Chez l'Épicier

This was our favorite of three upscale restaurants in Montreal. Our concierge got us a reservation at this very popular restaurant, bagging the last two seats at the bar. Turned out wonderful, as the bartender was a conversationalist, along with the diners on each side of us. We had a delightful time here. The food: Amazing. Presentation: Wow! We both had a lobster dish featured as a special for the night. “Quebec lobster with aromatic butter garlic dill sauce. Paprika froth, salsify and herb potatoes.” I had a “Mars Bar” for desert, a concoction of chocolate ice cream, and various sauces. DW had a “Maple and Lemon Crisp donut stick.” Impossible to describe (but certainly not a donut), and very good. Recommend this place most highly.

NOTE: Fodor’s restaurant map shows this restaurant incorrectly west instead of east rue St-Paul.

FOOD
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Started with the foie gras: not greasy at all and incredibly succulent. The accompaniments were a mix of hits (the fresh light taste of pear was an excellent and interestingly add-on to that succulent foie gras), but the few other accompaniments were just ok (at least you can see that they try pushing the limits of flavors/savors, which I truely liked).

Main course was roasted scallop + braised pork:
each bite of the pork was succulent and the scallop was of perfect tenderness with perfect flavors. Apart the accompanying curry (nice try..but I wasn't enthusiastic about it since it turned out irrelevant here and kinda killed a bit of the awesome flavors of both the scallops and pork), the overall dish was of mouth drooling experience!

I can't say enough about the dessert:
I picked the chocolate club sandwich which was more of an elaborate symphony of multi dimensional palate-teasing flavors -> The accompanying pineapple fries were simply lovely, the creamy melon was utterly yummy, and the fresh mint added a perfect heavenly enriched flavor.

I am fond of chefs who pushes the limits of our palate. Although the results can turn sometimes disappointing, sometimes great, they have the merit of being original and passionate. And l'Epicier, from my own personal experience, is an awesome lab of creativity.
Overall, a definitely great inspired high end cuisine.

My daughter and I ate dinner here on Jun3 9, and it was wonderful. fun atmosphere, perfect service, and the food was delicious. I had mushroom pate and mushroom soup, and I wish I had the recipes.