by MARK SLUTSKY

The Sergent Recruteur pub used to be a lonely fixture on the strip of St-Laurent between the Plateau and Mile-End, but since the coming of the Casa del Popolo empire and countless condominiums, it’s got a lot more company. A minor institution in its own right, especially thanks to the very popular Les Dimanches du conte storytelling series and the good beer, Sergent Recruteur always had a weird shape, with an open-concept two-level thing going on. A few months ago they moved to a larger, more expansive space across the street in a former stained-glass store.

Along with the bigger digs has come a new menu, with a strong focus on pizza, salads and a handful of small entrées, though the culinary emphasis is clearly delineated by the new sign, which advertises “pizza + bière.”

Let’s deal with the bière first. They’ve got a nice list, including many of the town’s microbrews (McAuslan, Cheval Blanc), but the real attractions are the Sarge’s own fancifully-named brews, with pints at $5. The Raconteuse is a zesty, flavourful blonde; the Frousse is, as you might expect, a rousse, and a nice rich one at that. The Ténébreuse is the pub’s stout, and the Bitter du Sergent is what you’d expect from the name.

Their current seasonal beer is a watermelon brew, and I felt it my grim responsibility to order a pint—I’ve been burned by fruit beers before, too-sweet apricot or raspberry concoctions—but this was quite nice, very light tasting with only a hint of melon. Marks for restraint on what could have been a sugary catastrophe.

As hinted at above, the culinary focus here is pizza, although there’s also a variety of options that, well, are pretty similar to pizza, like foccacia sandwiches and calzones, plus a scattering of salads and entrées. I was intrigued by the salmon jerky ($3.25), but kind of puzzled that the kitchen didn’t bother to plate it, instead serving it in its original plastic package, like the chef had panicked and ran to the dep when my order came in. At least pretend the stuff is homemade! It was fine, though, salty and savoury and perfectly appropriate with the beer. The salads we had, as part of a prix fixe, were made with fresh greens and balled melons, a nice touch, and were a nice way to start off a summer meal.

The pizzas take up three pages of the menu, and come in a bewildering variety of combinations. To mention just a few: the Williams is made with a base of creamed leeks, instead of red sauce, and is topped with prosciutto, dates poached in red wine and St-Agur cheese; the Lolita has a tomato base, and is topped with lotte fish, mushrooms, fennel, and gruyere; the Maraîchère has a base of onion compote and creamed leeks, and is topped with artichokes, spinach, red peppers, olives, and chèvre; and the Grenoble tops the creamed leeks with nuts, marinated grapes and St-Agur. They’re all $13.75; a very good deal they’ve got going right now offers a salad, a full pizza, coffee and dessert for that same price.

But are they good? Well, yes and no. All of the pizzas we tried (and a calzone) were made with the same herbed, whole-wheat crust, and it wasn’t great. As a dining companion pointed out, the crust can make or break a pizza, and in this case, it broke it.

Furthermore, although the ingredients were tasty and fresh, they were applied over-ambitiously, and frequently the individual flavours got drowned in the din (and the last thing those complicated pizzas needed was an herbed crust).

The Recruteur’s menu needs, I would suggest, a little re-thinking. If pizza is going to be the kitchen’s focus, a better crust (at least one white one) is necessary, and the ingredients need to be pared down. If the food were to equal the beer, it’d really be worth recommending.

Tips? Questions? Compliments to the chef? Email eattothebeat@gmail.com

Sergent Recruteur
ADDRESS: 4801 St-Laurent PHONE: 287-1412
HOURS: Mon–Wed, Sat–Sun 4 p.m.–3 a.m., Thu–Fri 11:30 a.m.– 3 a.m.
BEST FEATURES: The pub’s own beers, tasty well-brewed concoctions
ALCOHOL: Oh yes
WHEELCHAIR ACCESS: One step up
VEGETARIAN FRIENDLY: Yes
CREDIT CARDS: Yes
NO-SMOKING SECTION: Yes—it’s all non-smoking
PRICE: $5–$15 per person, before beer, booze or tip
RATING: ** out of ****