text: What does a chef such as Gordon Ramsay recipient of Michelin stars three for his flagship London restaurant alone serves at his new venture in Montreal a city renowned for its famous chefs and restaurantsnnChicken BBQ chicken to be precisennTurns out chef Ramsay took over a space formerly occupied by a decadesold BBQ joint the Laurier BBQ and revamped the old building giving it new life with a makeover complete with some very young attentive and attractive staff as well as modern fixtures and equipmentnnYet he kept the old menu with rotisserie chicken as the primary focus You can also order other comfortfood items such as burgers grillcheese sandwich etcwith the most expensive items being a whole chicken for and a oz ribeye for That Is a steal in my mindnnI managed to make a reservation a couple of weeks ago from Calgary They will only take reservations for groups of six or more Everyone else will just have to waitnnWhen we arrived this evening there were already a dozen or more people waiting for tables We were sat right away with water offered from milk bottles that had cucumber slices in them I could not taste the cucumber but it was a nice touch anyways Also at each table was a jar of dill pickles which you help yourself to while you wait for your food Some complimentry homemade potato chips also arrived in a waxpaper cone They were all goodnnWe had half chicken double legs BBQ back ribs and fish and chips The chicken was incredibly tender and moist without being greasy at all That is a very tough thing to do It also came with the best fries that I have had yet on this trip The coleslaw was pleasant It was fresh and crunchy and not tart or sour at all At first glance the greyish gravy looked thin and tasteless but it turned out to be packed with flavour It was more a jus than the spicy thick gravy you would usually find at other BBQ joints The ribs were succulent but it only came with the homemade chips We ordered a side of mac and cheese but it was only ok The fish was nicely battered and came with those great friesnnFor dessert we had a tart tatin grilled pineapple rings with icecream and maple creme brulee The desserts were all good with the brulee being the favorite among the tablennFive mains one side three desserts three beers one pop three coffees all for before tip That is for a Gordon Ramsay restaurantnnGordon Ramsay is one smart cookie He has enough cache and street cred to do anything he wants He is talented enough to be able to serve anything he wants Yet he is shrewed enough to know that what people really want from the Laurier is BBQ chicken as they have for decades nnSo rather than reinvent the wheel he instead improves it by taking a dated business that is probably seen better days and turning it into a redux version that is modern and approachable at the same time I mean they have a kids menu offer takeout and they even deliver nnNow if I can just figure out how to get them to deliver to Calgary