Leave Joe Beef in Peace, Stop Ordering the Double Down
Joe Beef's foie gras Double Down. Photo © Aaron Arizpe / pocketfork.com.
Montreal's Joe Beef is known for some seriously decadent dishes: massive steaks served with marrow bones, lobster spaghetti in bacon-brandy cream sauce and, most infamously, the foie gras Double Down, described by Food & Wine restaurant editor Kate Krader as "a supersize bacon-and-cheese sandwich topped with chicken-skin mayonnaise and sandwiched between deep-fried foie gras cakes."
Co-creator David McMillan, who runs the restaurant with Frédéric Morin, recently revealed to F&W that the dish was conceived as a bit of a prank on gimmick-hungry food writers—and that it backfired.
"We first did it as a joke," he said. "We were laughing at food media one day, and decided to come up with the perfect lure. We started sending them out whenever a blogger came in. As we predicted, the dish took off on social media and turned into our little nightmare, and now we’re trapped into making it. I would never eat it. I think it’s disgusting."
As the restaurant's signature dishes go, McMillan prefers the crispy pork schnitzel with egg and anchovy, and he likes his winter gin and tonics with crushed cedar. Read more from Joe Beef chefs McMillan and Frédéric Morin in their Holiday Inspiration Served Daily interviews.
Related: The Radical French-Canadian Food of Joe Beef
Gail Simmons's Montreal Guide
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