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| - 4.5: I'd rate this just a hair under sister restaurant Liverpool House (which is much easier to get into). As mentioned in my review of that other restaurant, we had back-to-back meals at both restaurants on a cold and snowy April (!) evening. Our excellent meal began with a disappointment when I ran my eyes across the expansive chalkboard menu: "where's the foie"? At Liverpool the night before there were several options, but I'd "saved" myself to really go wild at J.B., and it seemed I was going to be disappointed. Thankfully there was an eclair appetizer ($21 - top right of my picture) that was perhaps my "best bite of Montreal" - just insanely rich and delicious, and something I'd never dream of not sharing (need at least one other person to share with).
More appetizers: Our beef tartare was so good the night before that we went with that again here, and again it was fantastic, here served on toast. The croquettes (which seem to always be available, with the protein changing nightly) were cod on this night, and very enjoyable with the bbq, mustard and tartare sauces (wish I'd tried the rabbit ones at Liverpool House). There was also a green Pappardelle pasta with ragu ($16: middle left) that was very tasty, but more of a side dish than an app.
As we had done the night before, the focus was on the creative apps, with 2 main courses to share. The first was the "Pojarski de boeuf" ($30: middle right) which was a giant meatball served with more delicious pappardelle. We also had the "tranche d'epaule d'agneau Boulangere" ($35, bottom left) which was an amazing braised lamb shoulder. We shared these with 2 veg plates: the cauliflower gratin (delicious, but so cheesy as to negate calling it a "vegetable dish") and another dish of bitter greens that was left pretty untouched (like Liverpool House, the veg options were hit and miss, with one being great, and one disappointing, at each restaurant).
Our group of 4 was again full, but determined to have dessert. The multi-layer hazelnut cake and the paris brest chocolate concoction were both stupendous, but the sticky toffee from next door still edged them out.
Joe Beef was superior to Liverpool in the pacing of the meal: apps came one at a time to be fully enjoyed, not all at once (but this may have been due to our arrival at 6pm opening). But after our first dessert, service deteriorated when there was an achingly long pause until the second dessert, and an even longer one for the bill, both of which ended the experience on an avoidable low note.
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