Every seat is a good seat at Lili.Co, a small restaurant on St-Laurent on the border between the Plateau and Mile-End. Bar seats wrap around the open kitchen where you either talk to your date and/or watch Chef David Pellizari and maybe one or two others on his kitchen team sear broccoli to a smoky char before topping it with sweet miso, spicy Yunan pepper and sesame seeds. You see the sous chef gently basting your whole, deboned trout before serving it (head attached) with a parsley-rich gremolata. And when you want to know what kind of fermented pickles are on the menu tonight, you can ask directly instead of playing Chinese whisper with your server, who might be co-owner the exceptional Catherine Draws.
Anyone who can talk her way through a wine list, not bat an eye when my mom asks her to turn down the music and make me jealous when I hear her make the couple in the two-seater behind us laugh (I always feel like it’s my duty to make the servers enjoy themselves too; they’re at work, but it shouldn’t be drudgery) is worth her weight in gold.
But I already loved this woman, because when I made the reservation and added the note to the online booking that we were both gluten and lactose intolerant, I got a prompt answer: “Absolutely not ! We will have options for you :)”
l love options. In the end, there weren’t that many, because the menu of small plates is itself small, but Draws told us we could have the homemade pickles ($6); the carrots with Brussels sprouts leaves, preserved lemon vinaigrette and sunflower seeds without the homemade ricotta ($15); and the broccoli ($14) and whole trout ($30) dishes that I mentioned above. Instead of the Israeli couscous with the trout, the chef (who was not Pellizari that night, I should note, but that’s not a judgement on his cooking, which was exceptional) added some carrots, baby sorrel leaves and roasted and fried Jerusalem artichokes that I think were prepped for the “Jerusalem artichokes many ways” dish.
So we were already enjoying the entertainment when our first plate arrived. The carrots. Without the homemade ricotta, these two-and-a-half carrots are not worth $15. But they were nicely roasted and I could have eaten 10 of them with the preserved lemon dressing and sprinkling of Korean pepper, and sucked back another gorgeous bottle of whatever it was that Draws brought us to drink from the mostly biodynamic and natural wine list.
The next dish was more substantial. The broccoli was blackened and served with a sweet and creamy maple-miso sauce, sesame seeds and crispy garlic. The Yunan chili flakes were a little less wimpy than most upscale places I’ve been to in Montreal. And the pool of brown sauce on the left is fish sauce, not soy sauce, which the chef checked to make sure was gluten free (I spent two months in Asia sleeping with my knees pulled into my chest before figuring out that some fish sauces contain wheat).
This was an umami-rich mixture of hot, salty and sweet, with a big emphasis on the salt because of the fish sauce. If only we could eat bread, we would have dragged half a loaf through the leftover miso.
It’s becoming more and more usual to see a platter of homemade pickles on menus these days. In this one we got a variety of the summer and autumn’s preserves: fermented leek and daikon cube kimchi (these were called kimchi generations before chili pepper and cabbage got involved), medium-hot sweet cherry tomato peppers, thinly sliced bread and butter pickles and green tomato pickles. The bowl can be a good counterpoint to some of the richer small plates, or a palate cleanser between acts.
Because the main show was the whole deboned trout. It’s labour-intensive because someone needs to stand over that skillet and scoop oil or butter from the bottom of the pan over the top for ages. You’re not going for a crispy skin, so the oil isn’t boiling, which means the process takes forever. If the fish were thicker, you’d be spending most of your life basting.
Some people might be turned off by being served the fish along with the head, but you can eat the skin and cheeks of the head, which contained the most salt and was therefore the tastiest because of all the little rivets. The difference in the bright pink colour on the left and more white colour of the right comes from the fact that the thicker bits of the fillet end up being less cooked. I liked flaking the fillet to taste the different textures according to the different levels of doneness, all of which were perfectly safe to eat. And the variation in doneness wasn’t so big that it was a mistake. The only way you’d get it completely consistent would be by cooking the fish sous vide. And all that monotony would be boring.
A couple other notes: Farmed trout, though sustainable, won’t have the rich red of wild salmon. But I’d take this over farmed Atlantic salmon any day because of the environmental issues. And we didn’t miss the couscous (thought, admittedly, we didn’t know what were missing) because the sweet and nutty seared Jerusalem artichokes, sunflower seeds, carrots and pungent, lemony gremolata (minced parsley, garlic and lemon zest) were the perfect foil for the tender flesh of the trout. And those little baby sorrel leaves were both colourful and just a tiny bit lemony, which was smart with the fish.
It really wasn’t a complicated dish, but it was savoury and comforting. In fact, that’s how I would characterize our meal here. I wish I could have eaten more of the menu here, but some dishes just lose their amazingness when you start taking out the Mornay sauce, the yogurt, the cheese or the brown butter. And I get that. I also think it’s important to order the right dishes if you’re really hungry, since some might be smaller than you’d hope for the price. But the value is there (excusing the carrots because it’s our fault for not being able to eat the homemade ricotta).
If we’d been able to have the six-course vegetarian or omnivore tasting menu ($60 or $80 respectively, plus $55 for the optional wine pairing, which I’d adamantly recommend), maybe I’d be more awed. And gluten intolerants should note that Draws said they usually have a gluten free dessert on hand, like a cake or something more original than a scoop of freezer burned sorbet or unseasonal fruit salad.
Gluten free-ers, you know what I mean.
If I could eat them, I’d be back for their brunch menu of French toast with lemon mousse ($15), jerk sweetbreads tartine ($23) or an octopus club sandwich ($22). Sure, I could eat the local interpretation of banh xeo, a savoury Vietnamese crêpe served with Nordic shrimp and shiitake mushrooms, if it were made traditionally with 100% rice flour. But I’d just be sad I couldn’t have the banana pancakes with bacon, dulce de leche butter, walnuts and maple syrup ($16).
So the highlights? The wine, which Draws suggested. We ordered just a glass each and Draws let us taste a couple to find something we liked. The service, which was friendly and professional, in a way that made me wish I were that good at my own job. And the gremolata on the trout. The current menu has the trout as an appetizer with uméboshi mayo, pickled green onions, apple, walnuts, salmon caviar. I’m sure it’s still awesome.
Would I come back? Definitely. If I called in advance to see how many dishes I could have without the chef having to change them. Because the menu changes so frequently here, there’s always something new and exciting. The trick for me will be to make sure there are enough of them, at prices I can afford, that come in servings that don’t make me want to go buy a rice bowl for dessert from Aux Vivres next door. For everyone else, save up a little and splurge.
Or have those pancakes and think of me.
Lili.Co
Address: 4675 boul. Saint-Laurent, Montreal, Québec
514-507-7278
Hours: Tues-Wed, Sun 6-11pm; Thurs-Sat 6-midnight; brunch Sat-Sun 10am-3pm
How much: $75-$185 per person, including tax and tip (low end for a couple dishes à la carte plus a glass of wine; high end for omnivore tasting menu with wine pairing)
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