DAVID MACMILLAN: I hate when fucking people send me
reservations on the fucking phone.
Because they've called Liverpool House, they've
called Joe Beef, they've been on OpenTable.
You really have to dig around to find my email.
You have to be a bit psycho.
And then you call me and say, we'd like to be eight people
on Saturday night at 7 o'clock.
It's like, dude.
Fuck off.
[LAUGHTER]
DAVID MACMILLAN: My name is David McMillan, and I'm part
owners of Joe Beef with my partner Fred and Allison.
Fred's like my brother.
We're peas in a pod.
We think the same way for some reason.
We like the same things.
We like the same aesthetic and food.
When we look at a space to open a restaurant, it's not
about, hey, we found a space.
Let's open this modern restaurant in it.
It's about, what was it like in this
neighborhood 100 years ago?
What will it be like in 100 years from now?
You try to put on the shoe that looks nice with the jean.
You know what I'm saying?
This neighborhood, I felt, needed that oyster place where
you can have a nice piece of meat.
I didn't want it to have a New World wine program.
I want an Old World wine program.
I only want French wine.
I want to work from the Market.
We're right near Atwater Market.
It's important that we work with Atwater Market, to fit
into the community that's Little Burgundy
and to make it stronger.
Fred's strong, strong, strong, strong in the kitchen.
Whereas I think I'm a bit stronger, perhaps, in the room
with the people.
I've got the chat, the gift of the gab, perhaps.
Can you not do ice right now, when I'm fucking
talking on a camera?
VOICE (OFFSCREEN): Sorry man.
DAVID MACMILLAN: Sorry, dude.
I didn't know it was you.
I want to move pleasantries aside quickly and just get to
first name basis as quick as possible.
Let's get to know each other real quick and have drinks.
That's the thing, I think.
Oh, it's [INAUDIBLE].
What do you want?
Eh?
They've got to live it up a little bit, eh?
[FRENCH].
When you write a menu, and it's fixed, and it says green
peas on it-- there's not always
green peas at the market.
So working on the chalkboard and changing the menu often,
it's something that's rampant now.
It's just a way of working closer
with the Market, really.
Vanya might as well well be my--
she's my business partner, but not my business partner.
For all practical purposes, she should have been.
And Marco, at his age, has an incredible amount of talent.
And he has his own voice in the kitchen already.
We can both see that, Fred and I.
MARC-OLIVIER FRAPPIER: Dessert is basically a pavlova shaped
as a baked potato.
Meringue, parfait, ganache, rum and water.
And soft serve.
Fake orange cheese, carrot puree with gelatin.
Mint.
Hot chocolate sauce.
There you go.
DAVID MACMILLAN: It'd be nice to see Marco develop, perhaps
under Fred's watchful eye, for a couple of years to come.
But he'll definitely be a very successful
and very young chef.
Let's get the [INAUDIBLE] out of here.
MARC-OLIVIER FRAPPIER: So where is Fred?
DAVID MACMILLAN: Fred put a nail in his hand.
MARC-OLIVIER FRAPPIER: Oh, yeah.
MARC-OLIVIER FRAPPIER: Right?
VANYA FILIPOVIC: Oh my god.
MARC-OLIVIER FRAPPIER: And then he got a blood infection.
MARC-OLIVIER FRAPPIER: Yeah.
DAVID MACMILLAN: He's had to go to hospital every day for
five days and take an IV drip.
MARC-OLIVIER FRAPPIER: So that's why
he's not here today.
DAVID MACMILLAN: So we're going to Park, Antonio Park's
restaurant.
And we're going to have some Korean pickles.
Or maybe four slices of tuna.
I love sushi.
It's my favorite food.
I like raw fish and crabs and seafood.
Antonio just brings a different thing to it.
He always has creative takes and tasty flavors.
He's an interesting character.
He's a kind of funny boy.
ANTONIO PARK: Hi, my name is Antonio Park, and this is my
restaurant, Park.
I do, let's say, cuisines de marche, so market food.
But influenced with my own cultures, which is
Argentinian, Japanese, Korean.
It's all mixed up.
But we take the source and just bring it all
together in one plate.
Dave is difficult.
But there's certain things that he likes, and you just
have to focus on those things that he likes.
Like albacore tuna.
He likes pickles.
He like greens, vegetables, and all the other that comes
out of the ground.
DAVID MACMILLAN: That's an excellent [INAUDIBLE].
ANTONIO PARK: That's who he is.
That's who he is.
DAVID MACMILLAN: So what is this, buddy?
ANTONIO PARK: So it's topside albacore.
Topside albacore tuna, sashimi on top of it.
And then you have, underneath, you have a kimchi coleslaw.
DAVID MACMILLAN: Antonio, for real, this is delicious.
ANTONIO PARK: Thank you.
VANYA FILIPOVIC: Do you eat kimchi any
other time than here?
DAVID MACMILLAN: Yeah.
I love Korean food.
That's it, we're leaving.
ANTONIO PARK: One more, one more slice.
DAVID MACMILLAN: No, no, no.
We're leaving.
ANTONIO PARK: One more [INAUDIBLE].
DAVID MACMILLAN: No.
ANTONIO PARK: One more.
Lobster and chorizo.
Argentinian-style.
DAVID MACMILLAN: Argentinian-style?
ANTONIO PARK: Yup.
DAVID MACMILLAN: He's good.
I always enjoy eating there.
He's a sweet kid.
The Argentinian-Korean maniac.
I love you.
ANTONIO PARK: I love you baby.
VANYA FILIPOVIC: Thanks for the snack.
DAVID MACMILLAN: That was just really crazy good.
Thank you.
ANTONIO PARK: All right.
Thank you.
DAVID MACMILLAN: I always tell people, you have to work hard
at not burning bridges.
Come on.
Let's go, guys.
Nora Gray.
When we opened Liverpool House, and Ryan was my dining
room manager, and Emma was the chef, and they worked there
for six years.
And in that six year period, I always said to them that one
day you're going to leave here.
Don't make a mistake.
Leave here properly.
When they opened their restaurant, they were very
respectful.
It doesn't look like Joe Beef.
It's Ryan's own vision of the restaurant.
The food doesn't seem like Joe Beef or Liverpool House food.
It's Emma's own food.
Some people have left here--
to remain nameless--
and just done Joe Beef, up in the East End, verbatim.
And those guys, today, don't even exist because they don't
play with all the other reindeers.
RYAN GRAY: Hey, my name is Ryan Gray.
I'm one of the co-owners of Nora Gray restaurant.
We specialize in southern Italian food.
Basically the kind of food that you wish that your mother
made when you were growing up.
EMMA CARDARELLI: This is a bechamel sauce
with Fontina in it.
It's got a lot of nutmeg.
Grilled radicchio.
Poached pears, which we finish off on the grill, and then we
mix with parsley salad, candied walnuts, fresh ground
pepper, and olive oil.
RYAN GRAY: So that's tortelloni with yellow beets
inside and Gorgonzola.
DAVID MACMILLAN: Wow, that's gorgeous.
Really beautiful [INAUDIBLE].
RYAN GRAY: And this is the wild mushroom cavatelli.
DAVID MACMILLAN: Wild mushrooms?
RYAN GRAY: Yeah.
They're totally wild.
They're out of control.
DAVID MACMILLAN: Ryan's always a hoot.
I love sitting at the bar with Ryan.
RYAN GRAY: Cheers, guys.
Thank you for coming tonight.
Thank you.
DAVID MACMILLAN: His life's mission is to
pour wine for me.
We're going to NDG.
Let's go.
RYAN GRAY: NDG.
VANYA FILIPOVIC: NDG.
No Damn Good.
RYAN GRAY: NDG is a neighborhood in the West End
of Montreal that was an Irish working class neighborhood, as
is Little Burgundy, Griffintown.
And there is one bar--
DAVID MACMILLAN: Honey fucking Martin's.
I'm home.
RYAN GRAY: The quintessential best Irish bar in Montreal.
DAVID MACMILLAN: I'd say it's the best Irish bar in Canada.
There's not a bar that has better quality oil paintings
of historic boxers.
And all of the furniture inside Honey Martin's, to be
noted, nothing has nails.
It's all tongue and groove.
It's an amazing bar.
RYAN GRAY: Mikey!
Campari soda.
How about that?
DAVID MACMILLAN: That's the bottle.
It still has the old stamp on it.
RYAN GRAY: Mikey drinks Campari nonstop.
Mikey is a Campari fiend.
DAVID MACMILLAN: All right.
Campari sodas.
RYAN GRAY: All around.
DAVID MACMILLAN: Maybe we're painting the
wrong picture of Montreal.
I'm a proud Montrealer, but I am one of the 8% percent
minority of Anglophone Montrealers.
We're at Montreal's most Irish pub.
And now we're going to Montreal's most London pub.
I'm so fat.
I can't even fit out of minivans anymore.
RYAN GRAY: Dude.
I did not break your phone.
I did not break your phone!
VANYA FILIPOVIC: Did you just break it?
RYAN GRAY: No, I did not break his phone.
Is it working?
Tell me it's working.
DAVID MACMILLAN: We're at Burgundy Lion fucking pub.
It's a pub across the street from Joe Beef
and Liverpool House.
If you look at the bottles behind you, there's a solid
scotch whisky program here.
The neighborhood became a neighborhood when Toby and his
partners, Paul and Jean-Michel, opened this pub.
So now today, people come here for lunch, and
it's full all afternoon.
We come here at 3 o'clock, 4 o'clock, 5 o'clock.
It's packed at 6:00.
And it's packed at fucking 2:00 in the morning.
Toby.
We're a bit drunk, and we've been out a lot, but we're
going to cut smoked meat sandwiches off the bar on a
whole brisket.
TOBY LYLE: All right.
DAVID MACMILLAN: Are you in?
TOBY LYLE: Of course.
DAVID MACMILLAN: All right.
TOBY LYLE: Hey, crew, let's go to Liverpool.
DAVID MACMILLAN: The smoked meat sandwiches, I think, for
us it's like picnic food.
Who doesn't love Schwartz's?
We all get excited just to drive up to that neighborhood,
you get excited.
We've been cooking with brisket for years
and years and years.
And there's nothing more beautiful than a whole brisket
on a piece of wood.
And slicing little sandwiches from it is delicious.
Everybody gets excited, right?
VOICE (OFFSCREEN): Yeah.
DAVID MACMILLAN: You could bring anything out, but people
are like, bah!
Smoked meat sandwiches!
VOICE (OFFSCREEN): Oui, monsieur!
DAVID MACMILLAN: Good job, boys.
Snack time.
Who wants a sammie?
All the old Hebrew things in Montreal are killer, like
Wolinsky's, and still Moishe's.
Moishe's is killer.
And Schwartz's.' Or even any smoked meat, really.
And people say now today, smoked meat, it's not what it
used to be.
Some people don't even smoke it.
Blah blah blah.
But I don't care.
There's something about having just a smoked meat sandwich on
rye bread with that yellow mustard.
Smoked meat's delicious on scallops, it's delicious on
liver, it's delicious with kidneys.
It's delicious cold on its own with celery root.
It's not just a sandwich stuffer.
We cook it, we do the Joe Beef--
the liver with a slice of smoked meat on it, and three
little slices of pickles.
It's wonderful food.
Smoked meat's the best meat.
RYAN GRAY: I don't know any better meat.
DAVID MACMILLAN: Out of all the meats, it's the
finest of the meats.
That's what Montreal is.
The bagels, too.
Super good.
I'm always talking about that.
It always comes back to those things, but it's true.
Thank you everybody!
[CHEERING]
VOICE (OFFSCREEN): Thank you so much!
DAVID MACMILLAN: Make some noise with the glasses.
[CHEERING]
DAVID MACMILLAN: Montreal smoked meat!