It's been almost a year since I've last posted. This doesn't mean that I haven't been cooking, or even taking pictures of my creations; I've just been lazy.

I'm not usually one to write a restaurant post, but my first post back will be about my favorite culinary moment of the past year: a visit to Garde Manger in Vieux Montreal. The head chef at Garde Manger is none other than Chuck Hughes from Chuck's Day Off, my favorite Food Network Show. Unfortunately, Mr. Hughes wasn't in the restaurant when we managed to sneak into a small table (he was catering for the bands at Osheaga, which we also attended) but we were stoked nonetheless.

We started with the drink special, a strong watermelon margarita and were quickly brought fresh bread with a creamy smoked salmon whipped butter.

Being fans of the show and being slightly obsessed with going to this place, we knew about their Caesar that contained 3 ounces of vodka, homemade horseradish and of course, a giant crab leg sticking out of it. Clearly, Garrett had to order it immediately. We also ordered the fish and chips with jerk mayo. Garde Manger's menu is centered around seafood; one could order a huge seafood platter (for $100+) that would serve 4 people, or oysters by the dozen.

I ordered the seafood risotto. I make risotto all the time at home, but I like to order it when I'm out if it contains ingredients that I'm not brave enough to try. It was amazing. So creamy and flavorful, but not mushy or oversalted. Basically perfect.

Garrett ordered the duck confit with foie gras, again, something we could never do at home...yet. It was a little rich for my tastes, but Garrett enjoyed it. The menu was written on a few chalkboards posted around the restaurant, lending the idea that it changes often.

We somehow fought the urge to get dessert, knowing that we were about to head off to a party that would have a ton of yummy goodies. Overall, the whole experience was lovely, and we're very grateful that we were able to get in. Garde Manger only has two seatings a night (6pm and 9pm) and we weren't able to get reservations over the phone, so we made it down to the restaurant just before 6pm to ask if we could we squeezed in somewhere. We were able to get a small table for 2, under the condition that we were out by 8pm.



I'm going to try to post more, since I really do still do a lot of cooking and baking; I still even take pictures of these food items, so I'll just stop being such a lazy bones.

Happy eating!