Bistro Chezanne

Do you Twitter? You should. Especially if you’re a restaurant – in fact, it’s one of the first things I look for after a website. It’s a great way to let potential customers know what your daily special is, what entertainment you have going on, etc. Speaking as someone who used to hate the idea (“who is so self-centred enough that they feel the need to update the world on everything they’re doing every five seconds?” Oh, that’d be me? Well, then!) it's actually a great place to meet like-minded people. Oh, and let the world know what you're doing every five seconds.

Actually, I like it because it’s quickly become my source for news and information. We actually found Bistro Chezanne through Twitter because someone on my list mentioned that she had an amazing meal there the night before, and we just happened to be near it the following day.

The address is Mississauga, but it’s actually in Streetsville, which is a small section of Mississauga. Right on the corner of Queen and Main, it’s a fairly new restaurant that serves up French food in a cozy atmosphere.

The decor is subtle with pretty art on the walls and candlelight on each table. The front dining room has a big bay window that overlooks the street, but it’s close to the front door so I was afraid it’d be drafty. We were seated at a table in the back dining room by the bar, and found it much quieter back there. The tables have dark linens (a nice change from the white you see everywhere) and ridiculously comfortable chairs. It was all very cozy and intimate.

Our server brought us water in a carafe (nice to have at the table so you don’t have to keep asking for refills) and we ordered a bottle of white wine while we mulled over the menu. Though not a large menu by any means, the dishes were all described in such delicious detail it was hard to narrow down our choices.

We started with the Escargot de Bourgogne ($11) which came out piping hot and cooked in the shells. One of my biggest complaints with escargot is when they are drenched in butter so it’s a greasy mess that you lose the essence of what you’re actually eating. The ratio of butter and garlic to escargot was perfect and made an excellent light start to the meal.

Jersey has never tried frog legs before, and our server recommended the Grenouilles ($14) for him. Served in a tarragon brandy cream sauce with a taste of warm tomato salad, it was fabulous. The legs were cooked so the meat fell off the bone while bursting with flavour in each bite. The sauce...oh my goodness, the sauce...we had to have a second bread basket so we didn’t leave a drop of it. Creamy, flavourful, seasoned perfectly – if I could bottle that sauce and drink it, I would have.

We really struggled with what to order, so we again turned to our server for help in suggesting her favourites. I often ask staff what they recommend and have generally been pleased with their help, so it’s something we do often. Turns out our server had only been working for a little bit, but she had been able to try about 1/3 of the menu and was able to answer our questions based on her own experience. I loved that! I cannot stress the importance of this enough: let your staff eat your food so they can tell customers about it. If they like something, it will come through and make me want it more. It’s a win-win!

Back to the dinner, she suggested the Beef Bourguignonne ($22) because the kitchen had said earlier in the evening that it was the “best batch” they had ever made. Well! That’s a bold statement to make, so we had to know what all the excitement was about, so Jersey ordered it for his entree. Braised beef short ribs with bacon, mushroom and onions with a side of potatoes and vegetables were beautifully plated and served to us. We could actually smell it before it reached our table, and were drooling in anticipation for the meal. The beef was melt-in-your-mouth tender and seasoned well. Though I didn’t find much bacon in the dish, there were hints of smokiness that came through every so often. The vegetables were cooked to a crisp and the mashed potatoes were creamy with a hint of goat cheese.

One of my weaknesses is lamb – if I see it on a menu, I have to order it. The Lamb ($28) here was served as two medallions over a bed of mashed potatoes and served with grilled zucchini. There were crispy parsnip chips and a fantastic sauce that was sweet with a hint of smokiness. I’ve tried lamb from many places, but this was hands down, the best lamb I have ever had in my life. My life!!

Both entrees were so delicious that Jersey and I actually split them both so we could savour the different tastes and textures. It was no easy feat pulling that lamb away from me though, let me tell you.

Finally, we ended with the daily dessert special which was a Pear Tart that was extremely sweet, but served over cinnamon unsweetened yogurt. I am not generally a fan of yogurt, but it cut the sweetness of the tart so perfectly that I needed it with each bite. The yogurt is actually a fantastic alternative to the usual whipped cream you so often find on desserts these days.

Overall, this was one of the best new restaurants we have been to in the past while. The attention to detail in the food, and the impeccable service made it a wonderful evening. If you are looking for an intimate night where you can linger over a fantastic meal, I highly recommend Bistro Chezanne. I believe the winter menu is now available, as is a Prix Fixe menu that offers a three course meal for only $32.

Bistro Chezanne
209 Queen St. S, Mississauga
www.bistrochezanne.ca

Julia's Ristorante

A while back I had written about an Italian place on Dundas, and how I found my experience there to be...disappointing to say the least. Julia is a restaurant on Lakeshore that is the creation of the same owner, and my experience at Julia was night and day.

Julia is a beautiful location on the corner of a block on Lakeshore with a large patio in the summer. I would describe the decor as elegant chic with eclectic light fixtures and art on the wall. The restaurant is dimly lit with candles on each table to give it a cozy feel. 

The menu is a bit more upscale with an Italian/Latin fusion, and there are some really interesting choices. Our server was incredibly patient with us and knew the menu inside-out. She helped us pick between the dishes we were debating and her suggestions turned out to be exactly what we were looking for.

As we were waiting for our food, fresh bread was brought to the table (in a colander instead of a basket) and we nibbled on it with fresh oil and vinegar. The bread was crusty on the outside and soft on the inside, but it was cold so that threw me off – not room temperature, but actually cold as though it was from the fridge. I found that odd.

We started with the Fondue which was a mixture of sharp cheeses that was kept warm over a tea light and served with cubes of bread and blanched asparagus and green beans. The vegetables were served cold, but nice and crisp, and their sweetness cut the creaminess/saltiness of the cheese nicely. It was an okay dish and fun to eat, but it wasn’t amazing.

Seafood Bouillabaisse was full of fresh seafood simmered in a flavourful tomato broth. There were crab legs, fish, mussels, clams, scallops and shrimps that were all perfectly cooked and tasted fresh. Nothing was over cooked or tough, and there was no fishy smell, to any of the meats. The broth was sweetened from the seafood and there was a slight kick from the seasonings that blended everything together into a delicious combination. Served with slices of bread for sopping up the broth, the dish was extremely filling and I would recommend it only if you’re very hungry or sharing!

Lamb Osso Bucco was a nice change from a standard osso bucco. It was served with polenta and grilled rapini which added delicious textures and flavours to the dish. The portion of lamb was huge and fell off the bone into tender, flavourful pieces. The sauce was tangy and slightly sweet with mixed well with the mild bitterness of the rapini. The creaminess of the polenta tied everything together wonderfully. 

 The food was delicious, and service was attentive without being overbearing. Our server knew the menu well and listened to our needs to make excellent recommendations. I would come back solely because the service was so excellent.

Julia's Ristorante
315 Lakeshore Rd. E., Oakville
http://www.juliasristorante.com/main2.html

Cafe du Lac

We wanted to celebrate our engagement/anniversary by going out for a nice meal, but Jersey (aka the boyfriend aka the fiancé – figured if we’re going to spend the rest of our lives together and I keep blogging, I should give him a name) said he would surprise me by picking the place. Not one to turn down a gastronomic surprise, I was curious and excited to see where we were going to end up. No pressure on him or the place of course, but it better be special and awesome because it was going to be etched in my memory forever. My great-grandchildren were going to hear about how their great-grandfather took me to such-and-such a place after he proposed, and I really don’t want to crush my fictional great-grandchildren’s views of romance by saying that it was a horrible restaurant. But again, no pressure on my soon-to-be-betrothed or the unsuspecting establishment; you know, just the mental stability and view of love by our future lineage. No biggie.

Anyhoo, knowing my love for foie gras – no, I don’t want to think about how it’s made and how bad it is for me, because it’s delicious and I love it – he took me to Cafe du Lac, a restaurant that specializes in Quebec-style French food. I am embarrassed to say that I don’t know the difference between Quebec and France style food, but I think it has to do with the addition of poutines and the use of maple syrup in Quebec? Someone correct me if I’m wrong?

Cafe du Lac is on the Lake Shore, tucked in a row of numerous other shops and whatnot, with a small patio outside its front door. It doesn’t look fancy-fancy, but I don’t know if I’d walk in there in shorts and tank top. The restaurant itself is long and narrow and seats about 40, with a long bench along one side of the wall with pretty cushions for extra comfort and pizzazz. Tables are situated fairly close to each other, and it could get pretty loud if there were a lot of people. It slightly deterred from the romance of a quiet, intimate place.

There was one server on the night we went, and she also happened to be the owner. Extremely helpful for us because I always have lots of questions about the menu, and she was able to let us know of dishes that were available but not on the menu. She also told us the ingredients were sourced fresh and they never froze their meat. Throughout the night, she made sure to talk to every table as though we were all her friends, and you could really tell she was passionate about her business. That in itself makes for good service in my opinion.

The menu is simple and changes with the seasons, and written in both French and English. This is not a place to go if you are meticulous about counting calories, FYI. This is a place to go if you want to splurge on creams, cheeses, foie gras and decadence.

As we waited for our food, we munched on fresh bread, baked in-house and served with a creamy, soft herb butter (one of my biggest pet peeves in the world is hard butter that mutilates the bread). Crispy on the outside with a soft, doughy inside, we were off to a good start. It was so good in fact, we asked for seconds. And by “we” I mean me. I love bread. Don’t judge my carb intake.

To start, we shared the “all-dressed” poutine: cream sauce, pulled beef short-ribs, cheese curds and foie gras on top of a bed of fresh-cut fries ($20). This is not your average poutine. The cream sauce and the cheese and the fattiness of the foie gras makes it very rich, and I definitely recommend it as a sharing plate because I’m pretty sure although we shared it, we ate enough calories to feed a large third-world country for about a week and a half. The fries were fresh, but not as crispy as I would have liked – keeping in mind that I have a very high crunch-quota that needs to be filled. The sauce although creamy, had very little other flavour to it, but it was aided by the flavours of the other ingredients. There were surprisingly few cheese curds and I wish there were more because the saltiness would have cut the creaminess of the sauce a bit. The beef was delicious and plentiful, sweet from some sort of flavour I couldn’t quite place, maybe maple syrup? Lastly, the foie gras was perfect. A petite portion perched precariously (how’s that for alliteration?) on top of the mountain of fries, it was seared on the outside and soft and rich on the inside. I love foie gras, and this poutine delivered it well.

Jersey opted for the Wild Boar Tenderloin ($27) which came with a sweet potato mash, veggies and crispy radish chips on top. The mash and veggies were ok; not overcooked and mushy but nothing overly special either. The meat was perfectly pink in the centre and tender – not tough as I was expecting game meat to be. The seasoning was subtle but really brought out the flavour of the meat itself. It was juicy and the crispy radish chips – which I have never seen before – were a great addition with the different texture to the dish.

One of the specialties at Cafe du Lac is the Duck in a Jar ($36), normally only available on weekends unless ordered ahead. I was lucky that night and they had a few already made so I decided it was a sign that I should have one too. It sounds too interesting to not try, “foie gras stuffed duck magret immersed in a port reduction with savoy cabbage, leeks and Berkshire pork double smoked bacon served on a bed of rustic mashed potatoes.” Damn you, foie gras, and your delicious temptation. So, although it was a going to be a long wait (upwards of 30 minutes) I just had to have it, or else risking the rest of my life thinking of what could have been.

Why no, I am not melodramatic, why do you ask?

So back to the duck in a jar...it’s actually pretty neat, and I could smell it before I could see it. And. It. Smells. Amazing. Words cannot describe how awesome this dish smells, but know that as I type this sentence, I am drooling like one of Pavlov’s dogs thinking about it. The dish actually comes to the table with the jar still on the plate, and the server unveils the deliciousness with a flurry of panache and a quick lift of the jar to keep the meat-tower intact underneath. After the jar is lifted away, the smell literally fills the whole restaurant (plus as the dish is being unveiled, the restaurant stops to stare at the wondrous concoction, so be prepared to have everyone looking your way with envy in their eyes). There is a thick layer of fat on one side – do not be alarmed, because it helps to add such wonderful flavour and moisture to the meat. The duck itself was a little tough and a bit rarer than I was initially prepared for, but the flavour was intense. The foie gras in the middle was plentiful and added a subtle creaminess with every bite. I am sad to say that I wasn’t able to distinguish any bacon, but the onion and cabbage mix was soft without being mushy and soaked up the juices perfectly. The potatoes, though simple, were actually the best choice for a side dish because it really let the juice of the duck shine through. Overall, it was a fantastic dish that I would not hesitate to order again.

Upon hearing that we were celebrating our engagement/anniversary, Kathryn, the owner, did the following:

1) Took our picture
2) Tweeted about us
3) Congratulated us and all-around made a big fuss over us so that I felt super-duper special
4) Asked the kitchen to whip up a gigantic dessert platter for us

Like the bread, all the desserts are made in-house by the talented team in the kitchen, using fresh and seasonal ingredients. We were treated to an intensely rich, chocolate cake that tasted like it was pure cocoa. Very chocolate-y with the slight bitterness of pure chocolate, you could taste the quality of the ingredients that went into making it. The maple pie was Jersey’s favourite, and it was delicious. A maple filling on a thin, melt-in-your-mouth crust...we probably could have eaten a whole pie for dinner itself. Finally, the crème brulee trio was creamy with just the right amount of crunch from the burnt sugar on the top. All the desserts were fantastic – I just wish we weren’t so full from our dinners so we could have finished the whole thing.

So did he do well in choosing a place to celebrate a monumental step in our lives? Did he ever! It was a fabulous experience, the meal was delicious and I made a new Twitter friend. Cafe du Lac is not the place to go if you are in a hurry; our dinner took over two hours on a fairly non-busy weeknight. That being said, it’s not really a meal you would want to rush because you want to take the time to savour the different flavours and textures of each dish. If you’re looking to try it, and don’t want to spend quite so much money, I believe they have a number of different budget-friendly options such as a Prix Fixe menu and are a part of the Summer/Winterlicious promotions. Go. Enjoy. Just don’t count your calories that night.


Cafe du Lac
2350 Lakeshore Blvd W., Toronto
www.cafedulac.ca

Otello's

I don’t know about you, but when I get invited to big functions the one thing I’m most excited for is the food. Not to say that a wedding or holiday party isn’t the main event, but to me, the food is one of the most memorable things about the whole soiree. My condolences to whoever has to cater my wedding whenever I decide I want to get married, because I’m going to be crazy with high expectations for my food.

My company had our holiday party at Otello’s, which is a banquet hall that is located on the border of Oakville and Mississauga. The venue is split into a small room in a building to one side, and the main building has one large room that can be split in half with a room divider. Our function was in the main building and we had the whole big room to ourselves. Walking in through the doors, you are in a small foyer with two sets of double doors leading to the main room. The foyer is small but cozy with a fireplace between the sets of doors and warm lighting throughout.

The room itself has a bar directly to the right of the doors along the back wall, and a stage area along the whole left wall. There were no windows in the room, but again, the lighting was warm and there was a cozy feel to the room. Round tables of ten were set up across the room, and there is a dance floor if that is what you’re looking for. From what I understand, there were multiple linen choices and my company chose to go with black table covers and white napkins. The look was elegant and simplistic.

On each table there was a basket of assorted rolls and breads and plates with pats of butter sprinkled with coloured salts. The first course was a butternut squash soup that was served piping hot in simple white bowls. The soup had small chunks of diced butternut squash at the bottom and flecks of parsley floating at the top. The broth was smooth and creamy, pureed to a fine consistency.  The flavouring was subtle and the sweet notes of squash sang through the light cream. It was delicious and kept me wanting more.

As we were enjoying the soup, each table was brought a large bowl of mixed greens which was placed in the middle. I have no problem eating family-style, but one of my fellow diners asked for salad plates and was told that we were to use our bread plates. I found that to be an extremely odd answer – especially for a banquet hall which must serve multiple functions – to not have salad plates was strange to me.

The main course was steamed mixed vegetables, roasted potatoes and chicken in white wine sauce. The presentation was again simplistic; there was no fancy drizzling or anything like that here. A sprinkle of parsley was the only garnish to be had. The carrots and the broccoli were slightly over-cooked and had lost the crispness you would expect when biting into a perfectly steamed vegetable. There was no extra seasoning or anything added to the simply steamed vegetables. I actually ended up leaving them on my plate because one of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to food is overcooked vegetables. Soft and mushy should not be part of my vegetable vernacular when it comes to steaming. A good steamed vegetable should be cooked and have a crunch to it when I bite down. Getting off my vegetable soapbox, the potatoes were delicious. Perfectly seasoned with the smell of fresh herbs and roasted until there was a crispy skin and soft middle. I was much more pleased with the potatoes in comparison to the vegetables. Finally, the chicken had its low points and its high points. The piece I had was cooked to perfection where the skin was crispy and the meat was tender and juicy. The white wine sauce was a light cream sauce that was heavy on the parsley and salt, but I didn’t quite taste the wine. My biggest complaint with the chicken was that although it was cooked perfectly, it had no flavour. I suppose the thought was that the wine sauce would provide the majority of the flavour, but since the sauce fell flat in that department, I had a perfectly roasted piece of chicken that didn’t taste like much. It needed more seasoning, and the sauce needed to be more flavourful and they could have knocked this dish out of the park.

Lastly, for dessert we had a chocolate mousse with a swirl of raspberry served in martini glasses. The garnish was half a strawberry, a small brownie and a dollop of whipped cream which tasted as though it was fresh whipped. The brownie was decadent and the bite sized morsel was almost a rich enough dessert on its own. Dark chocolate baked into a dense brownie with a crispy edge – it was delicious. The parfait was okay. I neither loved it, nor hated it, but it was very average tasting and didn’t “wow” me as I thought it would. The mousse was light but the raspberry tasted thinned and almost too syrupy. Overall, I enjoyed the small brownie on top more than I did the actual dessert.

My overall impression of Otello’s is that it is a warm and cozy venue for smaller events (I think it has the capacity for around 200 people? Don’t quote me on that, but it’s not huge by any means). The service was friendly and discrete, and I appreciated the gesture they made of serving the women at the table first before serving the men (call me old-fashioned but I thought that was really nice). The food was decent and has potential to be outstanding. My only concern is that we were a group of about 60 people and there were a few slip-ups that I noticed, so I would be mindful of that if I was booking an event for a large group.

Otello’s
2273 Royal Windsor Dr., Oakville
http://www.otellos.com/

Stone House Restaurant

When I was younger, I had a general rule that I did not eat anything that swam. This was obviously before I realised that many things can swim, but I was of the mindset that things that spent their time living in the water were simply not to be eaten. Thankfully that has all changed now that I’m older and I have grown to love eating all kinds of seafood.

While browsing through the local paper one day I saw an ad for the surf and turf buffet at the Stone House restaurant on Sundays. Having a craving for some good lobster and other shellfish, I made a mental note to try it out. My family was looking for a place to celebrate a birthday and I eagerly suggested Stone House and promised them all you can eat lobsters, shrimps and oysters. Lucky for me, my family loves seafood more than I do.

The buffet is the only option on Sundays and runs from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. We arrived around 6:30 p.m. and the front parking lot was so full we had to park behind the restaurant in the back lot. Thinking it would be extremely busy, we were surprised to find that the restaurant did not seem full when we walked in and were seated immediately in a cozy booth in the back.

Stone House is divided into three separate dining rooms from what I could gather. There is a bar to the right of the entrance with tables and booths, a full dining room to the left and down a corridor, and a dining room in the middle past the buffet stations. The whole restaurant is dimly lit with dark wood trim, large and cozy booths and white (Linen! Finally!) tablecloths on each of the long tables. For the buffet, there was a cold station just inside the entrance and across from the hostess booth, and the rest of the stations were set up in the middle of the restaurant.

The wine selection is fairly extensive, but reasonably priced. My family prefers red wine (whereas I can only drink white) so I chose a bottle of Malbec from Argentina ($30). I was told I made a fantastic choice and that it was one of the most popular bottles that the restaurant carried.

I cannot go on enough about how wonderful our server was. She was attentive without being overbearing, and ensured that we always had what we needed. In fact, all of the employees at the restaurant were excellent. The servers at the stations were helpful and friendly, and were encouraging to have you try the different foods. The servers at the tables were discrete but dutiful in making sure water glasses were filled and plates were cleared in a timely manner. 

The food selection does not seem large – partly because I have been spoiled by large chain buffet restaurants, and partly because there is not a large number of different dishes. However, what the Stone House lacks in quantity, they more than make up for in quality.

Served cold, there are fresh shrimp and freshly shucked oysters with a variety of condiments, including the house cocktail sauce – a spicy, tangy horseradish-laden tomato sauce that is a perfect companion to the sweetness of the seafood. Also at the cold table are fresh steamed crab legs that are served to you by an attending employee. Rounding out the cold table is a small offering of sushi that has crab and vegetables. Not the most authentic sushi I have had, but I was happy enough to eat other things instead.

There is a small salad bar that consisted of fresh Caesar salad with separate bowls of croutons and fresh, crisp bacon. Couscous salad with raisins, and a full smoked salmon were also some of the offerings. Though the salmon was fresh, some of the salads were soggy because of the amount of time they were set out on the table.

There are two soups: lobster bisque and seafood chowder. The chowder was creamy with plenty of vegetables and seafood, but the bisque was too salty for me to enjoy. The hot seafood consisted of mussels in a wine sauce with fresh diced tomatoes, and a lobster mac and cheese that although was creamy, had been sitting out too long and had begun to dry up. There were fresh lobsters, steamed in halves, with a cup of melted butter. The lobster was sweet and meaty, and cooked perfectly. Fresh baked mustard glazed ham and a delicious melt-in-your-mouth prime rib were carved to your liking. One of my favourite dishes was the barbeque beef ribs which were fall-off-the-bone and brushed with a tangy sauce. Other dishes include various starches such as potatoes, rice and pasta, or vegetables such as braised cabbage.

The dessert table had various coffee cakes and fruit, or warm apple crisp and bread pudding. The bread pudding was unfortunately baked too long and was dry with a slight burnt taste, but the apple crisp was full of fresh cut apples and a buttery, flaky crumble. There was also a tiered tray of mini tarts and mini cupcakes which were arranged very prettily. 

For $35 a person, I would highly recommend the seafood buffet at Stone House if you are a lover of fresh seafood. As mentioned, there were not a large number of dishes but they more than made up for it by making what few dishes they had high quality deliciousness. Being a buffet, you run the risk of having dishes that have been sitting out too long, but for the more popular dishes such as the lobster or the prime rib, they are constantly being replenished and you are pretty much guaranteed a fresh portion when you are ready. With excellent service and an endless supply of fresh lobster, I will happily go here on any Sunday and eat all sorts of things that swim.

Stone House Restaurant
3106 South Service Rd., Burlington
http://www.stonehouserestaurant.ca/index.php

The Alex

Tucked away behind a small storefront facing Brant Street is one of Burlington's newest restaurants, the Alex. Located where Trendz used to be, it's easy to miss unless you're specifically looking for it. After tweeting back and forth with someone from the restaurant for a couple of weeks and being tempted by menu teases, I convinced my boyfriend that we should stop by for a mini-celebration dinner. A restaurant that speaks of bacon every second word – I needed to try it!

The Alex markets itself as small-plate fine dining. My initial reaction upon hearing that was fine dining usually comes in small portions anyway, how much smaller can it get? I thought it was a clever way to charge more for less. However, I desperately wanted to try it and devoured the online menu and drooled over the pictures as I anticipated our visit.

There is no private parking here, but we were lucky enough to find a spot right in front of the restaurant. There was also a split-second of confusion because there is a door facing Brant Street, but you have to go in through the side. Throughout the evening, we saw many others trying to come in through the front door, although there are at least three pieces of signage that ask you to use the patio door. Oops! There is a small side patio where I can picture myself lingering over summer meals with a bottle of chilled white wine. Inside, the restaurant itself is small, with seating for 30 and painted in a rich, deep brown colour with gold trim along the top. Light fixtures that look like fluffy snowballs and local art adorn the wall to round out the atmosphere. A couple of booths along the side and a few tables with dainty leather chairs line the walls.

Our server showed us to our table and offered to take our coats. The chairs are surprisingly comfortable though they looked a little flimsy at first glance. The menu is a simple one-pager – but the offerings are far from simple. Every dish sounded intriguing and we asked our server how we should proceed. As they are smaller dishes, she suggested that four or five dishes should suffice for the two of us. We opted to order two at a time and kept the menu with us in case we wanted to order more. So when reading this very long review, remember that the portions are very small and although it sounds like a lot, it probably comes out to about the same size as two entrees.

The wine menu is reasonably priced with the most expensive bottle I noticed around $50.  The boyfriend was very excited that Malbec was offered by the glass ($7) and I opted for a white wine spritzer ($7). Both of us were happy with our choices as we waited for our dishes.

First up was the Sweet Potato Perogies with Crispy Pork Belly and Sour Cream ($9).  Soft perogy dough filled with mashed sweet potato are steamed and drizzled with sour cream, then plated with cubes of pork belly with a crispy fried skin. The pork reminds me of the roast pork from Asian barbecue places, but without the seasoning. The textures of the perogies and pork were great, but I found the taste to be a little bland.

Next up was the dish I had been dreaming about since I heard of its existence – Trio of Bacon ($10).  Bacon-wrapped bacon had such potential by the sound of it, but to the boyfriend and myself, it was the most disappointing of the trio. Thick smoked bacon was wrapped around what seemed like a pork chop and drizzled with a semi-sweet sauce. The meat was cooked perfectly, but again, we found it bland and not as flavourful as we were hoping. My favourite was the pommery-glazed bacon over smoked pork mashed potatoes. The pommery glaze gave the bacon a sweet spice that was paired perfectly with the smoky, creamy mashed potatoes. I could have eaten that all night.

The Pan Roast Petite Bavette Steak with Bacon Fries, Roast Zucchini and Peppercorn Sauce ($15) was amazing. The steak was cooked to a perfect medium and melts in your mouth. The bacon fries (bacon wrapped around thick cut potatoes) were a little disappointing  – you could taste that they were fried together, but they were not as crispy as I had hoped. The roast zucchini was overcooked and cold, but the peppercorn sauce was so delicious I asked my boyfriend if it would be rude if I licked the plate (unlucky for me, he said yes).

Spicy Sausage and Cheddar Stuffed Deboned Chicken Wings ($9) were recommended by our server and I'm glad we took her advice. The wing itself is deboned but the wingtip is left to give you something to hold on to. The sausage had a tiny bit of spice to it, and mixed with the cheddar and fried into a moist chicken wing... I don't think I ever want a normal chicken wing again! The flavours worked beautifully when paired with the understated bed of potato and cabbage; it was a fantastic dish that I'm still dreaming about.

Finally, we had to try the Charcuterie Board with Pickled Vegetables ($15) since both the Chef and our server raved about the amazing cured meats that are brought in. Five types of cured meat, fresh toast crisps, pickles, olives and Dijon mustard round out the board. I can honestly say it was some of the best cured meat I have ever tried in my life.  The thinly sliced prosciutto-style meat all melted on the toast; I took to calling one “butter meat” because it was so thin and so melty that I was amazed it was actually meat. The two sausage-style meats on the board had a bit of kick to them, so if you are wary of spice you have been warned. There were desserts available, but we were unfortunately too stuffed to try any.

All in all, this is a great addition to Burlington. There are plenty of restaurant gems in town, and the Alex is definitely one of them. The ingenuity in the dishes, the quality of the ingredients and the fantastic service from the staff make this a standout in the numerous downtown–core options. This is not a restaurant you go to if you are in a hurry or looking for a quiet and intimate meal.  Chef Matthew (who is in charge of the Alex's Twitter account) came out to talk to us and it was nice to put a face to the tweets. All of the staff at the Alex are knowledgeable about the dishes and seem passionate about the food. Matthew mentioned that this is not only a place where you go to enjoy the food, but to also enjoy the company and talk to your tablemates.  Judging by how loud it got in the dining room as the seats filled, people were certainly doing just that. It made me very glad to have made a reservation, and I can't wait to come back and see what else they can do with bacon.


The Alex
480 Brant St. S., Burlington
http://www.thealexrestaurant.com/
http://twitter.com/#!/alexrestaurant