Barroco - Cozy in Old Montreal

When my two friends and I arrived in Montreal on Friday, it was starting to get late so we did a little recon on restaurants while we settled in and got our acts together.  We didn't want to have to travel too far away from the hotel, so after a little Urbanspoon neighborhood searching, A stumbled upon Barroco, which had glowing reviews and was about a 10 minute walk - perfect!

Outside Barroco

After navigating the streets of Old Montreal we ended up in front of a perfect small stone building that looked like it should in an old English village.  Upon entering we were greeted by the friendly host who said we were welcome to grab a drink at the bar while a table cleared up for our group.

Bar Set Up

After grabbing three chairs at the bar and looking around we knew we were in good hands.  Between the plethora of ingredients available for drinks and watching the well-trained bartender (who was more like a magician!), we knew these were going to be some good drinks!  Both A and M went with a vanilla flavored martini with a hollowed lime with a pool of 151 lit on fire.  To say this was one of the most impressive presentations is an understatement.  When a drink like this actually tastes good too, even better!

Vanilla Flavored Cocktails

My drink, though not as impressive of a presentation, was great - the brown liquor flavors worked!  My apologies for not knowing the names of either of these drinks, but needless to say, the entire menu is delicious and you would be safe ordering just about anything.  The bartender was a real craftsmen.

Lipstick Brown Liquor Drink

He is literally pouring water thru the fire to heat it!

While hanging out at the bar, we could not help but feel totally at home in the stone walled restaurant with the large beamed ceiling.  There were so many decorative features throughout the restaurant that made you feel like you were in a country house of some rich relative (if you are lucky enough to have one of those!).

I could live here!

After enjoying our drinks we moved over to a large table tucked nicely in the corner and ordered a nice bottle of red wine to enjoy with our dinner.  I am a red drinker and while there was an extensive wine list, I'm not going to lie: we went more on price (and what they had in stock) than anything else.  After going through a couple of choices with our server we ended up with a nice French red - Domaine Ferrer Ribiere.  While a bit tangy to begin with, once it was allowed to breath it got a lot smoother.

Domaine Ferrer Ribiere

Once the wine was poured, our server brought over some nice bread and herbed butter.  While the butter was chilled the bread plates were warmed so that the butter nicely melted once you placed it on the warmed plate.  Who knows if it was supposed to melt or not, but either way it worked pretty well!

Bread

Melting butter!

We decided to go straight to entrees - it was about 10:15 at this point and I was hungry!  M went with the Mediterranean Sea Bream stuffed with ricotta, truffle, arugula and parmesan lobster bordelaise.  Sea bream is a mild white fish that is very common in Europe.  The flavors in this dish were great, however, not much ricotta.  My guess is too much would have over powered the rest of the dish.

Mediterranean Sea Bream

Having read so many rave reviews of the Beef Short Ribs, Abby and I could not resist.  Lucky for us, they had the dish for 2 so we decided to share.  However, when a dish that could have served a family of four arrived at our table, we probably could have split the serving for 1!  In addition to our dishes we decided to split the wild mushrooms and the mashed potatoes with roasted garlic and olive oil.

Meal For many more than 3!

Needles to say we had plenty of food for the three of us.  I wish I was hungrier because the short ribs were delicious - fall-off-the-bone tender.  The meat was braised in a veal stock and served with pancetta, a port wine reduction and thyme.  This dish was the definition of comfort food - the short ribs really were the perfect dish for this cozy restaurant.

Short Ribs

After finally finishing our food and drink and closing up the restaurant, we were brought over a small chest containing our check for the evening.  It really was a fun way to receive it!

Check Please!

Barroco was the perfect way to begin our weekend in Montreal - warm and cozy with good food and drink.  If you are heading to Montreal I would highly recommend heading to Barroco for a meal.  

Scenes from Old Montreal!

Its hard to believe, but in less than two weeks I will be a married lady.  I can't believe it was only about 9 months ago that I got engaged!  To say time has flown by is an understatement.  Around Thanksgiving I got an email from my friends A and M saying they were going to steal me away for a weekend in December for a girls trip to locations unknown.  I was told certain things that I would have to pack for a complete weekend and that was it.  So, on the Friday of that weekend I was picked up and we were off, still none the wiser of the destination.  I did have a strategy of guessing based on what roads we followed.  When we finally turned on 89N I assumed we were going to Burlington, Vermont because other than that, there was not too much going on that way and any further north required a passport!  Turns out I have a sneaky fiance and friends, they had actually gotten my passport from Nick earlier that week, so we were off to Montreal!

Notre-Dame Basilica

After 5 short hours of chatting the car ride away, we arrived in Montreal, pulled up to the Westin and quickly checked into our room and got settled only to then get ready to head out in search of food.  The Westin is located right on the fringes of beautiful  Old Montreal.  Having only been to Montreal once before for less than 24 hours, I really did not have a good feel for the city, so I was excited to get out and explore.  The nighttime views got me excited to see the city.

When we awoke the next morning we hoped to and headed out to see what Old Montreal had in store for us.  Turns out it's amazingly beautiful!  I felt like I was in the middle of a European city - between the architecture and the foreign languages everywhere Montreal made me feel like I was much further from home than 5 hours.  The main focal point of Old Montreal is the Notre-Dame Basilica and its surrounding square.

Everything about the area was just so striking and other-worldly.

Impressive Lampposts outside Notre-Dame

Entrance 

After fully enjoying the grandeur of the Basilica we set off down toward the river to explore the small streets lined with loads of shops - perfect for window shopping and starting some Christmas buying.  Each street was lined with stone houses that seemed out of a storybook.

Eventually we turned out onto City Hall Square, which was completely decorated for the holiday.

The copper lined roof top of Montreal's City Hall was impressive!  The building was so intricate in every way.  They seriously do not make buildings like this any more.  The detail and lines in all the windows and corners must have taken a considerable amount of time to set up.

Copper Lined Roof of City Hall

Really, it was hard to stop taking photos in Old Montreal as around every corner really was something new to see and photograph.

I was obsessed with the copper!

I will have a few more posts about some delicious food we enjoyed during our stay.  Old Montreal has so much to see and enjoy.  Really though, I was amazed at how far away Montreal felt even though it was a quick 5 hour drive north.  It seemed like I had been whisked away to a European village instead of Canada.

Portobello - Italian in Jupiter Florida

As a final entry on my trip to West Palm Beach back in September (!), on Saturday night of the visit, we headed up to Jupiter to have dinner with some of Nick's mother's friends at Portobello.  While we had reservations for our group of five, we really did not need them as it was still the off season during our visit.  It was amazing to see how many places were closed for the season, but after dealing with the heat and humidity for a long weekend, I am not surprised - it's HOT!

Upon sitting down, we ordered some wine for the table to share.  I really enjoyed this Malbec and would definitely consider getting it again.  In general, I feel like you get a nicer wine for less money with a Malbec

Dinner Wine

To go with our basket of bread at dinner we had some nicely roasted garlic cloves sitting in olive oil - is there anything better to put on bread than this?!  Good thing we were all friends here though, because I had more than my fair share of garlic.

Roasted Garlic

Since we were a bigger group we decided to order a couple of appetizers to share.  First up was the calamari Luciano, which had sauteed baby calamari with capers, black olives, freshly chopped tomatoes, garlic, oil and white wine.  This calamari dish was a nice change from the more popular fried variety.

Calamari Luciano

For the second appetizer we had a sauteed broccoli rabe with sweet and hot sausage.  This is not a dish that I have seen before, but loved the combination.  Broccoli rabe is another ingredient that isn't used all that often makes the dish a bit more special.  The rabe was simply cooked with garlic and olive oil.

Rabe

We also ordered a sliced eggplant dish where the eggplant had been lightly battered and fired and stuffed with three cheeses and baked in a marinara sauce.  While it was a little smothered in sauce for my taste, the eggplant was well cooked and tasty.

Rolatini di Melanzane Ripieno

While the menu is expansive at Portobello, they also had a number of specials that included lots of fresh fish. Seeing as there is a dive shop right next store, much of their fish is literally off the boat.  Unfortunately, this first dish was one of those specials and I cannot remember the fish type!  It was delicious and something really different (part of the reason why I can't remember!)






I ordered the Grouper special.  To me there is nothing better than fresh Grouper, even though they have little puppy faces when you see them underwater.  While the sauce looked heavy, it really was not at all - it just added nice flavor to the fish.

Grouper Special

They had a couple of lobster specials, and for those living in Florida lobster is a treat!  Here they cooked and cut up a 2 pound lobster and tossed it with some linguine.  We asked for it to be spicy, however it was almost too spicy. I unfortunately didn't snap a photo of the lobster, but Nick ordered the shrimp version of the same dish.

Lobster

The final entree was soft shell crab.  This is something I have always been too nervous to order because I'm never sure if you REALLY eat the shell!  So, I got to watch someone else eat the shell and see that it was still tasty, and when they were willing to offer some up I just HAD to taste it.  I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

Soft Shell Crab

We were stuffed from dinner, but I was definitely interested in a cappuccino, and when it arrived I was excited I ordered it.  Look at all the different layers in the glass and the fun rock candy garnish (which I just ate and did not use in the coffee).

Cappuccino

We also decided to split (i.e. just taste) the homemade zabaglione and berries, which is a light Italian custard.  This dessert was really fluffy and had such a great consistency.  This dessert is something I really would like to try making at home.

Zabaglione

Overall the meal at Portobello was yummy, their menu is extensive (almost too many choices) with wonderful fish specials.  Florida fresh fish is so delicious!

Michelle Bertstein's!

As it starts to get cooler here in Boston, it is hard to believe I was complaining about the super hot and humid weather in Florida a month ago!  On our last day in Florida, before we needed to be at the airport, Nick's mother suggested getting brunch at Michelle Bernstein's restaurant at the Omphoy.  Chef Michelle Bernstein  is one of the guest judges on Top Chef that the contestants always fawn over so I could not wait. Although, I must admit it took seeing a picture of her before I remembered who she was.  They do bring in a lot of talent on that show!

The View!

The other reason that this was a good pick is because of the location.  The Omphoy is a sleek and modern boutique hotel on Palm Beach island, and the restaurant has a patio that is right on the beach looking out directly on the water.  Unfortunately, when we arrived it was a downpour, so we opted to sit inside in the terrace room, but we still had incredible views.  There was a great contrast between the dark wooden tables, chairs and floors and the beautiful blue cushions.

Upon sitting down we were given a basket of crispy bread thins and long and soft pretzel sticks.  For spreads, we were given some butter as well as a fish salad spread.  These pretzel sticks were incredible, such a perfect start!

Bread Basket

The brunch menu has tons of delicious looking bites to order.  Lucky for us they offered an appetizer, entree, and side or dessert plus a drink for an extremely reasonable price so obviously we HAD to do that. To begin, Nick and his mom each ordered a bloody Mary, which were hot and spicy just the way Nick likes it.

Bloody Mary

I went for the more traditional mimosa - how could I go wrong!

Mimosa

After a few sips of our drinks the food started coming and basically did not stop!  First to arrive were the deviled eggs.  Each bite was delicious, and the garnish of crispy prosciutto had so much flavor and texture.  The combination was perfect and the color of the prosciutto offered a lovely contrast to the egg.

Deviled Eggs

Nick went with the ceviche, which was fresh and full of citrus that really awakened the mouth.  To boot, this was garnished with some popcorn that I thought would be totally weird.  Instead it added a fun texture and a bit of whimsy to the dish!

Ceviche!

Nick's Mom ordered the best option (in my humble opinion), the crispy artichokes.  Somehow these were crispy and soft all at the same time.  I loved the flavor of the artichoke in this.  All in all, there could replace french fries!  I totally stole most of these.  While not my thing, the aioli accompanying the dish provided some nice cool flavor to the hot fried food.

Fried Artichokes

For the main meals we had a great combinations of flavors.  First to arrive was the chicken and waffles.  The little honey jar and Tabasco bottle completed the look of the plate - too cute!  This was just a delicious meal with all the comfort foods on one plate.

Chicken and Waffles

Nick got the Croque Madame - a grilled ham and cheese with a fried egg on top.  However, a Croque Madame done well is so satisfying and flavorful, and this one knocked it out of the park.  I loved the berry troughs that accompanied the first two orders.  Is there anything better than blackberries and strawberries?

Croque Madame

Since I saw them on the menu I had to order the biscuits and gravy.  These were light and fluffy - perfect to pull apart and dip in the gravy or any other yumminess left by some of the delicious food.

Biscuits and Gravy

For my actual meal I got the poached eggs, with some hash browns and a lovely topping of guacamole.  This was just a great tasting breakfast dish.  I loved the guac and tried to make it last for every bite (it almost worked!).  The poached eggs were beautifully cooked and had just enough soft yolk that when you broke it open it flowed over the potatoes, adding some delicious flavor.

Poached Eggs

For desserts, we first ordered a key lime pie - one of Nick's favorite desserts!  The tartness of the lime was fresh and perfect.  The consistency of the pie in contrast with the crunchy crust was spot on.  In the plate there was a little depression that the group of strawberries sat in that made the perfect addition to the presentation.

Key Lime Pie

Finally, we got a trio of mini red velvet cupcakes that were soft and the perfect cap to the meal.  Not too sweet, just enough to leave you wanting more.  The small depression on this plate was filled with raspberries,  YUM!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Overall this was a great way to wrap up our lovely weekend in Palm Beach.  The pacing of the meal was a bit slow, but really we were comfortable and had plenty of time.  Given the amount of food it was good to have some time between the courses!

If you are headed to Palm Beach I would highly recommend a trip to the Omphoy for a delicious brunch right on the beach.