Surf, turf and tube

Magnan’s roast beef, lobster and many
TV screens invite you to indulge

by JOANNA FOX

The summer is here Montreal and it’s time to get your lobster fest on! And what better place to do it than a Montreal institution: Magnan. Open since 1932, this Pointe St-Charles tavern gave solace, roast beef and beer to the working class of this fair city. Now bigger, slightly pricier, with a more elaborate menu, women (the place only let us inside in 1988), a lobster fest in full swing and a giant terrasse that is partially covered (and heated), I decided to venture down and see if all the hype is justly deserved.

I’ll be the first to admit that lobster fest was totally an excuse to check out the famous roast beef that I’d heard my father raving about. Expecting a cozy tavern, I was surprised to see that Magnan’s is huge, with a Magnan express for the purchase of meat and take-out, a tavern on the main floor with various separate rooms, a more upscale dining room in the basement and a giant terrasse outside. And the flat screens, oh, the flat screens! The tavern here is like the Cape Canaveral of sportsdom. I don’t think there’s a seat in the room that doesn’t have a vantage point of at least four screens, even outside.

To start the meal right, my friends and I sampled the lobster bisque ($5.95), the cold New Brunswick lobster entrée ($17.75) and the shrimp and cucumber salad ($8.95). The bisque fell flat. With measly scattered pieces of lobster, the soup was missing a certain richness making the initial taste brief and forgettable, like a cheap wine. The cold lobster was just short of a pound and came with lemon and two warm dipping sauces: butter and garlic and herb butter. With that fresh saltiness of the sea, the lobster was delicious and could easily pass for a main.

The shrimp and cucumber salad consisted of an ice cream scoop of small Matane shrimp on top of a cucumber and shredded lettuce salad in a light vinaigrette with a tiny plastic pot of thousand island dipping sauce on the side. The shrimp were plump with a clean seafood taste and the accompanying salad added to a light and refreshing starter. Very good.

For mains, we ordered the grilled lobster plate ($29.95), the No. 2 roast beef (there are Nos. 1–5 ranging from six-ounce to the manly 20-ounce), a 10-ounce New York strip ($22.95) and a 12-ounce rib eye aged with Magnan’s spices ($25.95). I have to say that the warm lobster was not only bigger (1.5 pounds) than the cold entrée one, but was way more enjoyable grilled and came with a simple rice mixture and a half piece of corn on the cob. For the extra money and double the size, it was worth every tasty lobster-fest morsel.

As for the roast beef, wow. Now I’ve heard rumours that the roast beef had lost its edge, but holy cow, this meat was good. Seasoned, sliced and a perfect uniform pink hue I never thought was possible in a piece of meat, this melt-in-your-mouth roast beef was unbelievable and definitely the climax of the meal. The New York strip was also very good, albeit drastically less seasoned—it allowed us to really taste the high quality of the beef and, of course, a little horseradish never hurts.

The rib eye, with more seasoning (and fat) was juicy steak goodness. All the meat dishes came with a medley of grilled veggies, new for diehard Magnanites and a nice touch.

For sides, we ordered a Monte Carlo potato ($3.95) slathered in crispy generic bacon bits and sour cream, hard to go wrong, some fries ($2.95) that were passable when drowned in ketchup and onion rings ($4.95) that deserve a simple YES. Wash all that down with a couple beers and you’d wonder if we’d eaten for days.

Now Magnan is definitely a place where you can easily go overboard, not only with the mammoth size of the meat available, but also all the fun little add-ons. But if you keep yourself in check, it’s a great place to get your lobster-on, sit outside, enjoy the weather, watch some sports and definitely, definitely, eat the roast beef.