During my recent trip back to Montreal, my French colleague was asking me what I wanted to do for dinner one evening. I told him that I could be up for about anything. Like most European people that I know when they come to North America the siren call of a good steak is an urge that can't be denied. He mentioned that he saw a steak house just down the street from our hotel, about halfway back from the venue where our trade show was going on. I mentioned that it had been a while since I'd had a good steak in a restaurant, so after we finished for the day we hoofed it on over to Le Steak Frites St-Paul.
George Despatie was a somewhat famous restauranteur in Montreal, not only known for running his Steak Frites St-Paul steakhouses, and his Giorgio Ristorante Italian restaurants, but he was also the father of the most celebrated aquatic diver in Canadian sports history, Alexandre Despatie. The young Despatie was a two-time Olympics silver medal winner in 3 meter springboard diving, and he was also a three-time winner in springboard diving in the World Aquatics (formerly FINA) championships. He also won numerous championships and place medals in the Pan American Games and the Commonwealth Games.
George Despatie opened his first Le Steak Frites St-Paul on St-Paul Street in Old Montreal in 1986. The first Giorgio Ristorante opened in 1989. The restaurants were unique in that they had a "Bring-your-own-wine" (or beer) concept that proved to be very popular. By 1995, there were 30 Giorgio Ristorante's either owned by Despatie or franchised out. At the same time there were about a half dozen Steak Frites St-Paul restaurants in the Montreal area that were owned by Despatie and franchisees.
By 2005, a decline in the restaurant business had forced a number of Giorgio franchisees to go out of business. The Steak Frites St-Paul chain, however, was still doing very well with up to 10 locations, many owned by franchisees. Despatie reworked the franchise structure for the Giorgio Ristorante chain which was down to just 7 locations.
Despatie ended up keeping the Giorgio restaurants on life-support while Steak Frites St-Paul was still doing very well. He ended up changing some of the Giorgio locations to beer-centric restaurants or small-plate restaurants. By 2015, he saw the handwriting on the wall and he started to sell off some of the properties in anticipation of retiring.
In 2016, the MTY Food Group began negotiations with Despatie to purchase the 6 Giorgio and 9 Steak Frites St-Paul locations. MTY owned a plethora of restaurant chains including Papa Murphy's, Village Inn and Famous Dave's in the U.S., and Turtle Jack's, Big Smoke Burger, and Baton Rouge Grillhouse & Bar in Canada. In 2017, MTY purchased both Giorgio and Steak Frites St-Paul for less than $500,000 Canadian (about $350,000 U.S.) in what could be viewed as a fire sale for the slowly declining chain restaurants. Today, MTY owns nearly 60 chain restaurants in Canada and 36 in the United States.
Now, when I first came to Montreal in 2002, the first meal I had during my interview process with my old company was at a place called Steak Frites in the Montreal suburb of Anjou. Our company would put up guests at a hotel across the freeway from the restaurant which was situated in a strip mall. Steak Frites sort of became a de facto company restaurant for us. That is, until someone came in and bought the strip mall and tore the building down putting Steak Frites out of business.
However, that Steak Frites was probably not related to the Steak Frites St-Paul. First of all, they had wine at the establishment with the wine list written on chalk boards hung on the wall. And Steak Frites had their menu written out in chalk on another chalk board on another wall (in French, of course), while Le Steak Frites St-Paul is more of an upscale steakhouse with proper hand-held menus. But seeing the Steak Frites St-Paul name on the front of the building when we walked up brought back many good memories of the original Steak Frites restaurant I went to years ago.
Today, there are just 3 Le Steak Frites St-Paul locations - one in Terrebonne on the northeast side of the city, one in Laval just north of Montreal, and the downtown location we went to on Rue St-Antoine Ouest (W. St-Antoine St.) in downtown Montreal. (see map)
We got into Le Steak Frites St-Paul a little after 6 p.m. It was a 10 minute walk from the Hotel Bonaventure where we had finished setting up for a trade show earlier in the day. The steak house not a large place, but very nice in its decor. There was an upstairs eating area that was closed off that evening that could be used for private parties or overflow dining. There wasn't that large of a crowd in the place, so there was no chance of them opening that room that evening. The only drawback with the restaurant is that they had metal chairs that were somewhat uncomfortable. I figured they did that on purpose to keep the tables turning over on a nightly basis so people wouldn't linger after their meals.
Our server was a young man by the name of Maxime who went simply by Max. It was then that I found out that Le Steak Frites St-Paul was an alcohol-free/B.Y.O.B establishment. Somewhat crestfallen that I couldn't get a beer to take the dust out of my mouth or a glass of wine with my meal, I figured that I could get by without an alcoholic beverage for just one meal.
Max had dropped off menus for us to look over. Steaks ruled the menu with a New York strip, two different sizes of beef tenderloin filets, a 14 ounce ribeye steak, and a flank steak available. They also had the traditional steak frites - a shoulder cut steak that isn't as tender as most of the traditional cuts, but is a good value and something that Quebec families cooked in place of the higher priced cuts a number of years ago.
In addition to steaks, Steak Frites had a number of seafood selections including scallops, a salmon filet and a sesame-encrusted tuna steak. A slow-roasted lamb shank and a grilled pork loin was also available on the menu. Many of the appetizers sounded very good including the fried calamari, the braised beef ravioli, the grilled octopus (I suggested that, but my colleague wasn't too keen on that), and the garlic escargot au gratin - garlic-infused snails topped with bread crumbs and cheese. They also had beef, salmon and tuna tartare in 3 ounce and 6 ounce sizes.
While I couldn't get my friend to jump on any of the appetizers because he wanted a steak and wanted one bad, we both started out with a Caesar salad. It was a basic Caesar salad, but instead of bacon bits scattered on the salad, they put a single crispy strip of bacon across the top. The greens were crisp and fresh with a tangy Caesar dressing with croutons finishing out the salad. For good measure, a lemon wedge was provided to give the Caesar dressing a bit of a citrusy bite.
For our steaks that evening, we both got the 10 ounce filet. While my colleague got his medium-rare, I got mine rare. I remarked that most French people I've been with get their steaks rare. He said, "I'm not like most French people." The steak sat on a bed of green beans and a large amount of fries came in a miniature colander on the side. I had Max bring me out a side of the au poivre creamy peppercorn sauce, but I was sort of taken aback when he said they didn't have horseradish - either fresh or creamy. But the au poivre sauce was a fine dipping sauce for my steak.
The steak was tender, juicy, flavorful and very good. I was impressed with the cut of meat - they use Canadian Prime beef, the highest grade of the 13 different levels of Canadian graded beef. And the chef cooked the steak a perfect rare for me - warm on the outside, cool in the middle.
The fries were the traditional Belgian fries served with both ketchup and mayonnaise. My former Canadian colleagues got me hooked on fries with mayo a number of years ago and I always forget to ask for mayo on the side with my fries when I have them in the States. But mayo is regularly brought out with fries in Canada.
And these fries were scrumptious. Crispy and light, they were a great complement to the steak. But I couldn't eat all my fries, so my colleague asked if he could have some of mine. I was amazed that he had finished his steak and nearly all of his fries. For medium-sized French guy, he can really pack away the food. I remarked that I saw poutine on the side menu and wondered why he didn't go for that. "I thought about it, believe me," he replied. I had about half of what I had served to me left when he grabbed a handful and put them on his plate.
We were both impressed with our meal at Le Steak Frites St-Paul. Our filet steaks were excellent and the Belgian fries that came with them were also superb. The appetizers also sounded scrumptious, but I couldn't get my colleague to partake in any of them with me. That wasn't a deal breaker, however, nor was the fact that Steak Frites was alcohol-free and I couldn't enjoy a glass of a hearty red wine with my steak. Nonetheless, I was able to enjoy the meal without imbibing for just one evening. Other than the chairs being uncomfortable, it was a nice place to have a meal. And Max's service was top-notch. If I go back to a Le Steak Frites St-Paul location on upcoming trips to Montreal, I'll be sure to pick up a bottle of wine to go with the meal.
Comments