In Montreal earlier this year, my new boss from Germany wanted to get beef - because that's the one thing most Europeans crave when they come to North America. He remembered a place not far from the Hotel Bonaventure where we were staying that served good steaks. That evening, we invited our other colleague from Montreal and a friend of his for dinner at Vargas Steakhouse & Sushi.
In 2001, Nick Apostolatos opened Vargas with the help of his son Stephanos. Nick Apostolatos was an admirer of Peruvian painter Alberto Vargas who was renown for his drawings of pin-up girls, many of which were featured in Playboy magazine in the 60's and 70's. One evening in Toronto, Nick Apostolatos was admiring a Vargas painting when he was struck with the beauty and elegance of the artwork. It was then that he decided that he wanted to open an American-style upscale steakhouse that was elegant and sophisticated in his hometown of Montreal.
The location of his steakhouse was going to be a big part of the draw for their steakhouse concept. Apostolatos found a building in the heart of downtown Montreal, easy walking distance from most of the major hotels in the area.
Pictured right - Nick Apostolatos
The other thing is that he needed something else to go along with steak. Sushi was starting to become a big thing in Montreal and he wanted to have the best sushi available. Apostolatos set up two kitchens in the restaurant - one for steaks and one for sushi. And as a nod to his favorite artist, he called his venture Vargas.
In addition to his involvement with Vargas Steakhouse & Sushi, Nick Apostolatos is the franchise holder for the 15 Les 3 Brasseurs (The 3 Brewers) brewpubs in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario. (Click here to see the Road Tips entry on Les 3 Brasseurs.)
I had made the reservations for four for 7 p.m. and it was less than a 10 minute walk from the Hotel Bonaventure to Vargas. (see map) A walk through Gare Centrale - Montreal's central train station - helped cut down on the travel time from the hotel to Vargas.
Entering Vargas, there's a vestibule with a display of tagged tomahawk steak chops, whole ribeyes and whole New York strips in an aging cooler. Whereas the USDA has 3 primary grades of beef for restaurants (and 8 total), their counterparts in Canada - the Canadian Beef Grading Agency - has 4 primary grades and 13 total of beef grade classifications. The steaks at Vargas are all USDA Prime beef, imported from the U.S. I thought that was pretty interesting for a steak house in Canada.
The dining area at Vargas was, indeed, elegant. Walnut panels accented the walls and tan recessed ceilings with fabric chandeliers helped brighten up the room. Even though the room was large, it felt cozy.
We actually had a couple servers help us out that evening as the service all night long was attentive and professional. We each got a food menu and one of the servers took our drink order. I saw that they had Sol beer from Mexico on the drink menu. I thought it was sort of novel that a high-end steak house in Montreal would have the Pabst Blue Ribbon of Mexican beers on their menu. I just had to have one.
But I was more impressed with the number of scotch, bourbon and other whiskeys on their menu. They had 14 different varieties of The Macallan scotch on their drink menu. I thought about getting one after dinner, but I didn't want to push the bill any higher than it was on my first official "company" dinner.
But my new boss did order a bottle of the Mondavi Private Reserve for dinner. It was the least expensive of the bottles on Vargas' extensive wine list. (That also made me take pause for getting a scotch at the end of the meal.) He confessed that he wasn't much of a wine connoisseur, but he and his wife had visited the Robert Mondavi winery on a trip to California a number of years ago. And the wine wasn't bad - I don't think Vargas would serve crappy wines. Some are just more economical than others.
Since sushi is in the name of the restaurant, my boss and my colleague from Montreal each started out with sushi rolls from Vargas' small, but interesting sushi menu. My Montreal colleague is a vegetarian (more on that later) and they were able to come up with a special vegan sushi roll for him. My boss ended up with a spicy tuna roll. I thought about getting a sushi roll, but I ended up with just a Caesars salad.
There were a lot of interesting items on the menu at Vargas. The grilled octopus appetizer caught my attention as did the beef tartare. But both were over $30 (Canadian) and I didn't want my new boss to think I was the kind of person who would run up the company's expense account on my first official meal.
Steaks, chops, and seafood were the main items on the menu. But as I said, my Montreal colleague is a vegetarian and hasn't eaten meat proteins or seafood for nearly 2 years. I mentioned that he was a vegan and he corrected me in that he said that he does still do dairy and will eat eggs which makes him a vegetarian more than vegan. I asked him if he had trouble finding something when he would go out to eat - especially at an upscale steakhouse like Vargas. He said, "Any restaurant worth going to always has a vegetarian option either on or off the menu."
My colleague then asked the server what they had for vegetarian offerings and he told my buddy that they had a head of cauliflower, slathered with olive oil, then broiled. It was topped with a marinara sauce and shredded mozzarella cheese. A side of roasted vegetables came with it. I was sort of intrigued to see what it would be like, and when the server brought it out I exclaimed, "That's cauliflower? That looks delicious!"
He gave me a bite of it later on and I have to say that it was very tasty. It almost made me want to become a vegetarian. For a quick moment...
But not when they had prime rib on the menu at Vargas. Oh, I thought about getting the 8 ounce filet. But my boss and my colleague's buddy each ordered up the prime rib. It had been awhile since I had gotten prime rib and I thought the one at Vargas would be pretty good.
I asked the server for the most rare cut his chef could find for me. And I wasn't disappointed. It came out plenty rare and juicy. The prime rib at Vargas is a Canada AAA grade - the highest possible in Canada - and aged 28 days before they're slow roasted. For a side, I went with the garlic mashed potatoes. (Sides are ordered a la carte at Vargas.)
I asked one of our servers if they had fresh ground horseradish. He seemed somewhat confused and said, "Well, we have the horseradish in vinegar." Well, that confused me. I told him to bring it out and I'd take a look at it. He brought out a bowl with fresh ground horseradish. I told him that was exactly what I wanted. He said, "I thought you wanted us to take horseradish and shred it in the kitchen." I suppose it was a moment of learning for both of us.
The prime rib was excellent. Tender, juicy, flavorful - it was one of the best cuts of prime rib I'd ever had. It was advertised on the menu as a 12 ounce cut, but it seemed to be larger than that to me. My boss from Germany was in heaven. "We don't get beef like this here in Europe," he said between bites. I've heard that said before many times from Europeans I've dined with at steakhouses in the U.S. and Canada in the past.
I polished off the prime rib slab that I had and ate a few bites of the garlic mashed potatoes. Everything was outstanding and I was more than stuffed when I threw in the napkin. Our server tried to entice us with dessert, but I was close to blowing up from all the food I had. I will say that a scotch would have tasted pretty good at that moment, however.
Nevertheless, our experience at Vargas Steakhouse & Sushi was nothing but exceptional. The service was top-notch, the atmosphere was classy with no hint of pretension, and the prime rib I had was one of the best cuts I've ever had. For our first "official" meal with my new company, it was certainly memorable. Vargas Steakhouse & Sushi is on par with, and - in some instances outperforms - many of the great steakhouses of the Midwest. Montreal has so many great restaurants and Vargas is one of the best.
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