auberge le st-gabriel

a week ago, l’auberge st-gabriel hosted the final ofmadewith love , the largest and most extravagant cocktail competition in canada. the concept? 14 finalists from 7 cities had 24 hours to create the most ingenious cocktails to pair with a surprise appetizer concocted by the hosting venue. driven by an affinity for hard liquor and up for a great party a great party, i showed up on a mission to uncover the coolest drink of the year. and hell, i was not disappointed! welcomed by a sleek and beautiful crowd of liquor aficionados, i started my rounds, going from station to station. it only took me 10 steps to find my first coup de coeur of the night – a tequila/pineapple/jalapeño concoction from maritimer dan vorstermans. presenting what appeared to be an unassuming summer drink, vorstermans’s creation was revealed to be a feisty hot punch on the tongue. on my way to the next tasting islet, i befriended a trio of happy voyageurs who urged me to quickly transit into the backroom “where th

a special birthday celebration deserves a special venue. auberge le st. gabriel is just the type of place for that special historian in my life. while doing research on the history of montreal, she discovered that the auberge saint le saint gabriel was the oldest inn established in quebec circa 1754. in the 1900 it was restored by ludger truteau and renamed auberge le st gabriel. since that time it has changed owners a many times and today as we know it was purchased a few years back by three iconic quebecers, rocker garou, guy laliberte of cirque du soleil and marc boulay. with talent and resources abound they have managed to change the image of le saint gabriel with the opening of the velvet club , as not only a historic place to dine, stay and relax, but a trendy spot to celebrate any occasion, from grand prix in june to new years eve with its cool thematic parties. 
in the summer it has a private terrace away from the hustle of the busy streets of old montreal, where you can enjoy a quiet dinner or drinks. the inn is ideal for a staycation, completely renovated; the place takes you to back to bygone era of nouvelle france with its dark cavernous halls, wood beams and brick walls. the place has a mysterious aura and some say it is haunted, with an actual citing of a ghost on the third floor who walks the reception hall. 
after briefi history of the auberge, we were greeted by our hospital waitress and seated in sabrevois hall; a dark cavernous dining hall which i discovered was re-designed by bruno baen who was also the designer for club chasse & peche. the two restaurants look identical; similarities can be found with the dark themed medieval décor, dark leather chairs, heavy wood tables and dark flooring. the massive stone wall back drop and wrought iron turn of the century chandeliers are a recurring theme in both restaurants. 
we started with our favorites and our usual salmon tartar at $ 14.00 and the terrine de foie gras at $ 16.00. the tartar was fresh and savory, mixed with avocado it hit the spot. the foie gras which came served on a slate with a dab of sweet chutney was minimal and a little too chilled, but it did not take long to get it at room temperature. both were unctuous and very tasty and always a good start to any meal.
for two of our main meals, we ordered a plate of cavatelli pastamadewith ricotta and rapini for $ 25.00. 
instead they resembled large gnocchi in lieu of the small sized cavatelli she is so used too. alsomadewith a mix of pureed ricotta cheese and rapini, they were green in color. her dish contained but a few pieces of rapini on the side; not served the typical italian way, which usually has copious amounts of rapini on top or mixed in with sausage.

instead they came topped with a schiuma “foam” and slivers of parmesan shavings. 
i ordered the pot au feu for $ 29.00, which was a big dish for my standards. a little disappointed with my meal as i found it flavorless, but then what did i expect from boiled dinner. i have got to say it not one of my favorites. i like anything with red wine inductions and with more flavors. the consommé was too generic and bland for my liking.

the chef is  ola claesson, a native swede coming from a line of chefs; he has worked in paris at meurice and le pre catalan, and has a passion for quebec market cuisine and our local products. therefore my pot a feu was as classical as it can get. so i am pleased in this respect that i got to sample it.

 

for dessert we had a tourteau au fromage for $ 12.00 and a glace vanille for $10.00 and two short espressos for $ 8.00.

the tourteau au fromage, resembled a boston cream pie filled with mascarpone, with quenelles of vanilla ice cream, compote of fresh strawberry and coulis. the presentation and freshness were good. the vanilla ice cream also resembled the tourteau platter with a more strawberry compote and strawberry ice cream on a bed of crushed nuts. a little unimaginative i thought. the dessert platters were similar in construction; a little variation was in order. 

overall, i enjoyed the meal and the ambiance. it had become hipper to dine here as it started to fill up with late night patrons. the music got louder and the terrasse filled up with tourists looking for a bite to eat. after our meal we walked around the velvet and imagined what a new year’s party would be like here and vowed to give it a try soon. the mysterious aura would make for a good party, but one thing this foo-foodie will say, you would never catch me sleeping here at the auberge or having an event in the third floor reception hall. i am too superstitious.

momentum stab-in-the-back. after our group of 10 each pre-paid the $50.00 momentum ticket for velvet in old port, we thought that it would be a guaranteed entrance without any hassle. we couldn't believe how much l'auberge screwed up on this one. luckily 6 party-goers out of our group decided to eat dinner there and just stayed in there with bottle service despite having bought the $50.00 ticket which may or may not have been needed at that point i don't know. but i do know that even if you bought that ticket that it was worthless as they didn't even let you in anyways! with 3 of us skipping dinner and showing up at 11:30 pm there was 2 short lines (only 30 people in each) on both sides of the entrance one for the guestlist and the other for ticket holders.

we thought that all ticket holders would be let in because if a business is providing a product or service and sells you a ticket to it, it becomes a legal-binding contract for both parties. but for no good reason at all the ticket holders line and the guestlist line were not moving whatsoever and for the rest of the night! various groups of people known by some of the bar's management were immediately let in as the appeared. yet there were long periods of 10 to 15 minutes of waiting when no one was being let in at all until those friend groups showed up. the guy in front of me whom was the first guy in line because i literally cut the whole queue told me that he has been standing there for 40 minutes. the first ticket holder there, he didn't get in.

the 2 door girls with guestlist clipboards were totally lost and absolutely useless. meanwhile they had a pocket full of maybe 100 purple and white wristbands hanging out of their skirt pockets and didn't hand out 1 of them to anyone. so after waiting 1 full hour with say only 30 people of their closest friends being let in, all of the bouncers closed down the entrance and told everyone to go home. after many ticket holders complained one of the bouncers announced to the crowd to come back tomorrow afternoon to get their $50.00 reimbursed. how can someone bother with that when they have their flight back to europe or asia.

the persistent person that i am, i wasn't taking 'no' for an answer as usual and had to talk to whatever level necessary to get us inside which eventually worked only because our group already had dinner in there. the doorguy didn't even ask me for a ticket but i blurted it out too soon that we had them just to get us in, which he took them, so i still don't even know if they were a necessary purchase, and probably not if you have dinner in there beforehand. i feel angry and sorry for all the ticket holders whom were turned away.

so...we get inside, finallymadeit through that ridiculous battle. and i couldn't believe my eyes...half of the bar was completely empty...empty! what the freakin' hell did 100 people out there wait for when it was totally unnecessary? that massive room at the left with a huge bar at the back was completely set up with bartenders and some breads or cheese snacks whatever against the entrance wall. but there were no patrons in it at all. you could have easily put 100 people in that room alone, the entire amount of people outside waiting without packing it in beyond capacity, and that doesn't include the whole front terrasse (on both sides) nor the front lounge area in the foyer which also had nobody in it...zero. i just can't believe it!

i do not see nor understand the absolutely poor reasoning behind these very poor management decisions besides the local police forcing a very strict person count which was far, far under the overall capacity and fire code of the building. every waiting patron outside could have been very happy in spending $1,000's of dollars in bottle services if the bar's management and/or the police were more accommodating. this has undoubtedly ruined some people's grand prix weekend, and probably some very important people in the grand prix fraternity or local community, but thankfully not mine, but only because i lucked out that night.

unnecessary tight security was as prevalent inside as it was outside. you had to get a tiny triangular stamp to go downstairs into the dungeon dance floor which i had to fight for but got my stamp in the end. and then once down in there, there was another bouncer and rope quartering off the mercedes party in the corner. i wonder how the code 20 party at cavalli was sunday. i would imagine all f1 personnel upstairs and all locals downstairs with bouncer / rope separation.