The concept for Dishcrawl is similar to university days' pub crawls and apartment crawls (good times!). There is a Dishcrawl ambassador who picks 4 restaurants and a large group (I think we were close to 25) crawl through the restaurants trying out different foods - all for $60. Only the first restaurant where we meet is revealed and the rest are a surprise.
Chez L'Épicier
311 St Paul Est
Montréal, Québec
website
Our gathering place was Chez L'Épicier. Elle and E were excited about our first stop as it has a good reputation for refined French food. The restaurant served a trio of appetizers: a play on grilled cheese, a beef tartare slider and a shot of Jerusalem artichoke soup, which was our favourite. Since E does not eat meat, she had an intriguing savoury macaron, flavoured with olive and goat cheese. We were all intrigued and jealous!
*****
Brasero Hardi
139 St Paul Ouest
Montréal, Québec
website
Making our way west on St Paul, our next stop on the crawl was Brasero Hardi. A new restaurant that opened last September, it was one of our favourite stops, and not just because drinks were waiting for us at the tables. The drink, named "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", consisted of Midori melon liqueur, green tea, lime, cardamom and weirdly seaweed.
Brasero Hardi served a main of braised short ribs on mashed potatoes dotted with bacon and smoked salmon. The short ribs that were cooked for 6 hours completely stole the show; they were melt in your mouth tender and the potatoes were just as good. I'm not one to order short ribs at a restaurant as I usually go for seafood, but I would definitely order this dish again.
Our friend E didn't do so bad herself. I didn't take a picture but she had gnocchi with a truffle sauce. The truffle scent was so strong and fragrant, it left us omnivores wondering what we were missing. I think Brasero Hardi is worth another visit, especially after hearing about the terrasse they have in the summer.
*****
Dolcetto
151 St Paul Ouest
Montréal, Québec
website
While I worried after our first stop that we wouldn't have enough food, after our second stop I was worried I'd be too full. Dolcetto, which the owner described as serving Italian style tapas, had a marine/Breton vibe. We were served a trio of pizzette: Margherita with burrata, pear and Gorgonzola and their best seller fig and foie gras. I loved the burrata but thought there was too much Gorgonzola and it took over the pizzette. I surprisingly liked the foie gras against the sweet figs, as I'm not the biggest fan of foie gras.
*****
Santos
151 St Paul Ouest
Montréal, Québec
website
Santos also specializes in tapas and Spanish food. I wasn't feeling the vibe at Santos with its strong red colour, its loud music and large TV's. It seemed to not know if it was a restaurant, a club or a sports bar.
We were first served salmon tartare with a slice of avocado on top of a toast that we all enjoyed. When the paella came out, we were a bit overwhelmed as we were pretty full. I'm not a big paella person, so it was ok to me. We were all very excited to end our night on a sweet with a churros, although I was hoping it was going to be hot instead of cold. It was still good nonetheless.
We all had a great time at our first Dishcrawl. The ambassador Jenny King was very friendly and picked some good restaurants. It's nice to not only discover new restaurants, but discover them all in one night. While $60 is not cheap, I think it was a good price, considering the amount of food, and that it included taxes and tip. I would definitely sign up again, maybe once it gets warmer.
For better pictures, check out Dischcrawl's blog post on the event.
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