I consider myself lucky; I’m not the most socially active individual. However, some of my friends are friends with one of the owners of Maïs. I mention this as there was a very good chance I would have never heard of, or tried this restaurant otherwise.
I’ve been to Maïs on several occasions now. I don’t get treated differently because I’m an acquaintance of the owner. I’ve gone with friends and I’ve gone alone. Each time we just sit down, talk to our mutual friend if he’s working and do our thing. Our thing happens to be devouring these taco’s like they’re approaching extinction.
As the title says Maïs is located at 5439 Blvd St-Laurent in Montreal. When walking in you’re greeted with a small sign explaining that they only accept cash. There’s a small bar with stools along part of the right hand wall. There’s a big table for large groups near the window facing the street and rows of tables going down the left hand side of the establishment. By the time I finally got a chance to try Maïs, several of my friends had already gone once or twice.
On my first visit I looked over the menu and noticed that they had a “Tostada / Avocat, ceviche de pétoncles”. Now I had never had the chance to try a ceviche. I have however grown up eating “pétoncles” (ie scallops) cooked in a variety of ways. I started out by ordering the scallop ceviche, which is 9$. You can see a picture below:
The first time I tried this dish I thought it was delicious. The creaminess of the avocado and scallop went well with the small pieces of radishes and crunchy taco shell. For my first taste of a ceviche I thought it was really good. I had no problems finishing the appetizer by myself (having shared a few pieces with the rest of the table. The second time I ordered the dish I didn’t find it as tasty. Perhaps it was simply a bad batch of scallops or the way it had been made that day. I’ve also seen them use various types of fish once they have run out of fresh scallops in the ceviche. Now you may notice a “red/orange” type fruit in the picture. I believe this may have been grapefruit but I’m not 100% certain and the menu doesn’t clearly indicate it. I’ll ask our friend next time I see him and will then update this post. (Update, confirmed that’s it’s grapefruit June 15th, 2013) Here’s picture #2 of the ceviche which gives you a better view of the contents compared to the above picture:
Having been there a few times I’ve had a chance to sample a large portion of the menu. One of our favorites when we’re there in a group is to order the “carnitas pour quatre”. That’s to say the Carnitas for 4. It’s the large bowl of moist pork meat that you see below. It comes with a platter of side dishes which you can use to spice up the taste of the tacos. It comes with a large bundle of warm moist tacos.
I feel I should mention that the taco’s are not made onsite. The reason is simple; they go through too many of them each day to make them fresh. They would need to have a few individuals doing nothing but taco’s all day long. So instead they get nice fresh taco’s delivered from a company which does just that. Here are two pictures below, the before and after as I like to call it. The plate as it looked when it was dropped off on our table and the plate after we had finished eating.
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- Before
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- After
The carnitas can also be ordered in the form of an “individual” taco. The individual tacos are all priced between 3.50 and 4.50 dollars. If I’m feeling like a glutton, or am really hungry I will order four of them at one sitting with a nice glass of amber ale. However in all honesty a person could get away with ordering only two or three and step away from the table feeling quite content. You can easily have a nice meal for one here under 20-25$.
In the picture below you can see the order from my most recent visit. Starting at the top (or 12 o’clock position) and going clockwise: We have the the black bean, jalapeno, walnut, beet and creme taco. To it’s right we have the veal tongue, which was chopped into little cubes, a peanut salsa and small pieces of radishes. Followed by the fish taco, which had a guacamole base, grilled arctic char and marinated cabbage. Finally we have the single (pork) carnitas taco. It includes some chopped onions, coriander, fried lard and a side of salsa verde.
It was my first time eating veal tongue. The texture and the taste was definitely peculiar. It wasn’t unpleasant but I also didn’t find it delicious. I’ll certainly try it at least a few more times in my future visits. It may be like sushi, where you need to acquire a taste for certain items before you can truly appreciate them.
The carnitas is definitely one of my favorites. The moist pork texture is really complimented by the crunch of the onions and fried lard. The salsa verde adds a fresh twist to the taste.
I have to be honest in saying I thought the fish taco was only mediocre. It wasn’t bad but it simply didn’t appeal to me. It felt like I was eating a piece of fish with a little bit of bread and coleslaw (cabbage salad). This was also the first fish taco I’ve ever tried so I owe it to myself to try it at least a few more times. Hopefully I’ll also get to try it along my travels in the future so that I’ll have something to compare it against. I’ve also seen them change the type of fish they use in the taco if they happen to run out of Arctic char.
The black beans, beet, creme and walnut taco was a nice change of pace from the meat options on the menu. It’s a lot “lighter” on the stomach and leaves you with a fresh taste. However It doesn’t particularly stick out in my mind as one of their better tacos.
Now below I’ve included a single taco, the flanc de porc (pork belly and black beans, watercress and cream). This, along with the carnitas is one of my favorite tacos. Pork belly has been trending for some time and I was lucky enough to have my first real introduction to it while in Korea a few years ago. I didn’t need to be “sold” when it came to trying this taco for the first time. In all honesty the texture and taste of this taco just “works”.
There’s one other thing which I haven’t mentioned yet and it needs to be said. Their hot sauce. They make their own hot sauce which is contained in small brown bottle which looks very similar to “cough” syrup bottles. You can see some of the hot sauce on the pork belly taco above as well as in the top left hand corner of the “before” picture of the carnitas for 4. The sauce isn’t overly hot but it does add a certain “heat” to the taco. I often tell our owner acquaintance that I’m going to steal the bottle each time I visit. I mean the stuff really is delicious. Whenever we arrive in a group and place our orders, the next thing we ask for is an extra bottle or two of the hot sauce.
If you search online you’ll notice a lot of the early reviews were very negative of the service. Very few of the negative reviews have anything to do with the food. I believe that initially Maïs was a lot busier than they expected. Because it has such a warm welcoming atmosphere I also believe it’s the type of place where you like to spend time having a drink talking both prior to and after having eaten a meal. Because of how busy it was they had to rush some people off of their tables in order to allow others to take their place. When you read the negative reviews online, keep this in mind. If you’re heading over to Maïs on a Friday and Saturday evening you’ll want to arrive early so that you can have your name added to the list of people waiting for a table.
They also recently renovated a rear room which can host gatherings. I’m not certain exactly how many people it seats, but you are able to reserve it ahead of time. It has it’s own small bar and if I’d have to guess I would say it can easily accommodate 20-30 people but It could be a slightly smaller number than that. Give them a call and I’m sure they’ll be happy to confirm exactly how many can be seated in the room.
If you’re looking for a place to have some tacos with a twist I highly recommend you give this place a try. Just be prepared to wait in line a little bit if you’re there during the rush hours (lunch/supper/weekends). You won’t regret it!
