Au Pied de Cochon takes the cake

I’ve eaten at Au Pied de Cochon, Anthony Bourdain’s favourite Cana­dian restau­rant, a few times over the past few years.

But my recent meal at this famous Mon­treal eatery owned by “wild chef” Mar­tin Picard and known for its love of pork, affin­ity for foie gras and sub­limely downhome-yet-modern  take on Que­bec fare was by far the best yet.

Only able to get a table for two at the bar at 9:30 pm on Good Fri­day, my boyfriend Ross and I arrived on time to find the place hum­ming, buzzing, alive and extremely well.

We had a per­fect view of the flushed-faced young kitchen crew wield­ing pots, pans and whisks in the steamy open kitchen in front of us as they dished up one deli­cious dish after the other. Picard was not there and, we were told, is usu­ally at his new place called Sugar Shack these days located on the out­skirts of Montreal.

We tried not to wolf  down all of the lus­cious home­made sour­dough bread cut in hearty slices which we smeared with lus­cious but­ter. We also restrained our­selves when  order­ing and decided to share an appe­tizer and entree:  the PDC Crsipy salad fol­lowed by the  PDC’s Melt­ing Pot — two excel­lent choices, it turned out.

The salad was let­tuce and wilted toma­toes topped with var­i­ous, mostly crispy bits of pork includ­ing belly, skin and ten­don, all doused in a warm, tangy bal­samic vinai­grette mixed with sauce from the meat. Wow — talk about the wow factor!

Order­ing any­thing with the restaurant’s name on it is prob­a­bly a good idea as the PDC’s Melt­ing Pot was another win­ner. The house mashed pota­toes inun­dated with melted cheese curds came in a metal pan topped with blood sausage, pieces of pork and other home­made sausage chunks.  Sensational.

With one beer, this fill­ing repast came to less than $40 before tip. More impor­tant, sit­ting at that bar, we expe­ri­enced restau­rant din­ing at its excit­ing and deli­cious best. Au Pied de Cochon is the most joy­ous place to break bread I’ve found in all my travels.