Location(s):
A. 732 Sainte-Catherine Street West, Montreal
B. 1658, rue Saint-Denis, Montréal
www.les3brasseurs.ca
(All images photohogger)
Let me start with the pros of the restaurant:
Amazing beer-battered poutine. Great atmosphere: loud, bustling, was fun to be there during the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Food (pros & cons):
Everything was grease-central (could be a pro for some?). The fish and chips came with overly battered and overly deep fried fish, so much so that the fried shell separates from the fish. 
The flatbread pizzas are so thin, which some peopel may prefer, but I say why bother! You practically have to eat the whole thing with a knife and fork which I know some prefer for eating pizza, but I like to pick it up like a pie. Loaded with lots of veggies so it wasn't bad. 
My understanding of, and the way I make, a Nicoise salad is with tuna, hard-boiled eggs, beans, tomatoes, olives, optional artichokes, red pepper and anchovies, all on a bed of lettuce. This one came with smoked meat instead of tuna. Since all of us eat mostly only fish, we opted for no smoked meat. It was alright, but would have preferred more of the original style of a nicoise salad. 
The beer-battered poutine (that we didn't order) was delish. We ordered regular poutine and thought that what we got was regular poutine, and wondered why it was so greasy. But as far as greasy poutine goes (which it all mostly is, anyway), it was a winner!
The cons of the restaurant:
What is with the section of the restaurant that is also part dish-clearing station/garbage take out? Please get rid of this section! I understand one has to clear the dishes and take out the garbage, but is there not a wall behind which this could be done? We had to sit there and be a witness to a server scraping off the plates into the trash and worse see one of them struggle to pull out the garbage bag from the trash can - minus gloves! Then the trash can fell over with a crash! Not something that you want to see before (or anytime) you get your meal.
Then, we were billed for the beer battered poutine ($8.99) which we ate unknowingly as we thought we'd simply ordered the regular poutine ($5.99). I realize it's only a difference of $3, but it was still the server's mistake which she acknowledged and insisted to correct but the manager then said couldn't be reversed. So our server told us not to tip her instead. How ridiculous is that? Needless to say we DID tip her on top of their mistake. She gave us each $5 gift cards to use back in Toronto. Thanks but you won't see us running over there anytime soon.
Sitting next to the kitchen on visit number two (St. Denis location), we had a clear view of all the cooks in the kitchen, all the orders given, all the plates being served, and all the accidents, such as the dropping of a plate of salad near our end of the table. A hearty dose of salad dressing landed on four of us and what did they do to make up for it? "2 beers on us!" Thanks fellas...we were only a group of fifty! And the group menu they gave us was crap. Four options for dinner included: some flatbread with chicken dish, some sausage and sauerkraut dish, some veg lasagna and some chicken skewer dish with fries. I had the veg lasagna and it was soggy, covered in cheese and tasteless.
Besides that, the restaurant is so cramped (why else would we have been right beside the kitchen?) that our server(s) kept squeezing their ar*** between our two tables to get to another section of the restaurant. This happened all night long and I received several scrapes to my back from their pens! Definitely not a good dining experience.
I don't know who the three brewers are but they need to get their act together. The beer they brew? Not one of them did I fancy...but I'll let Beerhogger review them for you. 
Overall, A had slightly better food and service, whilst B is somewhere I never wish to dine again.
One can hope that Toronto's location is better, but I'm not holding my breath.
A.
B.
Beerfest VI
It was the annual Beerfest at our house this weekend. Beerhogger has blogged about the two breweries we toured this year: Cameron’s Brewing Co., and Trafalgar Brewing Co. in Oakville.
Check it out on BEERHOGGER!
Check it out on BEERHOGGER!
Martha's Exchange
Location:
185 Main Street, Nashua, NH
Cost: approx $9-15 per lunch entree (after 5pm, approx $15-19)
www.marthas-exchange.com
I've been to Nashua a slew of times but never dined at Martha's Exchange on Main Street. Martha's Exchange has no relation or connection to Martha's Vineyard or Martha Stewart. It actually began as a sweet shop which simply grew and grew. More of it's history can be read here.
We made it there for lunch one day and found it quite busy. We only had about 45 minutes for a quick bite so we had to order quickly, although I would have liked to have perused the menu better and also enjoyed a beer with my meal considering it's brewed on the premises. 
Our dishes took a fair bit of time to arrive; turned out the delay was due to a large party of 30 on the other side of our booth.
However, when our dishes did arrive, we were very pleased.
My Mum ordered the Jambalaya ($12).
The Jambalaya was better than I've tasted in New Orleans! It's ingredients being: blackened chicken, andouille sausage, shrimp and fresh veggies sauteed in a spicy marinara sauce. It had a good kick to it (you know how I like it hot!) and was very fresh.
I'd ordered the Almond Maple Salmon ($15)
Fresh Atlantic salmon topped with sliced almonds and baked in a maple butter sauce. Baked IN a maple butter sauce INDEED! My salmon was having a long hot soak in a jucuzzi of butter!!! I'd have preferred it not having quite so much R&R. It was, however, quite tasty but the rice it came with was nothing special.
At one point during our meal the elderly lady in the booth behind us spilled her drink creating quite a commotion (someone may have been enjoying the beer afterall!). It seemed it was her birthday and she was treating her daughter and a couple of other friends to lunch. They all left before she did and the lady told us as she was leaving that she was alright and we nodded and sympathised with her. The next moment my Mum spilled her drink all over the seat as well! Very strange. Perhaps Martha's is haunted by a playful ghost? The website doesn't say but you never know......
I'd love to go back to Martha's and try out the beers and more of the dishes...the menu was quite extensive. I'm also sorry now that I didn't try any of the sweets from the still existing sweet "shoppe" in the corner of the restaurant! Argh! I hate metered parking!!