Written by Jonathan Brouillette on 19.06.17

Chefs are the new rockstars. Like the Led Zeppelin of yesteryear, chefs strum our tastebuds with notes of flavour and chords of spice. If anything aside from their delicious creations have made them popular, it is the Food Network’s chef battle shows. Forcing chefs to face off in culinary battles has been the perfect way to show off their skills since then. Thus, when The Captain’s Boil chose to host a 4-way seafood boil battle, we were very excited to experience the entire thing.

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The Captain’s Boil, for those shamefully unaware, is part of a new wave of restaurants that allow you to eat freshly boiled seafood in some of the most delicious sauces. These restaurants absolutely require you to eat with plastic gloves and a bib. If you expect to get out of there with anything less than a mess on your hands… think again. But the taste! The amazing Cajun, garlic, or lemon pepper flavours mixed with their variable spiciness is to die for.

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Furthermore, you get to choose whether to slather that sauce on either crawfish, lobster, shrimp, or three types of delicious crab. We were lucky enough to experience the spicy Cajun lobster. The mess was well worth the rich spiciness of the boiled lobster.

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But enough about the deliciousness that you can find at The Captain’s Boil, the Boil Battle was the highlight of the night. The four chefs faced-off in the 45 minute battle: Chef JC of Presto Gourmet, Chef Christ of Le P’tit Creux, Chef Victor of Tacos Victor, and finally Chef Denis of Pub Brewskey. Each one created a unique take on the seafood boil, though each was equally delicious. Chef Victor started us off with a seafood boil cocktail including a beautiful mango salsa and shrimp simmered in spicy ancho chilies. Chef JC continued with a generous heap of seafood pescatore on top of a flowing lava of risotto.

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Next was Chef Denis with a particularly smokey and spicy seafood selection on top of some rice in the paella range of flavours. Finally, Chef Christ amazed us with his giant jar of antillese and tunesian spice mix which he applied liberally to the seafood and potatoes. This was, in fact, the winner, with its deep spicy and homely flavour reminiscent of a North African family meal. Despite the 45 minute deadline, it tasted like it had been simmering all afternoon.

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The Captain’s Boil and its Seafood Boil Battle were a great success. It is really no particular surprise considering the amount of amazing seafood you can readily find there. There’s just something about a big bag of spicy, messy seafood that speaks to our souls. The fact that you have to eat it with your hands just adds to the amazing experience. Find yourself one of the two locations on Sainte Catherine near Concordia or on Saint Laurent near the Chinese gate.

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1836 Saint-Catherine St W, Montreal, QC H3H 1M1
(514) 846-1268

Photos by Jonathan Brouillette (@darksteelangel).

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