April 3, 2007

Dining Out

Karl Wells

Montana's Cookhouse

80 Kenmount Road

Ph. 754-1111

Montana's Cookhouse does not take reservations. You just show up and if there's no table (which there probably won't be) you get a "wait” card. They didn't name it wrong because you wait and wait and wait.

What's more, the card doesn't contain your name. Nope. As if the interminable wait isn't bad enough, they insist on giving you and your party a ridiculous name like: Martha the Moose, the Muskrats (that's me), Yogi the Bear, Lassie, Smoky Bear, the Tent Pegs, the Chipmunks or the Minnows. Then they tell you to stay or - if you like - go away and wait for an hour, an hour and a half or even "110 minutes." Yes, they're that precise about when you can come back to the old cookhouse.

Problem is, when you go back at the designated time you're still likely to have to wait a further 15 or 20 minutes because they're "running a bit late." When your dopey name is finally called it's broadcast throughout the entire restaurant over a very loud and annoying public address system.

"Martha the Moose!! Your table is ready!! Come on down to the front porch!!"

Then, with everyone gawking to catch a glimpse of "Martha" (who may well be a 230 pound man) you approach the main desk and are shown - perhaps red from embarrassment - to your cookhouse perch. It’s all a little too much. Montana’s should stop aggravating their paying customers with this silly song and dance and just take reservations. I know, I know. Some people may find this to be just a bit of fun but I didn’t see many happy faces amongst the folk who were waiting in the jammed front porch, nor amongst the folk who were standing outside the building altogether.

Once out of Montana’s freezing porch where my group had been forced to wait an extra 15 minutes, we were finally seated at a warm booth. It sat six and was located next to the restaurant’s large wooden, grain exposed square bar.

Montana’s woodsy cabin like rough and rustic interior is the product of a well-drawn template. Cara, Montana’s corporate parent operates 76 identical Montana’s restaurants across Canada plus three in the United States. St. John’s is their 80^th. They also own Harvey’s, Swiss Chalet, Second Cup, Kelsey’s Restaurants and Milestone’s Grill and Bar, making them the biggest full-service restaurant operator in Canada.

The advantages to having a large corporation like Cara behind a restaurant are obvious when you look around Montana’s. Apart from marketing tools like slick posters and dishes stamped with fancy logos, there are the over-the-top decorative touches. For example, anchored in the high wooden rafters of the St. John’s Montana’s was a bright red 1950 International pickup. It made quite a conversation piece.

Our table ordered a variety of appetizers. I had the firecracker sizzling shrimp. They were served in a cast iron skillet in a mixture of green and red sweet peppers and onions. The shrimp were spicy and tender. The remainder of the dish had that lovely developed flavour you find in many slow-cooked pasta sauces.

Montana’s potato skins needed salt but were very good. They were well browned (not lightly, as the menu indicated) and had that crunchy, chewy consistency and nutty flavour I love. The skins were topped with mozza, yellow cheddar and bacon bits. A small container of sour cream and green onions came on the side.

One of us had ordered a salmon salad as an appetizer which Montana’s managed to completely screw-up.

It was supposed to be a simple salad of grilled salmon, greens and a bit of fruit and vegetables. The salad was to be tossed in a “raspberry vinaigrette dressing.” Well, get this; it arrived without a flake of salmon, nor a single drop of the raspberry dressing.

“Oh, was there supposed to be salmon on that?” said the server.

Yes, and dressing too. (But maybe dressing was expecting too much. I suppose gagging down a bowl of dry greens can’t be that bad.) Eventually she returned with two small, skewered strips of overcooked salmon on a separate plate. She should have taken the entire thing back to the kitchen and had it presented properly. Alas, we never did see any raspberry vinaigrette. I’d had high hopes for the accompanying corn bread but it turned out to taste like sickly sweet muffin mix.

I had much better luck with my barbecued rib tips. I suspect they were a packaged, precooked

product that’s just heated-up and browned in Montana’s kitchen. However, they were delicious, tender, smoky and sticky sweet. The ribs came with equally delicious fresh coleslaw and the best baked potato I’ve ever had. The flesh was consistently smooth, creamy and had a wonderful roasted aroma.

The rest of my table had Montana’s sirloin steak. It, like the ribs, was also quite tasty. Each thick steak was cooked to the correct level of doneness. The bit I tasted had great flavour and texture as well.

My dessert showed promise but I wouldn’t have prepared it in a cast iron skillet. It was a “peach and blueberry skillet, sweet biscuit dough and vanilla ice cream.” The fruit and ice cream were fine. The cooked in the skillet biscuit dough tasted like one of those mixes you just add water to and bang in the oven. Apart from that it had acquired the taste of cast iron, not particularly pleasant when it comes to the fore in any dish but especially in something delicate. Personally, I only cook hefty things like beef in cast iron.

I’ve been to Montana’s Cookhouse restaurants before in Alberta. For what it’s worth, by comparison, the St. John’s restaurant is doing better. Despite a few obvious errors they seem to be paying more attention to the food here and, whether it’s carried-over “opening day” enthusiasm or not, the St. John’s staff is happy and friendly.

A meal for two at Montana’s Cookhouse - including three glasses of wine and gratuity - cost $99.28.

The noise level at Montana’s was high and it was wheelchair accessible.

Best Points:

Despite some mistakes, pretty good food.

Areas for Improvement:

For heaven’s sake, take reservations.

Ratings Category:

Montana’s Cookhouse gets 7.5 points.

7 points = satisfactory, 7.5 points = good, 8 points = very good, 9 points = excellent, 10 points = perfection