Old Montreal and the 4 Hour Dinner

After we left the shopping district on St. Catherine's Street in Montreal and the parking meters from hell, "Pierre" the voice from the GPS system guided us through a couple of underground tunnels and we found ourselves in Old Montreal. As soon as the car hit the cobblestones I knew we were someplace special. After parking the car in a lot with a very ornery parking attendant, across from the Marche Bonsecours Building in the picture below (I don't know what this building is but it sure was pretty.), we started to walk down the cobblestone street. It was so quaint and so French looking. Restaurants, lots of art shops, out door cafes and artists were set up on the sidewalks everywhere and I felt like I was in Europe.

Our dinner reservations were for 6:00pm at the "Oldest Inn in Montreal". That is all I know. I lost the brochure that I was going to reference for my blog post today. I am so ashamed. What kind of blogger am I? (If I had to guess and with a little help from Google....I think we were at the Aberge Saint Gabriel but don't hold me to that.) Anyway, we arrived at the Inn's restaurant and the door is locked. We had to ring a door bell but someone came to let us in and as it turned out, he ended up being our waiter, our bartender and our somalier. He was young, and very polite and had a cute french accent. Cocktails were ordered right away. The building we were in was incredibly quaint and old. Very old in fact. I think it was built in the 1600's but since I can't find my brochure you'll have to take my word for it.



After the cocktails they brought us out a little something that had a wedge of chicken liver pate on it. Pretty to look at but that was not going in my mouth! (I am not a very good Foodie.) Everyone else said it was tasty. PRC (Public Relations Consultant) had a calamari appetizer that looked like a flower to me and DME (Digital Marketing Expert) had a plate of yellow beets with goat cheese. I thought beets only came in Scarlet red? FGT (First Grade Teacher) and I each had a salad. Our Doorman/Waiter/Bartender/Somalier recommended a bottle of wine for us and we ordered our dinner. We were in our own private dinning room with stone walls and a fireplace with no fire in it because, well it's July. Did I say this place was old yet?


My memory might be fuzzy because of all the wine we were drinking and all the laughing we were doing but I think I had a filet mignon with the most wonderful stuffed portabello mushroom and asparagus. FGT and PRC had the same and DME had a grilled smoked salmon. All delicious. More laughing and more wine and the hours were passing. Time for dessert. FGT insisted we try Sugar Pie which is unique to Quebec and so we did; along with a Creme Brulee and a Chocolate Lava Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream. The Sugar Pie reminded us all of a Pecan Pie without the Pecans. It was very good. With each dessert we would each take a bite and pass the plate to next person so we got to enjoy a taste or two or three of all of them. Coffee? Oh I couldn't! Well maybe just one cup. Decaf s'il vous plait.



Four hours and over $400 dollars later it was time to call it a night. It was truly an experience. Au Revoir Oldest Inn in Montreal. Our Designated Driver and "Pierre" somehow got us out of the city and it was not the way we came in but that was okay. We were home some two hours later. A perfectly jammed packed, Poutine and Sugar Pie kind of day.