Chuck’s Day Off ~ Chuck Hughes

Restaurant Garde-Manger

We all started watching this new show on the New Cooking Channel. We all just loved one of their new shows Chucks Day Off with Chuck Hughes. He seems like the guy next door making great food each show. Every time we would watch his show we would joke and say let’s go there…..so, we did just that. His show is so entertaining. We packed up and off we went to Montreal, Canada. We had a great time. But, as luck would have it they seemed to be having a heat wave when we visited there…..boy was it hot some days reaching 105 which I understand was a record for them. It was hotter in Canada than it was in Atlanta. To add to the misery some of the places in Canada do not have air conditioning either, wheeee like the taxies or subways, etc…..oh dear me!! Then they do not really like their beverages ice cold like we do either oh dear me ~ no ice what? I know they think we are so weird oh well it was so hot I just wanted ice cold beer well dang it, it would have to be room temp yuk! That would take some real getting use to for me. I know, I know to each his own as they say.  But in their defense they spend a good part of the year packed in ice and snow up to their eyeballs. Coming from the south we spend most of the year baking in the hot humidity so thick you can hardly breathe, all you want is something COLD to drink with ice too please! oh sorry back to the story whups ~

We made our reservations long in advance of our trip and planned the whole trip if we could or could not go to Chucks. We are not groupies just foodies I guess. We got our date secure and I had heard that he was working on opening a new place and more than likely would be missing in action. I will say they make it really hard to get in, it is a process. They only take phone calls from 5-7 if you are lucky enough to get someone to answer the phone ~ okay the day I called I was lucky enough to get HIM on the phone. Once you make your phone reservation then you must call and confirm it yet again to assure you will have a seat. The day I called to confirm I could not get any one and the machine would not let me leave a message and most of the instructions were in French which I do not speak or understand. They do not have an internet address or open table hello ? Very ole world heee heee! Okay back to it! We arrived on time and was seated in the very best seat in the house by the front window lovely!! just lovely!!! YEA!! We had a great waitress that gave us good guidance as to what we should order for our own taste.

It was nice and cool when we went in thank goodness. It is a very small place with an exposed kitchen in the back. The decor is ole world very rustic type of place. We started with the drink of the night which was a strawberry, grapefruit and vodka with ICE.

They brought out a pail of different breads with a butter spread which all tasted very good. They were bringing out our appetizers and the guy slipped and spilled them all over the floor. Which made it take much longer than it should have for us to get the first course replacements.

We got poutine with lobster. I had never had poutine before this trip. This is a dish that is very popular in Canada. The dish is french fries covered in a gravy then topped with cheese curds. Then many will add other things to make it their own dish, like at Chuck’s they added lobster.

I got his famous jerk crab and it was wonderful! I think if I returned I would order 2 of the jerk crab ~ yep it was that good! sure was!

When removing the plates and bowls from the table the guy dropped the dish holding the sauce from the crab and it went all over Tommy’s shirt. Really made a greasy mess of his shirt? yuk! They where nice and all cleaned up the table. We let the waitress guide us as to what was best for dinner. For dinner Tommy had the pork chop, 

Thomas had the short ribs

and I had the scallops. These were the three best dishes or so she said for that evening. We all enjoyed our dinners and they were very large portions. The kitchen began to smoke up so the hostess came and opened the window which made it so very hot, very quickly too ~ almost too hot to even enjoy the meal. They said usually it is a nice cool breeze well it wasn’t that night. Here we go again with the air condition thing ~ I guess they being the Canadians do not mind the intense heat and humidity  but being from the South yikes we have air ~ I thought going that far north it would be a little cooler than back home. I really wanted to try the brownie but the heat was just too much to sit there another 20 minutes so we got the check and buzzed on our way. We all wanted to see Chuck in action but it was Chucks day off that day…heee heee. Everyone was really nice and helpful but I was a little surprised since the two different blunders they did not offer a free drink or dessert or to have the shirt cleaned? Even with the heat and mess ups we did enjoy the meal. Yes, I would return and sorry we missed seeing Chuck. Would have loved to see him in action in person. Best of luck with your new adventure Chuck!! I am sure you will do a great job!