this little neighbourhood joint is known for their burgers. it attracts students, suit-clad businessmen, families, and everybody in between. it is not uncommon to see a lineup in the evening because their burgers (even the veggie ones) are supposedly the best. what do i think? i had a good burger, but it wasn’t the best. burgers are so easy to make at home that it is hard to find a restaurant that serves the best in town.
at a place reputed for their burgers, i obviously ordered one. in my opinion, a burger is not good enough without the cheese, so i opted for the cheeseburger. hold the mayo and mushrooms, please! normally, your cheeseburger will include the aforementioned toppings along with lettuce, tomato, pickle, onions, and dijon. when the behemoth first started to make its way to my table, i was all excited. once it was placed in front of me, i wondered: where’s the beef? the big bun was greatly deceiving as the beef patty was not nearly as large. but upon seeing that the chef had rejected the unnaturally orange slices of processed cheese and opted for grated mozzarella instead, i thought to myself that this was not a lost cause after all. that is until i took a bite… the meat was cooked to medium-well-done perfection, but did not taste seasoned; i can make more flavourful burgers at home. i could barely taste the cheese. maybe a sharper cheese, such as cheddar, could have injected some flavour into this burger. the dijon was extremely mild — it might as well have dijonnaise. i said hold the mayo, didn’t i? the bun was nice and fresh, but did not hold for long. it started falling apart as i reached the half-way mark. it made for a messy meal. adding to the dirty hands experience was the fact that they put their tomato on the bottom. i find that this makes it harder to keep the slippery vegetable in place as i hold my burger with only thumbs on the bottom. this is also when i discovered that when the tomato starts to shift, so do the rest of the components! it wasn’t the worst burger i’ve ever had, but it certainly wasn’t the best. i would categorise it as mid-range because it is something i could have easily made at home.
i got a small order of fries to go with my cheeseburger. these were good. not too oily, not too bland. they had that crispy exterior (with skin) and soft interior that i like so much. i also tasted their poutine. i am, after all, in search of the world’s best poutine. on top of the good fries, the sauce was great. it wasn’t too overpowering nor overly salty. it was a nice, light-coloured sauce that wasn’t too thick nor too thin. that’s right, i use the word sauce and not gravy. this is québec! we say sauce when speaking of poutine. or is that just me? so far so good, right? well it ends there. the poutine was brought down by the cheese. they used the same grated mozzarella as in the burger. a true poutine must have squeaky cheese curds.
be advised that there is a charge for shared food. so make sure that nobody’s looking when you gobble down part of your dining companion’s poutine!
la paryse
302, rue ontario est
montréal, québec
H2X 1H6
T: 514.842.2040
payment: cash, debit, credit cards
hours:
tues to fri 11am – 11pm
sat 11:30am – 10:30pm
sun 11:30am – 10pm