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| - I'm surprised, after all the good times we've had together, that I'd never reviewed Bifteck, The People's Bar.
Bifteck is the prototypical St-Laurent bar. It's nobody's first choice, but it's in just about everyone's top 5. Cheap enough, not obscenely cheap; free popcorn saltier than Satan's nads; bartenders who are just-friendly-enough. Of all the bars in Montreal, Bifteck is my favorite one to be stuck in at closing time, and the most agreeable venue when you're sick of that party/club/other bar but you don't want the night to be over. The downstairs isn't much to write home about; the place earns its keep upstairs, which is much quieter.
It's also a very sociable bar, in the classic sense. Bifteck isn't like Tokyo, where you dance your arse off and try to get laid with as little actual conversation as possible. Nor is it Grumpy's or Blackjack, which is best enjoyed solo in a dark corner with enough whiskey to stun a horse. This is a bar where you go out with a few friends, and sit next to other people who have also gone out with a few friends, and you make conversation, and now their friends are your friends, at least fleetingly. Something like that has happened just about every time I've gone to Bifteck.
According to legend, it's where the founders of VICE first got together, ca. 1994. Of COURSE it was, Jesus Christ. I wouldn't trust any other watering hole to an important business meeting, except maybe BDP at off-peak hours.
Plus, they have Boreale IPA on tap. Mmmmm.
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