New taco parlour is instant hit in Mile End
Employs a proven formula to come up with fun food and lively atmosphere
Maïs Great bet $$
5439 St. Laurent Blvd. (near St. Viateur St.) Phone: 514-507-7740
Website: restaurantmais.com
Licensed: Yes Credit cards: Cash only Wheelchair accessible:
Yes, but not washrooms
Vegetarian friendly: Limited but lovable
Open: Tues.–Sat. 5 p.m.–midnight, lunch weekdays 11:30 a.m.–2 p.m
Price range: Appetizers $5–$13.50, tacos $3.5– $4.5, desserts $3.50-$8 It has been open only since early December, and already Maïs — note the tréma — is intensely popular. With its Mexican-inspired cocktails and fresh, f un food, Mile End’s new taco parlour qualifies as an instant hit. The business team behind it, which includes co-proprietors of nearby pizzeria Magpie and Sparrow pub, as well as the experimental cuisine of cozy Café Sardine, has created another gem that’s totally on trend.
This time, they’re working a formula that has proven insanely successfully elsewhere.
If Maïs seems undeniably inspired by places like Toronto’s Grand Electric and Chicago’s Big Star, well, the new-gen taco craze is pretty irresistible: the attitude may be low-brow, but standards are high.
Someone on the floor is certainly paying attention. We were greeted with smiles at the door, our coats were taken and hung up and the crowded room was surveyed to see where we might slip in at one of the shared tables. If this level of service is somewhat surprising for such a casual place, it’s smart: With communal seating, there isn’t room for people to be dragging their Canada Goose parkas around. And when you don’t accept reservations, charm goes a l ong way to alleviating impatience (if they’re not doing so yet, they may start taking mobile numbers, telling would-be customers to go get a drink close by and contacting them as spaces open up).
Much like Magpie and Sardine, Maïs is designed to feel as though it’s been here longer than it has. It’s quirky and dark — darker than its predecessor, the empanada emporium La Chilenita, might ever have imagined. There’s requisite Day of the Dead imagery. The waiter smells of cigarette smoke. Gleaming 2L glass jugs hang from the ceiling, ready to be filled with draught beer. The bar also serves cans of Tecate and many privately imported specialty liquors – the goal is 30 types of tequila. (If pulque were served in Montreal, it would probably be here.)
Cocktails are well worth it: Try a margarita, a Missionary or a Last Word. A mezcal old-fashioned was delicious, and spotlighted tequila’s lesser-known cousin: It’s heartening to see this traditional Oaxacan spirit freed from frat boy fame as the booze with the worm in the bottle.
The short and appealing menu isn’t pricey, considering the quality of the locally sourced ingredients and the seriousness of the kitchen (under William Cody and Gilbert MacNutt).
An order of ceviche had chopped scallops, milky with citrus, mingling with clementine, lush guacamole, the dark greens of watercress and cilantro and translucent rounds of radish. I loved the cool, refreshing flavours in this one. The tostada base was stiff enough to hold the topping, but had to be chomped so forcefully that it detracted from the delicateness of the dish.
My friend’s concern about our next appetizer — “Clams make me nervous in cheap restaurants that are far from the sea” — proved unfounded.
In a generous cazuela, we found the clams briny and bright, the white beans nicely firm and resilient and the tomato sauce pleasantly bold with a prickly heat. Folded into tortillas from the accompanying basket, it was very fresh and filling, best suited for sharing.
Getting every taco meant six between two of us, which was just about right. Carnitas, the classic Mexican-style slow- and twicecooked pork shoulder, went deep into how full the flavours of this soft, fatty, chewy meat can be. A personal favourite, it was delectable pumped up with spoonfuls of the salsa verde that came on the side. The kind of dish that makes you greedy. We also liked the pork belly, which came with punchy marinated black beans and a soothing smear of tangy crema.
Vegetarian entries got their due, too. The mushroom taco was a stunner, another favourite, with simple Paris mushrooms two ways: roasted brown and juicy chunks inside, and fresh and finely sliced on top, with jalapeño crema and fresh jalapeños. The other meatless offering played with texture, assembling pumpkin seed purée, roasted butternut squash and toasted seeds, with crumbled homemade queso fresco on top.
I love fish tacos. This was fishier than usual with what for a confusing moment was said to be mackerel, but actually arctic char, beneath lacey cabbage and guacamole. Big tastes, but I’d be curious to try a different catch.
Soft, stewy veal tongue, contrasted with pickled onions and cilantro, worked well with house hot sauce in a tinted tincture bottle. Poignant but not psychotic, it was made with fresh finger peppers and gave up a real vegetal note on the nose.
We got a homemade offmenu chocolate “bar” spiced with allspice and chai, with graham crackers crust, chocolate mousse and dark chocolate coating flecked with salt. And avocado and toasted coconut paleta was delightful — a great example of the artisanal Mexican popsicles by local outfit La Catrina. I’d tried their frozen confections over the summer, and it was great to find them again, even in winter. They do other traditional Mexican desserts for the restaurant, like sweet buns called conchas. They’ll have to wait for next time — hasta la proxima!