The problem with living in an up-and-coming neighbourhood is that, eventually, it will up-and-come. Might as well move into one of the most expensive up-and-came ones at the get-go. That’s probably what the four owners of Provisions Restaurant thought when they moved into their Van Horne Ave. digs.
Co-owners Pablo Rojas (he chef-ed at down-the-road Le Petit Italien for three years and had an opening stint with Mercuri), Hakim Rahal (former chef of Laurie Raphaël back when that fine dining house existed in Montreal), Evans Gubersky and Rafael Morales had their Lac Brome ducks in a row
Fancy-fancy Outremont was high ready to drop $65 or $75 on a five or seven course tasting menu. And to be fair, that’s a steal considering their probable rent and the higher food costs for the local vegetables, seafood and meat that they favour (consider the $80 tasting menu at H4C, the $120 tasting menu at Pastel and the $140 at Toqué! – all different approaches and levels of plate swishing decorations, but still).
Especially when five courses look like this and taste even better (and the chefs can adapt each of my five courses to be gluten free/dairy free, hence why there are two versions of several of the courses below; the rest I shared with my friend):
WHAT ELSE SHOULD YOU KNOW?
There’s no menu. The main ingredients (besides things like oil, salt, pepper, onions, garlic) are listed on the chalkboard menu. I loved this because whenever I couldn’t remember what was in a dish, I just referred to the chalk board. Except that Arctic Char dish. Roe isn’t listed and I’m a bit stumped on the grilled thing beside it in the picture above.
WHAT ELSE? MAYBE SOMETHING ABOUT THE WINE?
Yes, sure. Wine is certainly not an afterthought here. In fact, it’s probably how the restaurant keeps the doors open, because $65 is not a lot for that quality of food, creativity and meticulous preparation. The wine list is full of interesting private import bottles with a lot of organic, biodynamic and natural options. There are a number of things by the glass but the menu says you can always ask what’s open. So I did and our server at the bar (best seats in the house) started telling me about a few of her favourites to pair with the fish dishes, like a wine from the Savoie made with Chasselas. She happily offered to open a bottle for me, which makes sense when she knows she can sell it by the glass easily.
What really got me excited about the wine list, though, was a dry Lambrusco, a sparkling red Italian wine that’s a bit like a red Prosecco. It’s awful when it’s too sweet, but since it was dry and had a bit of tannins, it paired well with the duck.
ANYTHING ELSE WHILE YOU’RE AT IT?
Generally, yes. This restaurant has been open a few years, but there was just a video on the Montreal Gazette website that takes you inside the restaurant and lets you spend a day with the chef. I think it’s very underrated, as it was pretty quiet on a Wednesday evening. If you haven’t been here before, go. And if you have, go back.
Provisions
Address: 1268 Ave Van Horne
Phone: (514) 508-0828
Hours: Tues-Sat 6-11pm
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