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| - PDC, you get my 100th review.
When it came to be that my friend and I were going to be spending a couple nights in Montreal on our way to Ontario, I knew one thing I had to do, and it was eat at one of the hallmarks of modern restaurants in the country, Au Pied de Cochon. After anxiously awaiting email confirmation on reservations and receiving such, we were all set.
Located on the quaint Duluth Ave, PDC is almost easy to miss, without a lot of obvious signage, but we knew the street number that we were looking for. It was a lovely Sunday evening and the restaurant was mostly full, but we were seen to and seated immediately. For such a famous place, it isn't large and is somewhat narrow, although the open kitchen is a treat. It was interesting to listen to the hustle and bustle of the French and English as dishes were fired and would have made a good show from the bar in front of it, I'm sure.
My buddy and I were on a mission for some great food and we went all out, with two apps and a main each. I went with the pork rinds, cured foie gras tart and just had to try the namesake dish, pied de cochon.
The pork rinds came served in a classic sundae glass and were incredibly light and airy with lots of crackle and pop with each bite. There was a mild pork flavour and they were salted just right and altogether had a clean taste with no hints of old fryer oil.
I also snagged one of my friend's cod fritters. Crisp on the outside with a doughy (in a good way) center, with just the right amount of fish flavour and a hit of spice that came at the finish.
The foie gras tart was a hearty size, with a flaky pastry filled with mashed potato and slices of rich, velvety smooth foie gras, with a balsamic drizzle.
Now after these two appetizers I had been of the mind that I was going to get a single pig's foot or hock on some potatoes. It's a modern restaurant and the servings aren't the sort of size that you get at your run-of-the-mill chain family joint. Quality over quantity and all that. It seems however that with the pied de cochon anyway, that the PDC kitchen shoots for both quality and quantity. When my large dinner plate arrived, it was literally covered with food. I was expecting a lot more white space on my plate, and after two apps and a couple beers, I knew that my stomach couldn't nearly handle what was before me. It took me a couple minutes of food shock before I even started to dig in, resigned to the fact that even my hefty appetite stood no chance and that I'd be taking some of this back to the hotel and leaving some pride behind in its place.
Two sizable pieces of foot or hock lie beneath a heaping sauce of caramelized onions, peppers and cream while an equally impressive mound of mashed potatoes was topped with a fritter. The sauce was obviously quite rich and full of flavour while the pig's feet themselves had a thick skin that was still quite crisp despite the plentiful sauce. Pig's feet and hocks are quite fatty and can have a somewhat off putting texture because of this, but there was a great dark pork meat flavour to help offset all the fat. The potatoes are wonderfully smooth and seasoned, however the onion and dijon croquette was a bit too potent for my tastes.
This meal put me into a serious food drunk state for a couple hours, but it was more than worth it and if you're in town, you have to give this culinary institution a visit.
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