South Shore Gets A Swanky Victorian Pub in Madame Bovary

South Shore-ites have a shiny new venue that may give a little incentive to not cross over to the island for a night out — Madame Bovary has just opened up in Boucherville, in the former Rack ‘N’ Roll space. The location — in mall-like Complexe 20-20 on de Mortagne Boulevard — may not seem like an intuitive spot to venture for a night out: other tenants include Thai Express and one of those many breakfast restaurants with a name that plays on the word “egg”.

But inside, it’s pretty darn nice. It’s billed as a “Victorian beer garden/restaurant”, the vibe is of a high-end pub. The menu comes from food truck Quai Roulant’s chef Julien Messier — it’s small plates but with a bit of a bistro vibe: maple-braised pork jowls with celery root and marinated mushrooms, snow and blue crab croquettes with Chinese cabbage, and several tartares. There’s also more standard pub/bar fare (e.g. burgers).

Despite the “beer garden” descriptor, cocktails look to be the strongest point of the bar program — a fruit-oriented range of original mixes include a Calvados version of a whiskey sour, the “Lord Sour”.

The space is pretty mixed-use: there’s private dining areas, and a billiards space (a not to the old Rack ‘N’ Roll) — clearly, one perk to setting up shop in the ‘burbs is that space is at much less of a premium. Despite the physically big space, designer Amlyne Phillips has done a solid job keeping it on the Victorian theme — take a look.

Grid View

The restaurant is a co-production between PA Bedard, Donavan Richard, and Phil Grisé (of on-island bar and small plate spots Don B. Comber and Empire Cinko), alongside PJ Goupil (Jatoba, Kampai Garden) — together, they put a hefty million dollars into the venue.

STATUS — Madame Bovary is open at 20 de Mortagne Boulevard in Boucherville from 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. Tuesday to Sundays.

• Madame Bovary [Official]