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| - What does a chef, such as Gordon Ramsay, recipient of 14 Michelin stars, three for his flagship London restaurant alone, serves at his new venture in Montreal, a city renowned for its famous chefs and restaurants?
Chicken! BBQ chicken, to be precise!
Turns out chef Ramsay took over a space formerly occupied by a decades-old BBQ joint, the Laurier BBQ, and revamped the old building, giving it new life with a makeover complete with some very young, attentive, and attractive staff, as well as, modern fixtures and equipment.
Yet, he kept the old menu with rotisserie chicken as the primary focus. You can also order other comfort-food items such as burgers, grill-cheese sandwich, etc.,with the most expensive items being a whole chicken for $32 and a 16-oz ribeye for $28. Thats a steal, in my mind.
I managed to make a reservation a couple of weeks ago from Calgary. They'll only take reservations for groups of six or more. Everyone else will just have to wait.
When we arrived this evening, there were already a dozen or more people waiting for tables. We were sat right away with water offered from milk bottles that had cucumber slices in them. I couldn't taste the cucumber but it was a nice touch anyways. Also at each table was a jar of dill pickles which you help yourself to while you wait for your food. Some complimentry home-made potato chips also arrived in a wax-paper cone. They were all good.
We had half chicken (double legs), BBQ back ribs, and fish and chips. The chicken was incredibly tender and moist without being greasy at all. That's a very tough thing to do. It also came with the best fries that I've had yet on this trip. The coleslaw was pleasant. It was fresh and crunchy and not tart or sour at all. At first glance, the greyish gravy looked thin and tasteless but it turned out to be packed with flavour. It was more a jus than the spicy thick gravy you'd usually find at other BBQ joints. The ribs were succulent but it only came with the home-made chips. We ordered a side of mac and cheese but it was only ok. The fish was nicely battered and came with those great fries.
For dessert, we had a tart tatin, grilled pineapple rings with ice-cream, and maple creme brulee. The desserts were all good with the brulee being the favorite among the table.
Five mains, one side, three desserts, three beers, one pop, three coffees all for $155.00 before tip! That's for a Gordon Ramsay restaurant!
Gordon Ramsay is one smart cookie. He has enough cache and street cred to do anything he wants. He's talented enough to be able to serve anything he wants. Yet he's shrewed enough to know that what people really want from the Laurier is BBQ chicken, as they have for decades.
So rather than re-invent the wheel, he instead improves it by taking a dated business thats probably seen better days and turning it into a redux version thats modern and approachable at the same time. I mean they have a kids menu, offer take-out, and they even deliver.
Now if I can just figure out how to get them to deliver to Calgary........
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