Brad's Montreal/New York Odyssey -- Days Nine and Ten

Said goodbye to my hotel, where I would happily stay again, though my advice would be to skip the "free" breakfast, which was dreadful (tasteless croissants, awful coffee, third-rate orange juice) and not worth the price. Much better to walk 10 minutes to Brulerie St. Denis for the best cafe au lait I have ever had.
To Central Station for the train back to New York. VIA has men to help with baggage, the station is roomy and pleasant -- so much better the third-level-of-hell that is Penn Station in New York.
The ride back is long, but lovely scenery along Lake Champlain and the Hudson River. I saw a huge wild turkey strutting serenely in a field near Fort Ticonderoga. I can't imagine a better train for scenery east of the Mississippi.
Amtrak uses old Amfleet I coaches on the Adirondack, which are weary and tired (the carpeting in the cars is badly worn) but quite comfortable. The car was about half full and I was able to stretch out. U.S. customs was no more annoying than usual.
Amtrak sometimes gets a bad rap for indifferent service, but on this train both the train crew and the cafe car attendant were friendly, witty and helpful. Amtrak's cafe-car food is awful -- its dining car food can be good, though -- but then again the food is dreadful on FRENCH trains, so maybe Amtrak gets a pass.
I only need the beverages from the cafe car, though, which are OK (even the coffee is acceptable, if barely so) because I have a picnic packed of raw-milk cheeses, hot Quebecois sausage and crackers. The Langres, from Champagne, was stinky and runny and gooey and yuuuuuuumy. Also had well-aged Prince Edward Island cheddar, a wonderful Camembert, a ripe St. Marcellin and perfect Pont L'Eveque.
Due to Canadian Pacific track work we were about 20 minutes late into New York, but so what, I got more reading done. Cab to my hotel, The Jane, along the Hudson in the Village and chill for a bit before a short walk for dinner at the Corner Bistro.
The Bistro, one of the last old landmarks of the pre-zillionaire West Village left, is slightly misnamed; it's a dive bar with a cool neon sign, cheap booze, an ancient and sagging wooden bar, a jukebox packed with jazz and blues and a menu that offers chili, grilled cheese, a grilled chicken sandwich (which in 20 years of drinking there I think I have seen one person order), french fries, and burgers.
Dinner at the Bistro is an easy call: a bowl of chili, meaty in a rich stewish broth, topped with onions and cheese and best with about 6 serious jolts of Tabasco, followed by the Bistro Burger, which you want medium rare. It comes with lettuce, onions, tomato, cheese and bacon and is the best burger you will ever have. Period. I like extra onion on mine. I'd skip the fries, though they can be good later to soak up booze. They have wine, which I wouldn't order.
Wash it all down with a mug of McSorley's Dark Ale, have a Bushmills for an after-dinner drink and you have not spent $25. This would be a deal anywhere, but in Manhattan it is an epochal, epic bargain.
It helps that the place is often full of oddball Village characters, and the bartenders are classy, clever, fast and characters themselves; one is a playwright and actor, another a superb photographer who has had gallery shows of his work.
The Bistro is open until 4 a.m. every night, no matter what, and the kitchen closes at 3:30 a.m.
Manhattan has been Disneyified, gentrified and transformed by staggering amounts of money into a playground for the world's wealthy, but if you look the old Manhattan is hanging on in a place or two. The Bistro is as old-Manhattan as you can get.
Next day, sleep late and decide to have breakfast at the Cafe Gitane in my hotel before going to an art exhibit.
The cafe tries for, and pretty well hits, a French Mediterranean vibe. High ceilings, lazy ceiling fans, walls painted in soft-pastel washes, big windows, lots of sunshine. A gleaming and glistening full bar is attractive. A neat place to sit and while some time away.
Breakfast was very good. I had a carrot salad, grated carrots in olive oil, orange juice and mint, that, topped with fresh pepper, I could have eaten a huge bowl of by itself. Main was three eggs baked in tomato and basil and topped with grilled merguez sausage, a tasty combo though the sausage was a bit overcooked. Cappuccino was fine, and my Ricard pastis - a necessity in such an environment, which may as well have been Marseilles, if a rich neighborhood there, was served absolutely perfectly, in a Ricard glass with clear ice cubes in a small basket and water on the side in an adorable yellow Ricard-branded pot. This was the best Ricard service ever outside of France. Service in general was friendly if a bit languid; there's another Cafe Gitane in NoLita but the Jane location is far superior.
Off to the Asia Society for a terrific and highly-recommended exhibit of 17th century Chinese painting - running through 2 June; a real eye-opener for me about Chinese art, which I know little about. Also enjoyed an exhibition of statues and pottery from their permanent collection.
To Grand Central via cattle-car No. 6 train for lunch at -- where else? -- the Oyster Bar. The name tells you what to eat there: the raw bar, stews and panroasts; the fancier seafood is probably to be avoided.
A dozen perfect oysters - Cotuits and Martha's Vineyards from Massachusetts, Blueberry Points from Prince Edward Island and East Beach Blondes from Rhode Island, which is where, I must say, my favorite oysters, briny and richly flavorful, are coming from these days.
Unfortunately, the glass of Sancerre I chose to drink with the oysters - Domaine Fournier 2011 - was a dud. Sancerre goes with oysters because of its flinty minerality but this example was far too sweet and lacked any acidity. Very poor, and surprising at the Oyster Bar, where the wine program is outstanding. Stick with Muscadet or Chablis there.
Ran an errand or two then off to Carnegie Hall for the Staatskapelle Dresden under Christian Thielemann delivering a marvelous Bruckner 8th Symphony. Finished up with a late dinner at the Bistro, same as the previous night, then drive out of Manhattan and back to the real after a glorious vacation. Sigh.

Corner Bistro, 331 W. 4th St., New York. 212-242-9502. Open until 4 a.m. daily, kitchen closes at 3:30 a.m.

Cafe Gitane at the Jane Hotel, 113 Jane St., New York. 212-255-4143. Open 7 a.m.-midnight, until 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

Oyster Bar, Grand Central Terminal, 89 E. 42nd St., New York. 212-490-6650. Open 11:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Mon-Saturday. 

Brad's Montreal Odyssey -- Day 2

The second of the daily blogs, stressing food and drink, from Montreal!

Slept late after a long day of travel topped by L'Express. That meant, though, that I was at the mercy of what would be near my 2 p.m. classical concert for lunch, in an area of town I had not researched at all.
I wound up at a local chain, Van Houtte, for a completely forgettable jambon-et-brie sandwich - if that was Brie, I am Hillary Clinton - and pretty good espresso.
The concert was terrific, in an old church converted to a concert hall called Bourgie Hall and filled with Tiffany stained glass windows by the Museum of Fine Arts, indeed adjacent to the museum. After a much-neededd haircut, sightseeing downtown and more coffee, I wound up in a provincial-run liquor store to get some wines for my room for nightcaps.
Beer and wine can be sold almost anywhere here - and they are - but the government stores have a monopoly on hard liquor, and have an extensive wine selection too. Lots of labels we don't see in the U.S., from which I selected a Cahors and a Muscadet, will report on them later in these updates. Prices were on the high side of reasonable, as Quebec and federal taxes are killers - they add close to 15 percent to restauarant bills, but you are not expected to tip on them - but smart shoppers could find bargains. And there are BYOB spots, which I will be hitting.
But not tonight. Near the liquor store, on Rue Peel, exists the kind of establishment common to Francophone areas and only such areas as far as I can tell - places that serve steak and nothing else, such as La Relais de Venice near Porte Maillot in Paris, now with branches in New York and London.
One of Montreal's versions of this - there are several - is the L'Entrecote St. Jean downtown, where I wound up. For $28, you get: a large bowl of tomato bisque; a bibb-lettuce salad with a sharp vinaigrette and walnuts; a strip steak, cooked to your order, with a pile of fries; and profiteroles.
A bargain, to be sure. And pretty good. The soup was pleasant, not too thick or rich but enough of both on a chilly night and the salad was quite good, but maybe that is because I love Bibb lettuce.
The main item, the meat, was cooked the way I like it - saignant, 'bloody', in French; very rare - with a good, firm crust on the outside. Tasty meat too.
I noticed some Internet reviews of the place complained of tough steak. Two comments: 1) at $28 for 4 courses, Angus prime beef is unlikely to be on offer; 2) these people probably ordered overcooked beef. A well-done steak would have been tough. Mine was not.
Fries and dessert were fine, without being special. The wine list was mostly French and fairly priced, but not wanting a whole bottle, I had 500 milliliters of the house red, a tangy Spanish red.
Started with a Ricard pastis served perfectly and finished with a Calvados and coffee, the coffee was just OK.
The service was simply outstanding. I was sitting at a table in the window, the farthest spot in the restaurant from the kitchen, but never lacked for bread - crusty, tasty bread - and water refills. The table itself was slightly shaky but the manager insisted on fixing it.
The waitress was warm and friendly, even tolerating my horrible French, but her main skill was pace. She served my aperitif and then let me enjoy it - far too often one gets an aperitif and food is dumped in front of you two minutes later. There was space for recovery and relaxation between courses, and seeing that I was enjoying my wine, she asked if I wanted to wait for dessert. Yes. The pacing was especially impressive because other than the steak, everything was already made and ready. As she said, "prendre le temps".
This was some of the best service I have had in a restaurant in years. Five stars.
I'd recommend the restaurant as long as you understand what you are getting - a good, hearty meal that is not 'gourmet' in any way in a convival atmosphere, and you obviously have to like steak since they have nothing else. They are open late too, though in Montreal everything seems to be.
After dinner took in a fine jazz quartet near my hotel and that turned out to be a superb move; more on that place in the Day 3 blog.
 
L'Entrecote St. Jean, 2022 Peel Street, Montreal,  514-281-6492. Open 1130-2300 weekdays, 1700-2300 weekends.