BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL, DAY AND NIGHT
Boxermans gets it right on look, ambience and service but not quite there on the food
As a kid who grew up watching American sitcoms from the 1970s to the ’90s, I yearned for three things: a boyfriend in a leather jacket, an annoying neighbour with a wicked sense of humour and a local coffee shop where I could quaff lattes with friends.
I came close, but none materialized. The boyfriends were never the leather jacket types and my neighbours were either annoying or funny, never both.
As for the coffee shop, there have been a few, but none that offered anything above what I could make in my own kitchen.
Casting my rod a little further, I began to explore outside my own hood and came upon the new Outremont café/restaurant, Boxermans. Rumour had it the coffee was great, the wines were ethereal and the setting was hospitable to those of us whose office is anywhere our laptop can soak up some Wi-Fi. Excellent.
Located on a rather bleak stretch of Van Horne Ave. just west of Parc Ave., Boxermans is the brainchild of three partners: Eric Berlin and his mate, Jade Fortin-Côté, with whom he worked at the wine bar Loïc (she also worked as the wine steward at Marconi), as well as chef Sean Murray-Smith, whose last post was chef at the Trip Advisor fave, Les Deux Singes de Montarvie.
I tried a couple of times to book a last-minute table with no success, but then nabbed a reservation for a recent Friday night and headed over, eager to discover my potential new hangout.
Five minutes sitting at a corner table and I’m already imagining myself as a regular, like George and Jerry at the Monk’s Café, or all the Friends kids at the Big Gulp. But unlike those casual sitcom cafés, Boxermans is quite swanky, with mustard-coloured banquettes, a patterned tin ceiling, tongue and groove panelling, funky light fixtures and the requisite cool-café communal table. At dinner, lights are dimmed and the room is crowded, yet noise levels are hardly an issue. There’s a small open kitchen in the back, which is so quiet it’s hard to believe anyone is cooking. But after a short wait, pretty plates emerge one after another and you’re just sitting there thinking, wow, isn’t this great? Kudos to the team as well as designer Kyle Goforth for pulling together such a sophisticated space.
The nighttime ambience at Boxermans may be swish, but the menu remains unchanged throughout the day, which means you’re eating pretty casually.
Offerings are limited to nine dishes including a soup, sandwiches, salads and a few hot dishes, as well as croissants in the morning and a bunch of à la carte nibbles that can be added to or used to make up a mixed platter. And that is just the way we began our meal here — with a “plateau” featuring a colourful mix of cheese, ham, bresaola, pickles, olives, beets and marinated peppers served with toast points.
Every bite was vibrant and fresh, especially when enjoyed with a delicious bottle of Aligoté.
Oenophiles are well-served at Boxermans with not only a fine selection of primarily natural wines, but all sorts of cool cocktails, apéritifs, digestifs, ciders and beers. Though the menu may be short, the drinking choices are plenty.
After that first platter was cleared, our lovely waitress brought us the five plates we ordered, two at a time twice, and then the largest plate after that.
The first wave included a Provençal tomato and a bowl of fried potato wedges. Filled with a swirl of pecorino mousse topped with a few Parmesan shavings and basil leaves, the tomato was a sight to behold and the flavours of the mousse enhanced the ruby red fruit served simply on a square of toast. As for the potatoes, they were as golden, crisp and as tender inside as one would hope, yet they were also very salty and the herring mayonnaise served alongside was too dense to be a dipping sauce.
Up next came two dishes, marinated calamari and chicken schnitzel. The squid was paired with lentils and cauliflower flowerets in a stewed tomato base, the whole served at room temperature. Good, but after a few bites, I noticed I was eating around the bland and chewy seafood.
As for the chicken schnitzel, what a treat. The meat was crisp on the outside, juicy within, and the accompanying cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes were hearty and delectable.
I could have eaten twice the amount. Full marks. To end the savoury plates, a step back, alas: A large filet of sea bass with roasted vegetables was so salty I could manage only a few bites.
We finished our night with two desserts, fruit-topped buckwheat cakes and sugared doughnuts with a caramel dipping sauce. I opted for the doughnuts over the bitter cake, and left the table torn. As much as I loved the look, ambience and service at Boxermans, the food didn’t win me over. A return visit was in order. A week later I showed up for lunch, again admiring the beautiful space, which by day has this great bright-and-sunny vibe. I ordered a glass of golden chenin blanc as well as the dishes on the menu I had yet to sample, including a croque-madame, the Boxermans sandwich, and the “Big Italian Salad.”
The salad looked great when it hit the table, but once we dug in, I was disheartened to see so many wilted lettuce leaves and taste the excessively acidic balsamic vinaigrette. Hmm … As for the sandwiches, the béchamel soaked croque-madame was good, not great (or cheesy enough), and the Boxermans sandwich made with pickles, bacon, spinach, egg, tomato, mayonnaise and more, would have been better with half the ingredients.
While sipping a terrific cup of coffee in lieu of dessert, I looked around at the crowded space (on a Monday afternoon!), with several people typing away on their laptops and others chatting with friends, and thought, OK, maybe Boxermans won’t be my new hangout, but it looks like half the neighbourhood has already set up shop.
You can hear Lesley Chesterman on ICI Radio-Canada Première’s (95.1 FM) Médium Large Tuesdays at 10 a.m., and on CHOM (97.7 FM) Wednesdays at 7:10 a.m.