Restaurant Review: Frenchies Diner

FRENCHIES DINER

2470 Main Street ~ frenchies-diner.com Twitter: @DinerFrenchies ~ Instagram: @frenchiesdinner Co-Diner: Tim Golem

Frenchies is a really exciting spot to have here in Vancouver, located in Mount Pleasant. This tiny place is Montreal, contained in a room. Opened by an ex-Québécois, Michel Blais created the all French-Canadian restaurant in hopes of bringing the classic flavours of smoked meat, poutine, tourtière and sugar pie to the west coast. The space is small but the warmth of the room is big. There is Canadiens memorabilia as far as the eye can see (in fact they air every Montreal Canadians game on their TV screens and stay open later for them), there is fleur-de-lis in every nook and cranny, and original art depicting Québéc cityscapes can be found on every wall. If you want to visit la belle province and don't want to fly all the way across the country; this is the next best thing. We visited on a Saturday evening and while a couple of the tables were occupied, we mainly had our pick of sitting wherever we wanted. The friendly server speaks with a French accent which I can't help but feel adds to the overall authenticity and charm. Let's talk about the menu. It consists of all of the best "usual suspects" that you would hope to see. They've really done a great job of featuring the core Québécois foods. Smoked Meat, of course, is one of their main offerings. But they're also doing Poutine. (Twelve different types! All done exceptionally well, super legit, with perfect fries!) And Steamies (which I was pretty impressed to see!). Although I do have one note to give on their steamies: they are offered with a choice of ketchup, mustard, relish, onion, coleslaw or sauerkraut. Any self-respecting Québécer (or person who knows what's what) knows that a tout garni (all-dressed AKA Montreal style) steamie only consists of: mustard, chopped onion and coleslaw. Nothing else. And especially not ketchup. When you order one, impress your friends and do so the correct way. (The steamed bun is done to perfection; pillowy soft, warm goodness.) They've also got a Hot Chicken Sandwich, which totally belongs on the menu. Tourtière, which I'm dying to try (this is where the ketchup comes in!). Sugar Pie for dessert and Creton (for take-out only). For anyone who knows and loves Québéc's iconic food it's very exciting that you can have a taste of it here. This restaurant knows what they're doing and they're taking a damn good stab at it. To drink, it's gotta be a cherry coke. A spruce beer works too, but in all honesty, I never came by them much in Montreal. Pepsi is also acceptable. What you really want is a Cott Cherry Cola, which unfortunately Frenchies does not carry. However they do have Black Cherry Boylans Soda ($4.50) which is a bit too fancy and expensive for this purpose but it's better than nothing.

All French-Canadian classics go down better with a cherry coke. (Fact.) All of the food that I described above would be perfectly acceptable to order and Frenchies does a pretty great job of all of it. It's just about as close to the real thing as you're gonna get 4,500 kms away. But I was the most excited about their Roast Chicken by far. What they're trying to do here is replicate the rotisserie chicken that is such a food staple in Québéc. I wished that they were doing their's rotisserie-style but was willing to see how their roasting would hold up. This is my Montreal comfort food and I pine for it. Note that they do not serve the roast chicken on Mondays or Tuesdays. I picked the Quarter Chicken Dinner ($13.00) and waited with bated breath for my dreams to come true.

Dark meat, St. Hubert sauce, bun, coleslaw and fries.

It's already a dream come true to have anything remotely like this available. And it's so simple! I mean, you could go to Swiss Chalet in Burnaby, sure, but this dish is trying really hard to give you the Rôtisseries St-Hubert that you love and miss. I know I miss it. Let's discuss what they've achieved here and what I feel wasn't quite on the mark. First of all: dark meat always. Not only does it happen to be cheaper but it's a million times more flavourful. Don't screw this up by going white. The chicken was very good and far better than I had expected without a rotisserie! The meat is tender, juicy (not at all dry), full of flavour, and seasoned excellently. The skin was crispy and delicious. For a roasted chicken, they've figured it out. And yes, you read correctly! They are serving this dish with St-Hubert sauce!! Tell that chicken, fries and bun that they're going for a swim! The flavour of the sauce isn't quite on point - you can tell that they're preparing it from a powder packet - but it's something. It's the closest you'll get. The bun is fine but they should know that it's gotta be the bottom end of a hamburger bun. You know, for complete authenticity. The coleslaw is very fresh and nice, however St-Hubert offers traditional (vinegar-based) and creamy (mayonnaise-based) coleslaws and I always preferred their traditional. They've gone creamy here, which is fine. Just not my fave way to have it. Lastly, the fries are excellent! Perfect! Golden brown, crispy and delicious, these fries are actually better than the ones at St-Hubert (which were never actually all that great). Overall, I'm just super excited that they're trying and that this plate is a pretty darn good effort at recreating one of the best things to eat in Québéc. Now all they need to do is deliver it to my house, whenever I want it, in a car with a red rooster comb on the roof. Frenchies makes me really happy. If part of your heart lives in Montreal and lives in the food there, this is something that you'll really enjoy. It tastes pretty close to what you want it to be. You'll just be happy that this is an option for you to enjoy here in Vancouver. I know that I am!