dollop of whipped cream on the top.  But the lemon curd pancake was a sight to behold.  I large spoonful of lemon curd sat on top of the oblong pancake with a dollop of whipped cream topped with almond slices on top.  I had to have a bite of both and while I liked the blueberry pancake, the lemon curd pancake was sensational in flavor.  Had they combined the blueberries with the lemon curd, it would have been the perfect combination.  

The restaurant had filled up rapidly while we were there and we sat for awhile after finishing breakfast just talking before we had to head back to the Quad Cities.  By the time we got up to leave around 10:15, the place was packed and people were waiting to be seated.  

It turned out that our friend was spot on with the recommendation as Motley School Tavern was a great place for Sunday brunch.  Everything we had was delicious.  Jasmine's service was excellent and I'm glad she talked me into getting the pastrami hash.  My wife and our friend were happy with their basic eggs, bacon, potatoes and toast breakfast.  But the extra pancakes that they got on the side were the highlight of the breakfast. We'd like to go back at some point, and when we get there I'm going to see if they could do a combination of the lemon curd and blueberry pancakes.  That taste combination could be killer.  

 

Cesar's Old Mexico - Springfield, MO

Getting back to Springfield, MO for the first time in over a year, I was telling one of my accounts in Kansas City prior to the trip that I would be coming up from Springfield before I saw him.  "Springfield, Missouri," he asked excitedly.  "Have you ever eaten at Cesar's Old Mexico?"  I told him that I had not.  "Man, you gotta go," he told me in an excited manner.  "That's some of the best Mexican food I've ever had."  Getting into Springfield after a long day of driving, I made it over to Cesar's Old Mexico around 8 p.m. that particular evening.  

I've been traveling to Springfield for work for a long, long time.  It has been one of my all-time favorite destinations - not only because I've liked working with the various accounts I've had over the years, but because it's an interesting culinary community.  Surprisingly, Springfield has a handful of outstanding sushi restaurants.  (Go figure, huh?  Especially in a land-locked community that is so far from the ocean.)  They also have a burgeoning barbecue scene, and - for some reason - they have a number of Chinese restaurants.  Springfield is known as the birthplace of Cashew Chicken, a dish that was developed by a Cantonese immigrant in a Springfield restaurant in the early 60's.  (Full disclosure - I've tried Cashew Chicken - albeit over 20 years ago.  I didn't really care for it.  Detractors called it "Americanized" Chinese food.)  

But the one thing that sticks out for me is the number of outstanding Mexican restaurants in the Springfield area.  I've eaten at 7 or 8 Mexican restaurants in the area over the years that I have come to the area and I have to say that I don't think I've ever had a disappointing meal at any of places I've visited.  One of those places is Cielito Lindo, a small Mexican place just down the street from one of my accounts in Springfield.  And it was at Cielito Lindo where the owner of Cesar's Old Mexico got his start.

Cesar Ortiz was born in the western Mexican state of Jalisco and immigrated to Springfield in the mid-90's to work for his brother at Cielito Lindo.  While working at Cielito Lindo, he met a young lady who was a frequent customer of the place.  The young lady - Sandra Gonzales - mentioned to Cesar that maybe they should go out on a date at some point.  That date eventually happened and the rest - as they say - is history.  Ortiz and Gonzales eventually married and raised a blended family of four children.  

Ortiz worked for his brother for 18 years before he and his wife decided they wanted to do their own restaurant.  Sandra had grown up in El Salvador and had a number of recipes that she wanted to feature at a new restaurant.  And Cesar Ortiz wanted to feature foods not only handed down from his mother, but from different regions of Mexico rather than the tried and true Mexican favorites that most of the other restaurants around the city had on their menus.  

In mid-2015, Cesar and Sandra began looking for buildings to put their restaurant in and they found a spot on the northeast side of Springfield.  Cesar thought the building was too small, but it was basically all they could afford starting out.  Many of their friends thought that the Ortiz/Gonzales family was crazy for wanting to go into such a small place.  They couldn't open a larger place just starting out, so they had to make do with what they had.  Ortiz and Gonzales opened Cesar's Old Mexico at the end of 2015.  With Cesar Ortiz running the kitchen and Sandra Gonzales looking after everything else in the restaurant, it wasn't long before their small restaurant was filled starting at noon every day.

By 2019, it was apparent that Cesar's Old Mexico was too small for the amount of business they were doing.  A larger place was needed and quick.  A restaurant had closed down on E. Sunshine Street in northeast Springfield and the floor plan was perfect for more dining space along with a bar area and a larger kitchen.  Cesar's Old Mexico moved into their new space at the start of 2020, just before the pandemic hit.  (see map)  

I pulled into Cesar's Little Mexico just before 8 p.m. on a Wednesday evening after driving in from St. Louis via Columbia.  The parking lot was packed and there appeared to be a wait with people hanging out just outside the door on the side of the building.  It turned out they were waiting for tables for four.  Since it was just me, I thought I'd have a better chance at getting seated right  away.  A young lady at the host station asked if I wanted to sit at the bar.  But the bar was sort of busy and cluttered.  I noticed that there was a small table for two sitting unclaimed and asked if I could sit there.  She sort of reluctantly led me over to the table and gave me a menu to look over.

The dining area at Cesar's Old Mexico was pretty small, but it was lively and cozy.  It appeared that it was possibly an old Wendy's restaurant at some point with the signature atrium on the front of the restaurant.  A mural covered the front of the restaurant on the atrium.  The colorful dining area featured a number of Mexican skeltons - known as calacas - to celebrate the notion that no dead soul likes to be remembered sadly.  

My server for the evening was a young lady by the name of Alondra.  She was friendly and effervescent, and had a good sense of humor.  I started out with a jumbo gold margarita.  It was very tasty and went down pretty quickly after a long day of driving and meetings.   

A side of chips and salsa came with the meal and I got a side of fresh-made guacamole to go along with the chips.  The chips were crisp, warm and definitely made in-house.  The salsa had a bit of a smoky flavor and the guacamole was creamy and very tasty.  

I had been looking through the menu trying to figure out what to get for dinner.  They had the typical Mexican food fare - burritos, enchiladas, tacos, etc.  They also had Salvadoran favorites like pupusas - puffy corn meal flatbread that is stuffed with any combination of beans, cheese and pork.  And Cesar's featured a number of steak, pork, chicken and seafood dishes.  I came really close to getting the grilled tilapia tacos, but I was looking for something a bit more substantial that night.

My dealer in the Kansas City area had told me to get the "Big Tijuana" - it was a platter consisting of steak, chorizo, chicken, shrimp and pork carnitas topped with a queso sauce along with rice, refried beans and a guacamole salad.  That sounded like a LOT of food.  And I came pretty close to getting the Rancho Grande enchiladas - three enchiladas with a choice of beef or chicken and topped with either a green tomatillo sauce or a red ranchero sauce.  (Steak, pork or grilled chicken could be substituted for an uncharge.)  But something else caught my eye further down the menu. 

I ended up getting the pork chile verde - tender pork tips topped with a green tomatillo sauce that came with beans, rice, and a guacamole salad.  Three soft flour tortillas came with the meal.  It was a large portion of food on the plate.  I could almost imagine how much food the Big Tijuana would have had on the plate.  I knew this was going to be too much food.  (And it turned out that I was right about that.)

I wanted to get a beer to go along with the meal and I asked Alondra if I could get a Sol.  She left and came back moments later to tell me that they were out of Sol.  Hmmm..., OK.  I saw that they had Dos Equis Ambar on tap and I signed up with one of those - a 22 ounce draw.  

Even though it was a lot of food, I made a serious dent in what I had on my plate.  The pork tips were very tender and literally fell apart in my mouth.  The tomatillo sauce was excellent and I made a couple tacos out of the combination on the plate.  The freshness of the food was very evident with each bite.  I normally don't like refried beans all that much, but these were really good - especially as a base on the tacos.  

I was stuffed when Alondra came around and asked if I wanted a box to go.  I had to pass since I was traveling.  She said, "It was a lot of food, wasn't it?"  It was a lot of food - and damned good, too!

It was tough to beat everything I experienced at Cesar's Old Mexico.  The food was very good, I really liked the gold margarita, the chips, salsa and guacamole were all top-notch, and the service I had from Alondra was probably the best of all.   She was efficient and fun as a server.  With all the good to great Mexican restaurants in Springfield, I have to think that Cesar's Old Mexico is one of the best in the area.  It was one of the best I've had in recent times.