HEIRLOOM IMPRESSES WITH ITS AMBITIOUS OFFERINGS
Fair prices, lively space make pizzeria a valuable addition to neighbourhood
I was in New York City over spring break, walking the streets of the Lower East Side, Greenwich Village, Times Square and even past Trump Tower — booing — with my kids. When we got to SoHo, I felt a lecture brewing.
“You know, kids,” I said, walking among the hordes of tourists, “when you’re in school and the subject of gentrification comes up, remember this neighbourhood, which was once filled with sweatshops and later populated by starving artists and impoverished rock stars, but now has a Prada shop, a Chanel shop, an Apple store, Balthazar bistro and some of the most expensive real estate in the city. They actually call that transformation of a neighbourhood the SoHo Effect.
“See there,” I said, pointing to a brick building on Crosby St., “that was a paper factory 100 years ago, before they turned it into loft condominiums in the ’90s. It’s where Courtney Love used to live. It sold for $7 million.”
They looked at me, eyes rolling, and said: “Who’s Courtney Love?”
Back in Montreal, we headed out for dinner at a new restaurant on Ontario St. in HochelagaMaisonneuve called Heirloom. Owned by Dominic Laflamme and Vincent Châtelais — the partners behind the bringyour-own-wine establishments État-Major (right next door) and Quartier Général (located in the Plateau) — Heirloom opened in December. Unlike their other restaurants, this one is Italian, with an emphasis on pizza, and there’s a wine list to boot.
Entering on a Tuesday night, we took a seat in this stylish and rather crowded room. I explained to the kids that there’s a bit of a SoHo Effect going on in this neighbourhood as well, with hundreds of condos and several swish new restaurants and shops causing a storm with locals who are worried that an influx of primarily young residents will cause the embourgeoisement of their quartier, thus driving up rents.
As pricey downtown and Plateau spaces sit languishing with “à louer” signs in their windows, low-rent locales in areas like Hochelaga-Maisonneuve are attracting young restaurateurs. And considering how difficult it is to make a buck in the restaurant business these days, can we blame them? More affluent areas of the city are deserted at night, but neighbourhoods like this one, Verdun and the once-sleepy Griffintown are hopping. Granted, it’s not an ideal situation for long-time residents fearing rent hikes, but was inevitable here as much as in New York, London, Paris and beyond.
I carried on for a bit longer, but the kids were more interested in the pizzas whizzing past, and understandably so.
As is the case with many of Montreal’s new pizzerias, Heirloom offers a rather predictable menu, with the usual trattoria suspects including Caesar salad, arancini, fried calamari, arugula/ Parmesan salad and meatballs. As for mains, there are three pastas and a good selection of pizza, ranging from the inevitable Margherita to a few white-sauce pies. There’s also a cocktail selection, and a wine list that’s quite elaborate but not all that pizzafriendly, with more Spanish reds available by the glass and just one Italian.
We began with the Caesar, calamari and a half portion of spaghetti carbonara. All were excellent, especially the piping hot and tender calamari served with spicy mayonnaise. The Caesar had a great garlicky dressing, and the carbonara was filled with chunks of smoky pancetta. Sure, it was a little rich, but boy, was it good.
As for the pizza, we opted for the “garnie” (all dressed) and the “saucisses italiennes,” a sausage pizza with rapini and red peppers. The pizzas are generous in size and baked in a wood-burning oven in the open kitchen at the back of the room. Both pizzas were heavy on the toppings, which meant you couldn’t lift up a slice without a lot of fixin’s sliding off onto your plate. As for the taste, the crust lacked that naan-bread-like puffiness you get with the best Neapolitan-style pies, but had a pleasant wheaty flavour. The tomato sauce could use zuzzing up to serve as a better flavour enhancer for the toppings. There was also an excess of red peppers on both pizzas, and the rapini on the sausage pizza was undercooked. All taken, the pizza was good, but not on a par with the best in Montreal. There’s room for improvement, but these are small fixes that could be made in a day.
We also tried the pappardelle with mushroom/rabbit ragout. Like the carbonara, the pasta was rich and delicious, but cloying after a few bites, with a sauce that seemed overly buttered or oiled. We couldn’t finish it. Again, I see potential, but they aren’t quite there yet.
For dessert, we were a bit too stuffed for the hazelnut and chocolate pizza — I’ve had Nutella pizza a few times and consider it a dish designed for ravenous children and marathon runners — but the kids jumped at the idea of the milkshake desserts. One was a chocolate shake with chunks of brownie stirred throughout, and received a big thumbs-up. The second was a dulce de leche milkshake garnished with a single sugary churro. Sucked up in seconds, that shake actually tasted like dulce de leche; considering that’s quite a subtle flavour, bravo!
One of the high points of our evening was the service, which was efficient and incredibly friendly. Everyone from the man taking the phone reservations to the last fellow who said goodbye was an absolute peach.
It’s still early days for this ambitious pizzeria. With fair prices and a beautiful, lively space, Heirloom is a great addition to the neighbourhood. And for residents in search of a lowercost option, there’s a takeout counter as well.