Getting my meat on in Montreal: Bar B Barn (...and brews at Dieu du Ciel)

As if one large, meaty meal per day was not enough, after my filling lunch at Bofinger with Theo, my lovely hostess Jess took me and her sister, Lisa, who was also visiting, to The Bar B Barn for supper.

The Bar B Barn has always been one of Jess's favourite meat joints; I remember when I was still living with her, she would sometimes come back with takeout bags filled with chicken and fries. It turns out that she also loves bringing her guests there - her parents go almost every time they visit and Jess once bought her dad a Bar B Barn hat for his birthday!

Although the name "Bar B Barn" conjures up images of rowdy patrons with Southern drawls and loud country or old-school rock blaring in the background, it was much quieter than expected... us three giggling girls were the loudest ones there! The decor definitely lives up to the name though - the interior is done up in wood panelling and retro hockey paraphernalia adorns the walls.

Upon being seated, We were immediately asked what we wanted to drink by a waiter whose accent was so heavy we could barely understand, and then left with our menus (which doubled as placemats).

The Bar B Barn only does two things - ribs and chicken. Everything else on the menu is either a side, beverage or dessert. On Jess's recommendation, we each got a rib and chicken combo ($17.80, or $18.80 with fries) so we could try a bit of everything. ("Maybe we should just get two to share amongst the three of us?" "No, I can finish one." "Fine.") I got one with fries so that we could all try some.


Before...
For the volume of food that we got, it came out surprisingly quickly. Each plate had three or four huge ribs, a quarter chicken, a side of tomato rice, a roll, some BBQ sauce for dipping and a single onion ring (my chicken and onion ring are hidden under those fries somewhere). The ribs were already covered in BBQ sauce, and they were succulent and flavourful. The chicken was very moist and tender, and took to the sweet, tangy BBQ sauce well. Jess and Lisa loved the sauce, but I was pretty neutral about it, as it tasted just a step above ketchup to me.

I only had a couple bites of the tomato rice, partly because I was so full from all the meat, and partly because I simply didn't like it - it was basically Minute Rice covered in a watery tomato sauce. I also didn't have the roll either... Maybe it's just that when I'm getting my meat on the only accompanying carbs that my body will accept are those that are fried.


After.
I don't think I did too badly... though I couldn't finish my sides, I did manage to finish all of the meat. I eyed Jess's clean plate jealously - she does triathlon and has a naturally high metabolism to begin with so she can pack it in when she needs to.

Despite nursing a food baby, I somehow managed to make my way up to Dieu du Ciel to meet up with the Trib Boys. The guys were shocked that I'd never been, but I'd always lived far from the Plateau and didn't go out very often during school anyway. But what a find, and clearly Montrealers know about it because it was packed despite it only being Thursday night. DDC is a microbrewery that brews a huge variety of the most amazing and creative beers. I had the Route des Épices, a red ale flavoured with peppercorns that had a heat that actually lingered after you drank it, and the Solstice d'Été, a wheat beer flavoured with sour cherries that was the colour of fruit punch and didn't taste like beer at all. All in all, a fun night.

The Bar B Barn
Downtown location:
1201 Rue Guy
Montreal QC H3H 2K5
(514) 931-3811

West Island location:
3300 Boulevard des Sources
Dollard-des-Ormeaux QC H9B 1Z7
(514) 683-0225


Dieu du Ciel
29 Ave Laurier O
Montreal QC H2T 2N2
(514) 490-9555