It's in a house/building. The first floor is like the main dining room, while the second floor looks like it's a private room. I think the idea underlying the design is that it was supposed to a french chateaux or something like that. The got like this fluere de lille pattern on the wall up to the second floor. The first floor has got like these things in the corners that look like the edge's of stucco walls on houses. They also have these light fixtures where there is a circular fabric shade. The ceilings are kind of too low for the sort of fixtures they got. Its kind of got like a cream colour to the main room. I took a peak into the private room on the second floor and its kind of got this purplish red colour to it. While certainly not on the cutting edge of interior design, the place is infinitely better looking than the freak show that is Mistura. I don't find the place offensive or anything.
The crowd tends to be on the older side, 50 or there abouts. But I did see a couple of couples that were younger, they looked like they were late-20s. Given the quality of the food, which I will discuss below, it might be a popular date spot if you got the money.
There is a certain formality to the service here. If you don't put your napkin in your lap, the waiter will do it for you. However, they don't fold up the napkin if you leave the table. The waiter we had was really helpful. He answered questions about the menu and made some suggestions about some wines by the glass. They're really polite too. I guess they have a sommelier or perhaps a well informed hostess -- she was wearing a different outfit than the waiters and the servers. The table next to us had some guy complaining about the bouquet of the wine he ordered. Apparently it wasn't up to snuff. So it wasn't off, it just wasn't good as he expected. So in this really polite way the sommelier tells him that he doesn't know what he's talking about after she sniffs (i.e., "It smells fine to me sir."). People like this should just stick to table wine or take a course in wine tasting.
The wine list is actually quite good. They have quite a good selection of wines available by the glass. The best values in terms of quality for price are going to be the Canadian whites, which are in the $50 or so range. The reds will be a little harder to work. The corkage fee is $25 and includes decanting. We brought a Dead Arm Shiraz from 2000. It was incredible. (They had a dead arm shiraz from 2003 --not as good as the 2000 -- on their list and it was $125 to give you a benchmark.) If you're going to with a red, its probably better to bring your own and go all out and pay the corkage fee. If you like the whites you can probably go with one the good Canadian ones they have.
The food here is really top notch. I've been here before and it looks like there is some turnover in the menu -- always a good sign. I think they're signature dishes are the crab cakes in the starters and the ostrich in the mains. I've had both of them and they are really good. The ostrich is basically like steak, but a lot leaner. This time around I tried something different. I started with the grilled octopus. I guess everyone does grilled calamari, so octopus is a bit of an original choice. It came with fennel, potato, olives and arugula as an accompaniment. It was a really great balance of flavours with some contrasts. It wasn't oily, like some grilled calamari dishes -- it was just right. Well plated too. I would definitely have this again. The other people at dinner had the sea scallops and there were some favourable comments made about them. For my main course I had the veal tenderloin. The veal had this nice grey shade. I really like the accompaniment they plated it with a spaetzle (a short rounded egg noodle) with corn, bacon and a clump of butter sauce. Again another well executed dish. The side is really different, but it really meshes well with the veal. In terms of the other people at dinner, the rack of lamb looked good and the New York steak with frites looks like it's the thing you can't go wrong with on the menu. I tried some of the frites, I was eyeing them quite hungrily after I finished my dish. They were pretty crispy, but not oily, and they give you quite a few.
For desert, I shared what they call the grand desert, which has a little bit of everything -- an apple pie, a creme brullee, some sorbet, a chocolate tort with ice cream, etc. For like $14 you can't go wrong with this. I did a close inspection of the creme brullee, the crust wasn't too thick and you could see the vanilla bean trace at the bottom. I also like the apple pie they do there, it's a signature dish for them. I also had an americano, so like most places in the city coffee is going to be an issue.
In terms of the price point, most of the starters are in the $15 dollar range and the mains are in the low $30 range. Our bill, for 3, came out in the $250 range. I would guess if you don't bring your own wine, it would be $120-$130 per person for dinner.
Overall, other than the pedestrian look to the place there's no problem here. If they did some serious rethinking of the interiors you would probably start thinking of the next level. But as it is right now this place is really good high-end choice.
Rating: 2 Bunnies
Notes on the Bunny Rating System:
- 0 or no Bunnies, it's a waste of time; don't go.
- 1 Bunny, the place is worth checking out.
- 2 Bunnies, you should go out of your way to check out the place; the food is really good and the place is cool.
- 3 Bunnies, you absolutely have to go there; the food is exceptional and the place is really cool
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