I recently hit up Le Poke Bar on Crescent to try out the hottest food trend in United States that has finally arrived on the shores of Montreal; Poke (pronounced Puh-KAY… or Poké ici à Québec.) Poke is a fantastic dish of lightly marinated fish or seafood that’s native to Hawaii. I can paint you a picture of grabbing a container full of fresh poke from the closest beachside food store, copping a squat on a sandy beach along the turquoise shores of the Big Island, enjoying fresh line-caught big eye tuna while having the sweet dewy mist caress your face from the crashing waves. Unfortunately, our Montreal Poke scene isn’t as romantic. But if you concentrate hard enough and squint just right, the sounds of the street sweeper knocking down orange traffic cones and hold your breath as speeding cars splash puddles of random street juice onto your pants… it’s like you’re almost there.
Category:
Downtown
I’m making my way across the city eating at every barbecue joint in town. Why? Why not? I can never get enough of that tender meat nursed for hours laced with the most delicious smokey blue carcinogens. Barbecue is an art and an underrated one at that. Not to be confused with grilling – cooking over an open flame – basically what you make your dad do on father’s day because you’re un ungrateful child. True barbecue is also known as smoking or pit-smoking. This process infuses and tenderizes the meat you’re cooking with smoke that comes from word-fire heat. It’s a passion of mine and I get excited knowing that there are places around the city specializing in it. I hit up the recently reopened Le Fumoir Rubs Smokehouse on Prince Arthur street.
We’ve all done some things in our lives that we’re not proud of right? No, I don’t mean like that; but food related things. Like that time you volunteered for jello wrestling during Frosh week or when you got kicked out of that sushi joint for puking on the table after eating straight wasabi on a dare… yeah, me neither. I like to think that I’ve done some food related things that are questionable through out my life, but nothing I regret. One of these things is probably eating my weight in barbecue. Deliciously cuts of meat nursed over smouldering hot coals, succulent pork ribs and brisket bathed in delicate blue smoke, I love it all. I’ve been fortunate enough to have eaten some of the best barbecue in Canada as well as the United States, I’m a barbecue aficionado and there’s no denying that. So you can imagine my excitement when I found out that there’s a new addition to the Montreal barbecue scene – a new joint opened up in town and I had to check it out, Le Smoking BBQ.