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Moonshine BBQ

Went by last night at 1030PM. they sold all their meat but the store smelled wonderfully.

Anyone try the place?


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  1. There's already a thread on the subject: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/910144

    I'm going tomorrow, so I'll try to report back.

    1. I went there last night as well. The pulled pork was tasty as was the corn bread but the tater tots were barely lukewarm. Will give them another try.

      The place is very popular with friends and family of the owners who have all posted glowing reviews on UrbanSpoon.

      4 Replies
      1. re: eat2much


        Ha! I guess those people have yet to discover Chowhound. I hope they never do.

        1. re: SnackHappy

          I love those reviews of new restaurants on Urbanspoon, RestoMtl, etc…I see it all the time, they stick out like a woman at a Navy party. A place will be opened for three days but they'll have a page of perfect reviews from users with only 1 review.

          Let the food speak for itself, a few friends writing glowing reviews will not make a place if they don't deliver the goods to real customers. Moonshine's website mentions a Lunch Menu coming up so I'll try them at that point.

          1. re: JerkPork

            i have a hard time believing that anyone opening a restaurant on decarie has a clue

            1. re: JerkPork

              Hahah ya you gotta love that. I wrote a bad review on one place that did exactly that, and by the next day 3 more of their friends wrote a positive review to make up for my bad review. Pretty pathetic..

          1. re: unlaced

            I'm not quite sure what to make of that. The author puts down the restaurant, but doesn't really tell us why he didn't like it other than "It doesn't taste like smoke". This review seems to me like a bit of a hack job. I wish he had some stronger arguments than "Trust me, I know what I'm talking about."

            I didn't get to try the place last time, but I am going this week. I'll make it a point to report back here.

            1. re: SnackHappy

              it's just that if you are lucky enough to have tasted "real" USA BBQ, then Moonshine is not worth it.

              1. re: Maximilien

                Is that your personal opinion or are you just relating what was written in the article? Because, in the case of the latter, that's what I understood as well, but nowhere in the article does he even state that he's had BBQ in the US. He just acts a bit condescending and seems to hope we'll buy into whatever he's implying. Maybe he has had it, but that doesn't necessarily qualify him as a BBQ expert, either.

                I have no opinion about Moonshine BBQ. Maybe it really isn't that great. I'll give you my take on it after the weekend. What I do know, however, is that this review is poorly written and doesn't make a very strong argument against the place.

                1. re: SnackHappy

                  I have found that many of the reviews on Cult Montreal have a very uninformed but uber-hipster 'tude. They remind me of a sign that used to hang at my local butcher in the '80's that read "Hire a teenager while they still know everything".

                  1. re: eat2much

                    Everything in CultMtl has that tone...

                    Not to stereotype blogs and online mags done by young people; I find "alamodemontreal" quite thoughtful, including their food reviews.

                    1. re: lagatta

                      the worst reviews are by Bartek Komorowski although his reviews are now slightly better than they were when he was writing for the MTL MIRROR.

                      1. re: catroast

                        Watch his well-produced cooking videos on youtube, particularly "How to Correctly Feed Vegans", and you might get a different appreciation for his style of writing.

                    2. re: eat2much

                      CultMtl has the uber-hipster 'tude because they are run by former Hour and Mirror writers, and that was and is the contributors and the audience. They even carried over Rant Line. Plus they're mostly unpaid, it's free, and you get what you pay for. But when the 'best' articles are the jokey ones like the Brochette obit or a guide to public outdoors drinking, there's a problem. Mind you, the best Hour and Mirror writers landed on their feet in paid gigs.

                      For uber-hipster-oriented arts and culture coverage, Midnight Poutine and Nightlife are head and shoulders above Cult (and above the Mirror and the Hour for at least their last couple years, too, come to think of it). MP is quite good at food reviews of unpretentious places, which is impressive since I get the impression most of their correspondents are 'starving' students. A reminder that good cheap food (& the relative ease of opening a non-alcohol licensed kitchen) is one of this city's definite strengths. One of MP's best features are comparison reviews, on a scale, of places serving the same kind of cuisine.

                  2. re: Maximilien

                    There is plenty of crappy BBQ in the USA as well.

                  3. re: SnackHappy

                    Snackhappy, you took the words out of my mouth concerning this horrible review, I said the same thing, "is this person friends with another BBQ joint". I had to laugh from the get go when the reviewer wrote that "if you think that cooking up some burgers on that big propane-powered cast-iron grill in your backyard is barbecue", geez thanks, I never knew that.

                    As I posted in the other Moonshine thread, their meats are decent and IMO better than the over rated Blackstrap. I was really disappointed the last time I was at Blackstrap, some places just get a following from buzz like certain food trucks, I just don't get it.

                    We're not in the south, we don't have a culture of BBQ these places are a start.

                    1. re: JerkPork

                      best part was (paraphrasing) the chicken tasted like chicken

                      let me tell you something, not enough places have chicken that tastes as it should.

                2. I finally made it to Moonshine, this weekend. I have to say, I was quite pleased with my meal. The place is not much to look at and the location isn’t great, but the food certainly does the job. We ordered the Champion ($54 and plenty for three people) which included ribs, pulled pork, brisket and sausage, along with braised greens, tater tots, sweet potato fries and macaroni and cheese.

                  Of the meats, the pulled pork impressed me most. It’s the best version I’ve had yet in Montreal. I tried it with both their mustard and vinegar sauces, there’s also a sweet BBQ sauce, and both worked really well. The sausage is also quite good. I wasn’t crazy about them putting sauce on them, but I guess that’s the style. The ribs were good, but I found the rub lacked a certain something. I also found them slightly undercooked. The brisket didn’t really do it for me. It fell apart too easily. I reckon it must be braised. It reminded me of the brisket at Triple Crown.

                  The sides were all pretty good. I’m not really a fan of sweet potato fries, but I guess these were fine. The tater tots were tater tots, and not greasy like someone had previously reported. The mac and cheese was decent, but that’s another dish that never really gets me excited. The greens were well prepared and much appreciated to break up the meat fest. Of course, the meat had nice smoke rings and tasted of smoke.

                  Overall, I’d say this place is worth a shot if you’re in the area. They have some special menu items that I guess get changed around. That’s not a bad reason to go back. Service when we went was slightly confused but gracious and friendly. Prices are ok, but I thought the beer, $6,90 for a bottle of Molson Canadian, was a bit expensive.

                  In the end, I prefer the ribs and brisket at Blackstrap, but I would go back for that pulled-pork, sausage and some of those special sides.

                  3 Replies
                  1. re: SnackHappy

                    Thanks for your report. You have experience with trying top notch BBQ in the US? My experience of Southern BBQ is mostly limited to Montreal(never tried Southern BBQ in the US). I liked Moonshine BBQ in one time there(mostly just the Ribs & some sides). What special items would they sometimes carry? What type of sausages are they cooking on their smoker?

                    1. re: BLM

                      'You have experience with trying top notch BBQ in the US?"

                      Not really, I've had BBQ in the US, but I was young and not much of a foodie at the time. My observations are based mostly on following the BBQ trend in Montreal.

                      "What special items would they sometimes carry?"

                      When I was there, I saw some tamales and a gumbo dish. I didn't ask about what other stuff they serve.

                      "What type of sausages are they cooking on their smoker?"

                      I didn't ask what they called it, but it was a nicely seasoned and spiced pork (I think) sausage with a lovely semi-coarse texture. I can't confirm whether or not it's made on-site.

                      1. re: SnackHappy

                        You have been to Rubs Smokehouse yet? If yes, do you like their Southern smoked meats? Wanted to go there last week, but they're still closed for renovations(re-opening at end of this month).

                  2. I had reviewed Moonshine in the other thread a couple of weeks ago (why are there so many multiple threads these days?) anyway was there for lunch again recently and had the pulled pork this time, definitely the best I've tried in the city. My last complaint was about the POM bread well they rectified that now and use a challah type bun, much better.

                    To mods, can we merge some threads?

                    4 Replies
                    1. re: JerkPork

                      Our software doesn't allow us to merge threads but you're very welcome to link to the other thread here.

                      1. re: The Chowhound Team

                        I linked to it in the the first reply and asked mods to lock this one, but nothing happened.

                        1. re: SnackHappy

                          We didn't see a flag on this thread or any of its replies, nor a request to lock it - sorry if we missed it. Since there are active conversations on both threads now, we'll keep both open.

                          1. re: SnackHappy

                            Actually, we did see the flag - sorry for any confusion. Since the thread wasn't an exact dupe, it wasn't removed. Multiple threads on the same restaurant are OK.