Two Men, Two Burgers, Some Beer... The most in depth and comprehensive coverage about hamburgers, cheeseburgers, both with and without bacon in Montreal.
Chris (Zeke) Hand and Ed (Blork) Hawco order their Dilallo burgers and wax on about cleanliness, the smell of fried onions, and the yellow and jaunty decor inside the Notre-Dame street Dilallo's restaurant. The burgers arrive, and they look pretty good!
Ed reports that the burger is "well done, but not overcooked." It's juicy!
Are they sloppy? What about the structural integrity? Crumble factor? The vernacular expands with the burgermeisters' waistlines. Listen in...
Chris and Ed meet Toby, one of the bosses at the Burgundy Lion Pub, where they were warming up before heading across the street to Dilallo Burger at 2523 rue Notre-Dame Ouest in Saint Henri. Toby tells us about the Burgundy Lion's burger, he thinks it is one of the best burgers in Montreal, which sounds so good it almost derailed the mission.
But no! Across the street they went, into the bright yellow world of Dilallo Burger. Ed skims over the menu, where he finds they do indeed sell more than burgers (but not much more).
Tension builds, and after much deliberation, orders are placed...
The full name of Dilallo Burger is Dilallo Burger Original 1929, which tells us that these burgers have been around since the first big stock market crash. (It's no coincidence that in these hard economic times, burgers get the best and biggest buzz in online food talk.)
The original restaurant is long gone, but the outlet in Verdun at 2851 rue Allard (near Monk) is within a few blocks of it, and is thus the most storied. Unfortunately, Verdun is not exactly known for its pub life, so Chris "Zeke" Hand and Ed "Blork" Hawco opted for the location at 2523 rue Notre-Dame Ouest, in Saint Henri, which is conveniently right across the street from the Burgundy Lion pub.
Listen in as Chris and Ed knock back a few cool ones at the Burgundy Lion in preparation for their visit to Dilallo Burger. Ed was a Dilallo virgin whereas Chris was an old hand, so to speak -- although it had been quite a while since he had been to a Dilallo Burger.
There are currently six Dilallo Burger outlets:
2851 rue Allard, Montréal (flagship): 514-767-9921
2523 rue Notre-Dame Ouest, Montréal: 514-934-0818
The room was too dark and too loud for my liking, but I know that some people seem to like that. Clearly, the very noisy people all around us where having a great time. However, we were there for the burgers, and I'm sad to report I was disappointed. The Méchant Burger is like something conceived on a white board by a marketing committee instead of by cooks in the kitchen. In other words, it looks good on paper but fails when executed.
For example, the proportions were all wrong, with the patty shaped more like a baseball than a hockey puck -- making it hard to eat and necessitating a long cooking time (because they won't cook them rare). The result is a ball of overcooked meat that's hard to cram into your pie hole.
It comes with caramelized onions, bacon, and two kinds of cheese (blue and gruyère). That all sounds great, but the blue cheese was very pungent and it overpowered everything -- even the bacon! Finally, it comes garnished with arugula. I love arugula, but it wilts very easily. When you put it on a burger all you end up with is limp stringy leaves that get stuck in your teeth. Oh, but it's arugula, so it sounds good in theory.
This burger should have been very good. And it could still be if they followed these bits of advice: (1) ditch the blue cheese -- or, to satisfy those blue cheese fanatics, make it a choice of blue or gruyère, but not both; (2) Re-shape the burger so it has the dimensions of a hockey puck instead of a baseball; (3) lose the arugula -- or put it on the side dressed with a bit of olive oil and white balsamic vinegar and a scratch of Parmesano Reggiano cheese.
But as-is, I cannot recommend it.
Zeke's Verdict
In short; it's bad. I didn't like it, nor was I able to finish it, which was not due to my being full and wanting a doggy bag.
In long; While I'm certain everyone at Méchant Boeuf is nice, sincere and has the best of intentions, when they get together to serve a hamburger despite their 'best intentions' it doesn't work out like they expected.
1. The music is too loud, both when it is played live or when it is pre-recorded and played over the sound system. This would be fine in a discotheque, but most of the time when I am dining, I like to converse with my companions - loud music makes that extremely difficult.
2. They advertise themselves as having the 'best burger in town.' However they only have one burger on the menu. While I'm all in favor of breaking with tradition, tradition states that if you serve burgers, you serve at least a small selection of (two, or three, or four) different types of burgers. Variations on a theme if you will. Only serving one kind of hamburger smack of fascism. I don't know anyone who likes fascism.
3. Speaking of the burger; it was overdone, dry, the flavor of the 'blue' cheese overpowered just about every other flavor and while I am not as dead set against a tall burger as Ed is, it wasn't a fun burger to eat.
4. In their defense, they do have a nice selection of beers, and there are lots of other things on the menu besides hamburgers.
Méchant Boeuf Bar & Brasserie
Address: 124 rue St. Paul West, Old Montreal. (See clickable map, below.) Phone: 514-788-4020 Web site:www.mechantboeuf.com
In Part 2 of the Montreal Burger Report for Méchant Boeuf, Chris "Zeke" Hand and Ed "Blork" Hawco battle the noise while waiting for service. They have plenty to say about the beer list, the room and the people in it, and the hand dryers in the washrooms. Oh, and let's not forget the burgers!
The word of the day is "dissonance." Listen in to find out why.
