Au Pied de Cochon

Alternative Spring Break 

Transcribed from Snapchat

N: You did what?

C: Volunteer work

N: Where?

C: Montreal

N: Canada?

C: Last I checked 

N: For spring break?

C: Beats getting drunk in Ft Lauderdale

N: Lemme guess: you did it out of the purity of your heart and need for clean living?

C: Shuttup

N: So where is this?

C: Belvedere Kondiaronk observation deck Chalet du Mont Royal.

N: Nice view.

C: City worth looking @ 2

N: What happened Monday?

C: AM in Moisson Montreal. Food bank. Sorted produce in2 boxes shipped 2 different charities.

 
N: Afternoon?

C: La Maison du Pere

N: The House of My Father?

C: Something like that. Prepared donation envelopes.

 

N: Tuesday?

C: Le Chez-Nous du Mercier-Est

N: Our House of the Eastern uh Haberdashery?

C: Community center 4 senior citizens 2 hang out

N: Where does haberdashery come in?

C: Worked there didn't ask questions

N: What did you do?

C: Clean place out

N: Sounds fun.

N: Wednesday?

C: People's Potato 

N: A farmer's market?

C: Soup kitchen

N: You made soup?

C: We cut n peeled

N: What did you cut and peel?

C: Take a wild guess

N: Thursday?

C: Welcome Hall Mission

N: Another soup kitchen?

C: N shelter

N: What did you do there?

C: Stocked shelves n prepared groceries

N: Wheee!

C: Shuttup  

N: Friday?

C: Au Pied de Cochon 

N: What?

C: Made reservations online. 4 of us went

N: You spend a week doing charity work then on the fifth day ate at the one restaurant I hope to visit before I die?

C: U kept talking bout it. Got curious

N: I hate you. 

C: 😁

N: So what was it like?

C: My friends came grumpy. Warned them what u said bout portions n they didn't eat all day. 'This better be worth it' they said

N: How was the service? I don't hear good things.

C: Attentive n friendly

N: Really?

C: D waiter asked if we want a drink; we said Y. 'On the house' he said. Plunked on table a tall glass of maple soda.

N: What's that?

C: Soda water w/ maple syrup

N: What's it like?

C: Sweetest thing I ever tasted

N: Liked it?

C: Course

N: What next?

C: Waiter suggested appetizer, as main meal can take 1/2 hour to prepare

N: What did you get?

C: Poutine. Crispy french fries, squeaky cheese curds, dark gravy. Really heavy dish.

N: But poutine is all over Canada it's nothing special.

C: Topped w/ chunks of foie gras.

N: Now that is the Au Pied de Cochon I hear about.  

N: You shared?

C: Of course. But Rn thought foie tastes like pork blood n he wasn't supposed 2 eat pork. J tried little--said it was 2 rich. Rc didn't like d taste.

N: What did they do with their foie?

C: Gave it 2 me

N: Get out of here.

C: Not kidding

N: Why are you still breathing? You should have keeled over from clogged arteries.

C: Must b my pure 💗 n clean living 

N: Shut up.

C: 🤣

N: What next?

C: We ordered 2 main dishes. One was Duck Magret.

N: What's that?

C: Seared duck breast in mushroom sauce w/ carrots n onions

N: And?

C: Duck tasted like rare steak only more tender. Mushrooms n onions added an umami hit. Carrots a sweet earthy highlight.

N: Drool.  

N: That does not look ugly. What was the other dish?

C: It was named after d place: PDC, or Pied de Cochon.

N: A pig's foot?

C: Whole pig's foot w/ bones taken out then stuffed w/ foot n shank meat braised in herbs, onions, garlic, white wine, porcini mushrooms. Re-assembled, stitched closed, laid in tub full of pork stock, roasted till skin was crispy, served on a heap of mashed potatoes with sauce all over (the plate in picture was the size of a hubcap). And then

N: And then?

C: And then they laid a stupid amount of foie gras on top.

N: O mama 

C: Start of meal they handed out 7-inch knives. Excited 2 see what we were going to use knives on. When dish arrived prodded it with knife n it jiggled. Inside crispy skin was melting soft meat. J laid her fork on d flesh n d tines just sank in. We looked at each other: meat this tender why bother with knives?

N: You got all the foie?

C: Most of it.

N: O Holy Mary.

C: All d waiters came over to watch d 4 kids who ate so much. At 1 point I asked: 'can we have greens?' Waiter looked @ me like I sprouted horns. 'Greens?' 'Vegetables.' 'This is a carnivorous place, we don serve vejjitubbles' He added helpfully 'the french fries and mashed potatoes r our vejjitubble.' I snatched d mint leaf from d maple soda n chewed on it. That helped.

N: They put a mint leaf on the maple soda?

C: Go figure. 

N: Did you have dessert?

C: Funny d waiter asked. We wanted 2 say 'Sorry we're this close to puking' but instead said 'Sure!' n ordered d maple milkshake topped with maple cotton candy.

N: How was it?

C: Crazy thick. Tried 2 suck d shake through a straw almost got an hernia. So sweet my teeth started aching.

N: Was the food worth it?

C: No leftovers. None of d other tables could say that

N: How much was the bill?

C: 200 US dollars for all four. Maybe 50 each.

N: Not bad considering how much you ate.

C: Meal of my life.

N: Where'd you get the money?

C: Uh remember the credit card you gave me? The one 4 emergencies?

N: What?

C: Whoops gotta go I'm late 4 class. Bye! 💖 ya!