La Fabrique has an attitude and pedigree that is anything but cheap. Brought to us by Chef Jean-Baptiste Marchand, a veteran of the French Restaurant world (Chez L'Epicier, Version Laurent Godbout and Duel), and a few seasoned employees of L’Epicier, La Fabrique definitely has the fabric of great success.

Of late, dropping the fine dining card for more frugal, bistro style food is commonplace, but La Fabrique’s take on the casual dining thing is unique. As owner/interior designer Stephanie Labelle states, “casual food is more of a concept for the team” at this Montreal restaurant and can almost be seen as a theme. The menu isn’t haphazardly thrown together on the cheap, but given a kind of industrial feel as if cutting corners was just a necessary output of the concept of the restaurant, not the recession itself. The industrial theme is featured in everything from the restaurant’s menu, which lists items under the categories in a Jug for soup, in a bowl for salads, in a dish for entrees, and in a terrine for French Classics, to its industrial, assembly line aesthetic.

Chef Marchand’s menu items, boasting garlic and salt rubbed pork flank, beef braised with cinnamon, pork’s foot, duck fat fries, and, my favorite little piece of clever, the homemade Joe Louis for dessert all have a certain pragmatic appeal that fall neatly under the industrial theme. La Fabrique’s food, in other words, is the kind of food that says if you’re hungry, eat. They also, for that matter, have the kind of wine list that says if you’re thirsty, drink with bottles from all over the world ranging from $28 - $175 and at least ten selections by the glass.

For the brunch menu, Marchand constantly changes the menu, serving items like eggs with panko, served over wilted leeks and a base of ham, carrot and mushrooms in white wine. A soup of peaches, blackberries and strawberries is plated with thin butter cookies instead of croutons. Nice touch – E.H