#23: Forage - March 7, 2014

The lead-up to our visit to Forage was pretty uneventful, so this introduction is going to be a hodgepodge of completely incoherent thoughts.

Incoherent thought #1: Writing a blog is hard. At first I was super motivated and would write my reviews as soon as I got home. After a while, the thrill faded. Stephen now has to extort me into writing reviews ("If you don't catch up on all your reviews, we can't go to any more restaurants" or "If you don't catch upon all your reviews, you can't watch House of Cards"...ass hat). Last week, I posted something on Twitter to the effect of "Should we go to @Flying Pig, @Kingyo or @Tavola this weekend?" (I was totally too lazy to check my Twitter posts to see if those are the restaurant's actual Twitter handles) and Kingyo was all over it! I quote, "KINGYO KINGYO KINGYO KINGYO....(140 later)...KINGYO!" They tweeted that it was cool that I met Mark McEwan and that they love Top Chef, and then Mark McEwan tweeted them back thanking them. Needless to say, I felt a little shitty when we ended up going to The Flying Pig (review to follow...in like 4-6 weeks if Stephen's threats keep up). I'd like to end up going to Kingyo in a weekend to follow, therefore I have to catch up on my reviews to comply with Stephen's threats.

Incoherent though #2: If I had written this review sooner, I would have said, "I haven't yet found a place like Trois Petits Bouchons where I felt confident enough to tell the staff to bring us anything." However, at The Flying Pig, I got a good vibe so when asked what I wanted to order I replied, "Bring me whatever tastes the best." Unfortunately, it didn't work and the waiter just started describing stuff that was good. I just wanted him to walk away and come back 20 minutes later with something awesome. Didn't happen. Trois Petits Bouchons, you're still the winner!

Incoherent thought #3: And this is actually pertinent to this post. I had the best burger in my entire life at Forage. It was unexpected, and I was stunned when the waiter told us what it was made of. As I mentioned in my review of Romer's, I'm an expert burger eater, and not a self-proclaimed expert burger eater. An actual one. Like I appeared on Burger Week MTL's Top 3 Burger Eaters 2 years in a row. I didn't think Montreal's Art Brgr could be beat, but Forage proved me wrong.

Alright, here we go.

We made a reservation at Forage only about 2 hours before we went. When we arrived we waited a bit to be seated at the bar while our table was being cleared (or so we were told). I don't mind sitting at the bar for dinner. I actually love all the action at and around the bar of any place. We like people-watching, and a busy bar usually has the best views. There were 2 problems with us being at Forage's bar that night. Firstly, there was 15 minutes between the time we got the drink menus and the time someone asked if we were ready to order. It might take that long to get settled at a dining table and pick your meal, but not to choose a drink. Secondly, we sat at the bar a little too long. Based on what the hostess told us, I expected to be at the bar for about 5-10 minutes. With that expectation, we didn't bother looking at the dinner menu or settling into where we were sitting. After 20 minutes we were ready to either be told we'd have to stay at the bar (we had already offered to do that but the hostess insisted it would only be a moment), or get up, move to our table, and get the service started. I know I'm nitpicking about something really dumb, but I felt aggravated about at the time. 

The place was clearly busy, and I felt like they were short-staffed. Eventually, Stephen managed to order the 6oz taster trio plank: Killer Bee, Red Branch and Uber Nutter. Stephen is loving the appreciation for craft beer in BC. Personally, I'm not a fan. He would have ordered any of them again, but expected each of their unique flavours to be a little more pronounced. The Uber Nutter was not nutty enough, the Killer Bee was not sweet enough, etc. Obviously, Forage didn't brew the beer, so we can't hold that against them. 

The trio plank was supposed to come with a featured snack, which we figured would hold us off at the bar until we got out table. It didn't arrive until after we moved to out table and mentioned it to our "permanent" waiter. It wasn't a stellar day for service up until that point. Finally we got it, and it was worth the wait. This is going to sound a little gross, but it tastes amazing: hard boiled, smoked, pickled egg. As you know from my breakfast/brunch-related posts, I'm very particular about my eggs. I don't like egg whites, and I don't like cooked yolks. I am, however, a avid fan of all things smoked and/or pickled. It still had the hard boiled egg texture, but the taste was a mix of vinegar, brine and BBQ. It was an unexpected hit.

The restaurant's concept is shared plates, which I love. I'd take a tasting menu or sharing menu over a 3-course dinner any day. I like to have a variety of smalls things, rather than 1 monstrous, repetitive plate. We ordered the "award winning" seafood chowder, charcuterie plank, perogies, and burger. Here is how they played out.

In addition to being expert burger eaters, as mention in my review of Coast, after our trip to PEI we are also expert chowder eaters. Forage's chowder was alright, but I'd really like to put it head-to-head with a PEI chowder, winner gets to call their chowder "award winning." It was a typical chowder: seafood (generous amount, I'll give them that), some diced veg, heavy cream, roux and topped with a soggy chicharron. Nothing special. It also wasn't very share-able. Overall, it was a lackluster starter, a very small portion for the price, and needs to lose the misleading "award winning" label.

En suite was the charcuterie plank. I'm going to say this now: GET IT. You can't go wrong with freshly sliced, local salami and prosciutto, pork pate, chicken liver mousse, spicy pickled beans, sweet pickled onions, candied walnuts, and IPA mustard. Any combination on their assortment of bread and crostini is amazing. My favourite part of the dish was cracking through the salted chicken fat to get to the chicken liver mousse, and putting both on a piece of bread without feeling any guilt. No crazy cooking techniques involved; another victory for simplicity and high quality ingredients.

Next were the perogies. They were stuffed with roasted squash and swimming in a cheddar sauce. These weren't perogies; they were raviolis. To me, perogie dough is rolled out a lot thinner. Regardless of that, the flavour and texture of the raviolis was wonderful, and a nice twist on a classic. The sauce was meh. The problem with using cheddar is that it often becomes boring and bland in anything besides it's rawest, longest aged form. Unfortunately, Velveeta has more flavour than the best made cheddar sauce. I would have loved a big dollop of sour cream on the perogies/raviolis instead of the cheddar sauce. I wouldn't bother with the perogies.

Here comes the boom! I'm not sure what "Here comes the boom!" is supposed to mean, but it sounds like something my cousin Bobby would say, and he's in the military, and has been to Afghanistan, and jumps out of planes and stuff, so it's theoretically a very intense phrase. The burger. Oh the burger! We didn't initially order the burger. We debated ordering dessert or ordering the burger. Clearly the right choice was made. A burger seems like a simple thing, but really a complex ratio needs to be achieved for it to be great. The bun has to be big enough to contain the burger and toppings, soft enough to be able to fit it in your mouth, dry enough to absorb the juices and sauces so your fingers don't get messy...don't get me started on all the other components. It's just a complicated thing. This burger was perfect. The bun was the perfect size, it was dry enough to soak up the juices, it had a great crust, but it was still moist and chewy. In Stephen's words, "It was a good fucking bun." The bacon was thick-cut, smoked and crisped. It has amazing sweet onions that tasted like they were caramelized in apple juice. The aged cheddar was thick-cut, just like the bacon, so it melted nicely but it's flavour didn't get lost. There was a generous layer of arugula to cut the sweetness and add some crunch. The patty was cooked perfectly medium and was sooooooooo juicy! Here is the big surprise: it wasn't a beef patty! Usually, if you use anything except for beef for burgers, you get a dry brick because of the lack of fat. The patty was a mix of bison and elk, both extremely lean meats. I want to say that some kind of animal fat was added to the patty mixture, but a cross-section of the patty didn't have little "fat buds" as I call them. All that to say, FUCKING AMAZING BURGER.

The last note on the food and drink goes to the Brutus: Forage's version of a bloody Caesar. It was absolute crap. I don't even know why we finished them and didn't send them back. Garbage. Don't do it.

The service got significantly better when we were finally seated at a table. We were seated at a nice corner banquette looking out over the bar and the rest of the tables. It was great for spying on what others were ordering (we're creeps, I know). I didn't get our waiter's name but he was friendly and quick. Forage is also known for using local and seasonal ingredients, so we asked a lot of questions about them. We could tell that he was a little rushed by the crowded restaurant because he answered our questions, and had to run off. It was understandable, and he doesn't control the staffing. He did a great job given the circumstances, and was much better than the staff at the bar.

I have a grievance about the sharing concept. Most of the dishes were easily shareable between the two of us, with the exception of the chowder. We couldn't have shared with another person or another couple. There just wouldn't be enough to effectively go around. You'd probably get one bite of something, want to go back for another, and there would be nothing left. If you were a group of 3 or 4, I would highly recommend ordering double of each plate. I think Forage needs to adjust their menu for single, double or triple portions and prices, and allow you to chose what you need for your group. Just a thought. A coherent one this time.

The Trio Plank

The deceptively amazing smoked, pickled egg.

The not so "award-winning" chowder

Incredible. Delicious. Well executed. GET IT!

We cleaned the plate to reveal a very pretty branded plank.

The mediocre takes on caesars: the Brutus

The perogies / raviolis. 

The best bite of the night. The fries and house ketchup were also excellent!

THE STATS - Out of 10

Taste: 8 - Burger and charcuterie plank get 10's, but the rest gets 6's.
Creativity: 7 - I feel like Forage deserves some points for creativity, but besides the elk and bison burger patty nothing was really WOW in terms of creativity. However, I gave them points for the traditional French preparation of the pate and mousse. We would expect every Montreal restaurant to use the same preparation method, but we didn't expect it in a trendy Vancouver joint.
Service: 4 - As I mentioned earlier, the service was crap at the bar. We expected much more from the staff, especially since they preach "local, local, local." You can't just serve local; you have to serve the locals. And serve them well. Our waiter at the table was much better, but he was rushed through no fault of his own.
Bang for your buck: 8 - The plates are very reasonably priced for the volume of food, quality of ingredients, and variety. Stephen's thoughts when he got the bill were, "it's wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be."
Overall experience: 7.5 - Some of the food was fantastic, others were just good, others we could have done without. The service was not where it needed to be for the type of atmosphere they are trying to achieve. We've been spoiled by the staff at Trois Petits Bouchons, Le Bremner, the now closed Baxo (such a shame) and Garde Manger. All of these Montreal legends are known for staff that are passionate about food and have their co-workers' backs. Forage achieving the same quality of staff would be a great improvement.

Would I go back? Stephen says yes, but I say maybe. I was a little disappointed, but Stephen insists on trying more menu items.
Who would I recommend it to? Adult couples. Do not bring your kids under 16 here under any circumstances, even if they are of the well-behaved variety. It just isn't the place. I didn't feel like the plates were as share-able as Forage thinks, so I'm less inclined to recommend it to a big group. If you go with a group, order multiples of each item. It's casual enough and has a suitable price point for a nice, any weekend dinner, but trendy and up-scale enough for a first date or special occasion. It has a great balance in that respect.
For what occasion? Any. Romantic date, birthday dinner with friends, couple's night out, drinks and small bites after dinner. Endless possibilities.
It was better than: The really good parts of the meal were better than l'Abattoir, Fish House in Stanley Park, and Coast.
It wasn't as good as: The Flying Pig or Oakwood (reviews to come!)
Expect: You need a reservation to get a table. We made a reservation and still had to wait at the bar. Maybe it was an isolated event, but the staff was over-whelmed. The crowd is varying, so no matter who you are, you won't feel out of place. The vibe is unpretentious and welcoming overall.

Top 50 Worthy? I'm on the fence. Some parts were epic, some parts were disappointing. If Forage can achieve more consistency of great flavours on their menu, I would label them as being Top 50. I'll probably give them another chance at some point and decide then. This visit was a little too variable.