En garde, France!

Critic bids adieu with a salute to the meaty fare at L'Opinel

by SPANKY HOROWITZ

Almost everyone in France owns an Opinel pocketknife. This beautifully crafted blade symbolizes rural life in France; it is not a weapon, but a tool, mostly used to slice sausages and cheese onto hunks of bread when sitting by the river, enjoying the countryside. To celebrate the glory and timelessness of this blade in Montreal, there is a bistro on Gilford called L'Opinel. If you happen to order something that requires cutting, like one of their superb steaks, you will be furnished with an actual Opinel knife.

The restaurant is simple yet stylish, with its blue tiled floors and its plain red and yellow walls. They serve lunch and dinner, but I would recommend a midday meal for those watching their purse strings.

We began our meal with a selection from the wine list, a Coteaux du Languedoc red for $21, less than double the price at the SAQ. Fair. Dry. Fruity. I tried two starters. The chèvre chaud sur croutons($5) was fantastic. Thick slices of goat cheese were melted onto thin slices of yesterday's baguette (toasted) to create the ultimate grilled cheese, which was complemented by the wine. On the other hand, calmars frits à la parmesane($6) tasted a little bland, as I'm used to the spicy batter used in both Japanese and Greek treatments of this international delicacy. It was acceptable, but not remarkable.

The lunch menu includes soup or salad, six appetizers priced from $5-8 and about 20 main dishes priced from $9-16. We passed on the soup and the salad had run out, but our appetizers had sufficiently stabilized our hunger.

I requested the cassoulet Toulousain($16) and the choucroute Alsacienne($14). Unfortunately, both dishes include cuts of meat that are quite tender, so no Opinel was set before me. Fortunately, both dishes were perfectly cooked.

Both dishes feature Opinel's superb home-made sausages and some cuts of smoked ham, but the individual treatments lent a completely different and unique flavour to each piece of meat. A cassoulet Toulousain is a stew of white beans, sausage, smoked ham, white wine, duck-leg confit and vegetables. The meat was so tender that I did not even need my butter knife to slice bite after delicious bite. The coarse texture and mild flavour of the beans contrasted nicely with the saltiness of the smoked ham and the richness of the sausage.

The choucroute, which is sausage and smoked ham cooked in sauerkraut, was also a winner. Each bite of meat was tinted with the flavour of the pickled cabbage and the spice of juniper berries, with a nose of a fine white wine. Ooh-la-la, c'est magnifique. Dessert, which was absolutely unnecessary, was coffee with a thin slice of raspberry/chocolate cake.

I don't think French food gets any better at these prices, but just to make sure, I'm going to check it out. By the time you read this, I will be commencing a sabbatical in the south of France, where I will no doubt acquire my own Opinel pocketknife. I will also make an in-depth study of French food all across the nation and will publish my findings when I return in the spring.

I will miss all of you dearly, and I will think of you when I am sipping wine, slicing saucissons and wearing my beret. I encourage all of you to e-mail me with recommendations of where to eat in France.

I have ants in my pants and I'm going to France. Au revoir. :

Comments or questions... foodspanky@hotmail.com

Bistro L'Opinel

Address: 408 Gilford

Telephone: 848-9696

Hours: lunch Mon-Fri 11:30am-2:30pm, dinner Tues-Sat 17:30pm-close

Best features: simple and affordable French food and wine

Vegetarian friendly: yes

Credit cards: Yes

Wheelchair access: One step up

Alcohol: Yes

Price: lunch $9-$22 per person, dinner $12-35 per person, before drinks, taxes and tip

Rating: HHH out of HHHH