“Let’s be perfectly clear: The experience in the restaurant is one thing and the frozen-food aisle is quite another,” co-owner says.

Can’t get a reservation at Joe Beef within a decade? And even if you could, would it require a bank loan to cover the tab?

Then you may be delighted to learn that four customized Joe Beef dishes are now available on the frozen-food aisles at all 200 Metro stores in Quebec.

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True, hardly the same epicurean experience as dining at Joe Beef, but at $7.99 for a substantially sized portion of steak, pork or mac ‘n cheese, this world-renowned brand now becomes accessible without breaking the bank. Think of it as a postmodern TV dinner.

Yes, Joe Beef and other local restaurateurs have already been hitting supermarkets with lots of items, from their condiments, spices, coleslaw, pickles, smoked meat, frozen pizza, ribs and uncooked steaks, but this could be a real game-changer with a noted gourmet establishment offering frozen meals with trimmings.

What’s next? Toqué! master chef Normand Laprise coming out with his roasted guinea fowl with zucchini, caramelized cauliflower purée and maitake mushrooms sharing space with frozen yogurt at supermarkets?

The four Joe Beef products are Le Boeuf au poivre, brandy-laced with squash and mashed potatoes; Le Boeuf Mississippi with mashed potatoes, dill and pickled peppers; Le Porc à la Normande with garlic mashed potatoes, cream, cider and braised apples; and Le Macaroni au fromage with sautéed country sausage stuffing. They all require four minutes in the microwave, come in at around 500 calories and are gluten-free, save for the gluten-laden macaroni at 600 calories.

I sampled the four dishes. There is similar consistency to the beef and pork dishes, which is to say they won’t be rare or well-done. Again, one can’t compare them to the same meals served at Joe Beef, not to mention the intimacy therein, but in a pinch and at their $7.99 price point, they beat most available meals at frozen-food sections. They are also surprisingly more flavourful than expected. My favourite was Le Boeuf au poivre, followed closely by Le Boeuf Mississippi, then the pork and, last, the mac ‘n cheese.

“Let’s be perfectly clear: The experience in the restaurant is one thing and the frozen-food aisle is quite another,” says Joe Beef co-founder and co-owner Frédéric Morin. “I don’t want to mislead people into thinking we’re offering some of our classic recipes like lobster spaghetti, which is not yet possible to do frozen.

“I have kids in school and I’m working a lot, so when I have to make dinner, the romance of preparing a loin of lamb with garlic cloves and anchovies is not at all realistic for me. These frozen dinners are; they’re wholesome, made with excellent products under strict supervision. They’re useful and, honestly, I find them nutritious and delicious.”

The meals are prepared at the St-Lazare kitchen facility, Fleury Michon Amérique, under the watchful eye of chef Phil Richer, a former Morin colleague.

“We tried and tasted repeatedly, before coming up with these dishes,” Morin says. “Their quality-control standards are beyond what I had ever imagined. Everything is so sanitized and pristine. We also went to great lengths with the designs of the packages.”

Morin points out that while fancy frozen meals may be a novelty here, Paris’s famed Robuchon restos put out such exotic items as sweetbreads with morrells and beets.

“In Europe, I saw more high-quality frozen foods than ordinary meals. Whenever I travel, the frozen-food sections are always the most exciting to me.”

Well and good, but there will be some concern from restaurant aficionados and gastronomes that the Joe Beef brand could be watered down as a consequence.

“Yes, I’m concerned,” Morin says. “But the reality is that this is making us work twice as hard to live up to our brand. Let’s remember the magic of restaurants is: Who’s with you, who’s smiling at you, who’s pouring your wine … to make people happy. But two people can also sit at home, eat these meals, have some wine and cheese, shave a few truffles and also have a memorable evening.”

The conversation about taking to the frozen-food aisle started, during the height of COVID over two years ago, with Morin and fellow co-founder David McMillan, prior to the latter leaving the business last year and selling his portion of the Joe Beef chain to his former partners.

“At the beginning of COVID, lots of people started thinking that it would be forever,” Morin says. “Nobody knew what was happening. People were freaking out. Some people were thinking of even converting their closed restaurants to factories.

“I’m not an engineer. I wasn’t about to go into home renovation. What was I going to do? Takeout alone wouldn’t do it. So then we started talking to Metro and realized we could do something efficient and well with frozen food. I’ve since learned so much.”

All the same, while bringing new opportunities to the table, operating the Joe Beef chain still remains the prime focus.

“This new arrangement, while attractive, will certainly not be our primary revenue source,” Morin says.

Morin also credits Metro for having the initiative to go forward on this front. If sales live up to expectations, Metro plans to bring the Joe Beef meals to Ontario.

“We had been searching for a quality restaurant brand to get involved with, and realized Joe Beef would make a solid fit,” says Richard Bruneau, the vice-president in charge of all Metro stores in Quebec. “We just launched and already we can see it’s been a really promising start with sales. The future looks bright.”

Morin is also thinking about the future:

“The long-term plan is to make frozen meals closer and closer to what we serve at Joe Beef. Even sweetbreads.”

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