A Tale of Two Steak-Frites
This is a bit of an "Upstairs, Downstairs", or upscale-downscale type of post. But the basic concept is a humble meal of steak-frites, a.k.a. steak and French fries, served two ways in two radically different establishments.
The first meal was at L'entrecote St-Jean (2022 Peel, 514-281-6492). The menu choices would make Henry Ford proud, and vegetarians somewhat stressy: Cream of carrot soup or tomato juice, followed by a Boston lettuce and walnut salad with a pure-tasting olive oil vinaigrette, steak served in a chafing dish, garnished with an unctuous sauce, perfect pommes alumettes, and profiteroles. With the soup and dessert, the price is $23.90, and a mere $18.90 for just the salad and the main course. The decor is exactly like a Parisian bistro, says my friend Valerie, who is a proud Parisienne, and the wine selection is reasonably priced.
On the lower end of the scale, I'd like to present Green Spot (3041 Notre Dame, 514-931-6743). The choices are abundant, ranging from an outstanding club sandwich to goopy pizza and an authentic smoked meat platter. But we are comparing two semi-identical items, so the main event will be the Hamburger Steak. It comes with soup or tomato juice, a mountain of superlatively meaty fries, brown gravy, root veggies, and for dessert, your choice of Jello, pudding and occasionally cake, if you go there on the weekend and they haven't run out. The price is a modest $6.25. There is no wine list, and who's gonna rave over a Diet Coke from the fountain? (Okay, they give free refills..) The sauce is best augmented with lycopenes in the form of ketchup. They're open long after the bars have closed, and if you get there before noon, the breakfasts are da bomb.
L'entrecote St-Jean is where you should go if you're convinced that Montreal is the Paris of North America, or if you can't swing a trip to Paris because you maxed out the plastic on snow tires. The elegance of the service, the high quality of the ingredients and the evocative atmosphere would be treat enough. But the steak's sauce is simply transcendent. It does not overpower the clean taste of the meat, but blends with the meat's juices. Every bite has a different intensity of flavour, from herbaceous to creamy to beefy.
Green Spot presents a radically different side of Montreal - in a neighbourhood that is in the midst of gentrification, you'll see the crowd split between gaggles of hipsters, multigenerational families and guys in uniforms with their first names embroidered on the pocket. Good, honest food for a fair price.
So, one of these things is not like the others, as Big Bird used to sing. But if you focus on the differences (hand-formed hamburger patty vs. bavette, profiteroles vs. butterscotch pudding), you'd be missing out on the Big Similarity: In any meal, the food takes second place to the memories. For my friend Valerie, L'entrecote St-Jean brought her back to her beloved home. For me, Green Spot is a time machine, transporting me to my teenage years when this decor wasn't considered retro, just outdated, and when my father used to order the Hamburger Steak.
Valerie's long since left Paris, and my father's also moved on to a better place. So we honour where we come from by raising a glass, or raising a fork. We hum along to Jacques Brel or Johnny Cash. And our tummies and hearts are full for a little while.
