Location:
774 Boylston Street Boston, MA
L'Espalier is one of the restaurants participating in Boston Magazine's TASTE this year, and having dined there after shooting Zac Posen's show, I have to say it capped off the, already elegant, evening very well.
Here's a TASTE of one of the spectacular desserts. Talk about dinner and a show!
Location:
77 avenue Kléber, Paris (16th Arr)
This was my First Taste of Paris:
I think I did well.
We stopped by this bakery on our way to our hotel...and they line-up was huge! Am not surprised at all. We wanted to go back again, but got distracted by some sort of tower in the area. ;)
Location:
432 Wellington Street West, Toronto
Cost: Approx $130 for 2
Every once in a while, you come across a really outstanding dining experience. One where there is not a single thing out of place or out of line.
Le Sélect is that happy place.
Within minutes of me running in to check if they had any room for dinner (I know they like to take reservations for lunch and dinner and it looked like the place was already packed with the Friday dinner crowd) and getting the A-Okay, to parking the car, we were being seated in a cosy corner by the window (and the heater).
Our server, Aleah, was attentive, not in the least bit snooty, and catered to our menu-questions with honest insight. None of the "I absolutely love everything on the menu"... she actually didn't care for some of the items, which was refreshing. Kudos to her.
We started with the antipasto (grilled eggplant, mushroom salad, artichoke, guacamole, and fingerling salad, $11.95) which was so flavourful I wanted to lick the plate!
Then we ordered the seared fillet of Pickerel with a red wine sauce lardons and chanterelles ($28.95) paired with a glass of Rhone wine ($12.25) (they have a gigantic wine list)
And the striped bass fillet "a la plancha", olives, tomatoes, chickpeas and artichokes ($26.95) paired with a glass of Chateau Pesquie ($10.75).
Both of our mains were absolutely delicious. The bass was slightly more flavourful than the pickerel because of the olives and chickpeas, but both dishes were yummy.
For dessert we got the mousse au chocolat ($8.95), made with French dark chocolate
And because we really just wanted a taste of the lychee sorbet, we got a little helping of it on the side ($6.00).
Both were divine....the lychee sorbet is made fresh and I thought it would look really nice in martini glass, like the lychee martini.
I suspect Le Sélect Bistro is more french bistro than a bistro in France, and 'cause I've never been to France, I like it. I also suspect I'm not the only one.
Location:
315 King St West, Toronto
Cost: Winterlicious $15 lunch ($69 for 4)
www.marcels.com
Winterlicious has been extended until Feb 28th, and Marcel's lunch menu was quite tasty for anyone who's still keen on getting on the "Licioustrain".
Here is their lunch menu:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Soupe du jour
Fresh daily soup
or
Salade maison, vinaigrette balsamique
Mesclun greens with balsamic dressing
or
Terrine de campagne maison
House pâté with crostini
~~~~~~~~~~~
Filet de sole, sauce Champagne servie avec du riz basmati et légumes de saison
Filet of sole in a Champagne sauce served with basmati rice & seasonal vegetables
or
Filet de porc, sauce moutarde avec pommes purées et légumes de saison
Pork tenderloin in a mustard sauce, mashed potatoes & seasonal vegetables
or
Penne au saumon fumé, sauce rosée
Penne with smoked salmon in a tomato cream sauce
~~~~~~~~~~~
Crème caramel
A bistro classic
or
Sorbets au choix
Daily choice of fresh sherbet
or
Glace vanille, sauce au chocolat
Vanilla ice cream with hot chocolate sauce
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The soup of the day was Beets and Carrot soup. I love beets so I had to try it. When our server brought our dishes to the table, he quite rudely requested us to move our plates to the side. We were slightly taken aback, but soon forgot about it as we indulged into our appetizers.
The soup was thick and creamy, posing a potential problem for my lactose-intolerancy, but nevertheless, tasty. It had a real "beet-i-ness" to it! 
My friend ordered the House pâté with crostini which she claimed was very good and not as fatty as can be.
For her main, she opted for the pork tenderloin in a mustard sauce, with mashed potatoes and veggies.
The rest of us went for the penne with smoked salmon in a tomato cream sauce. I was assured that there was only a "little bit of cream" in it....
Didn't look that way to me. Aside from eating around the cream sauce, I found the tomatoey chunks of salmon to be very flavourful and overall the dish was fantastic. To be honest, I had to refrain from slurping up the remaining sauce.
For dessert, we all went for the Crème caramel:
I probably should have gone with the sherbet since by this time I was all creamed-out, but it was so cold outside that the idea of crème caramel appealed to me; for some reason I thought it would be warm (?). Also, it's probably listed as a "bistro classic" because it can be made in abundance and kept aside for when it's needed (ie. for a Winterlicious crowd). It was good, but I don't think I am a fan of crème caramel [*shrug*].
All in all, a nice experience at Marcel's...and the rest of our service was totally fine.
Location:
147 Spadina Avenue, Toronto
Cost: $20 for a main
[Interior: Jules]
Hi. Do you have a take-out menu?
Sure, here you go.
Thanks.
...
..
Hi there...we'll get the grilled salmon with ratatouille, salad and fries.
Will you have it for here or to go?
We'd like to take it to go, but we may eat outside on your patio.
No sorry, we don't allow that. You can eat in or take it to go but not take it to go and sit in.
Oh. So we can eat here and then pack it to go?
No.
Uh. [pause, look at each other....] Okaaaay, we'll change our order from take out to eat in then.
No, it's too late, the prices are different if you want to do that and I've already put the order in.
{But, we haven't even paid yet!}
Fine. We'll just take it to go.
..
.
...
..
.
[At the park]
Mmm.....not too bad....
Yeah. Too expensive for what it is, though...fries, salad, the smallest portion of ratatouille and that chef just fried the salmon in butter, I saw him.
Oh yeah? Tasty fries...although...they're kind of like McDonald's fries hahaha!
Yeah! I know! But Mcdonald's fries are like, two bucks!
Yeah....mm...so this is ratatouille? I'm not impressed...definitely doesn't look like in the movie!
I know. And the salad is drenched through...way too much dressing...why do they always do that?
I don't know...we should get it on the side, next time.
Nah...I don't think I'll ever go back there.
Me either.
***
Such was our experience at Jules, the fancy-schmancy place on on Spadina (north of Richmond and RIGHT BESIDE FUSARO'S!).
Two completely different eateries.
Fusaro's Kitchen always has a lunch line-up that goes out the door and practically down the street, has consistently friendly service and delicious (albeit high fat) foods...whereas Jules rarely has more than two tables filled, has terribly rude (and potentially racist) service and mediocre dishes!
The BEST thing on their take-out menu was the dish we ordered for $20...and that's not saying much at all! And they don't have such an impressive wine selection either!
Not to forget one price for eating in and another for eating out! Seriously, do they even want customers?
BUT, to each his own as they say. If you feel like eating pretentious French cuisine in a highly pompous environment, by all means, Jules is your venue. Knock yourself out! You'll need to before seeing your bill!
