DINE ON THE GO
Somebody Feed Phil gives Montreal foodies a Netflix treat with epicurean adventure
Maybe just what the doctor ordered: a Netflix show that will leave Montreal foodies drooling. Many others as well.
Season 3 of the hit American travel series Somebody Feed Phil started streaming Friday, and devotes one of its five episodes to the Montreal food scene — before COVID -19. The hour-long instalment will leave many Montrealers nostalgic for the way it was in this city, when locals flocked to restaurants, when few could envision a world of masks and physical distancing.
Phil is New York native Phil Rosenthal, who can afford to eat anything and anywhere he wants. He was the creator, writer and executive producer of the smash sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond. Not surprisingly, he has little trouble finding restaurateurs who want to feed him.
In this Third Course — as this new batch is referred to — Phil also gives his gut a workout in Marrakech, Chicago, London and Seoul. If he feasted in the other cities like he did here, the wonder of it all is that he doesn’t have a postal code unto himself.
Phil came to Montreal last fall for quite the epicurean adventure.
He (or more likely his research team) is a bit fuzzy on linguistic factoids, noting that 50 per cent of Montrealers speak French, when of course it’s closer to 100 per cent, including anglos and allos, who can converse in the language of Legault.
But Phil (or more likely his research team) had little difficulty showcasing the best eateries, both high-end and proletarian-end, that the city has to offer in the few days he spent here.
He hits the ground running, taking in the top-of-the-line gastronomy at wild-man Charles-antoine Crête and Cheryl Johnson’s Montréal Plaza, Agrikol (co-owned by Win Butler and Régine Chassagne of Arcade Fire, and featuring chef Paul Toussaint), Antonio Park’s Park and Martin Picard’s Cabane à sucre Au Pied de Cochon. And just to ensure he can keep up on the excessive calorie count, Phil does some supersized noshing at St-viateur Bagel, Portuguese chicken palace Ma Poule Mouillée, Schwartz’s and Dyan Solomon’s Olive & Gourmando.
Phil even takes time to visit Jean-talon Market and fish emporium La Mer, to bike through the city (Mayor Val will surely be tickled by that jaunt) and to pedal-boat — on a giant swan-facsimile vessel — along the Lachine Canal. And of course, what would a visit to Montreal be without spending a night in the Queen Elizabeth Hotel room that John Lennon and Yoko Ono shacked up in during their 1969 Bed-in for Peace?
Yes, there are some notable omissions, like Normand Laprise’s Toqué!; David Mcmillan and Fred Morin’s Joe Beef, Liverpool House and Mckiernan; Hubert Marsolais’s Le Club Chasse et Pêche, Le Filet and Le Serpent; and perennial fave L’express.
And there aren’t any visits to Mount Royal, the Botanical Garden or the city’s most renowned shrine, the old Forum.
Regardless, it’s evident that Phil — who is more Ray Romano than Anthony Bourdain — has tumbled madly for this city.
While he takes his grub seriously, he clearly takes himself far less seriously. After learning Céline Dion is one of the owners of Schwartz’s, Phil quips in the series trailer: “I heard after she had that (smoked meat) sandwich, she changed the song to My Heart Will Not Go On.”
Yet somehow Phil’s heart manages to go on.
Former Montreal Gazette restaurant critic Lesley Chesterman served as Phil’s guide for part of his odyssey, taking him on a walking tour of the Plateau and introducing him to the tantalizing Portuguese chicken and unique poutine of Ma Poule Mouillée.
“Phil couldn’t have been nicer. Or funnier. He had such unbridled enthusiasm, always smiling,” Chesterman says. “He absolutely loved Montreal. And this show will hopefully give Montreal tourism the boost and exposure it will require when life gets back to normal.”