They’ve announced a special “Chasse et Pêche” tasting menu, bar seats only, available starting November 2. Looks very tempting.
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I really enjoyed the $155 hunt & fish tasting menu at Lucie’s bar earlier this week. Everything was beautifully prepared and plated, and tasted delicious. There were a total of five courses (everything but the L’Orange from the menu I posted previously), plus amuses and petit fours. I opted for the $75 wine pairing, which was superb. All excellent value in my estimation.
One of the highlights was Chef de Cuisine Bloquel’s presentation of Le Pigeon, which he carefully removed from the croûte and plated in front of me while apologizing for his poor English (no need, I understood him fine).
At the conclusion of the meal, the bartender told me that they plan to switch the bar tasting menu every six weeks, and that a future menu may feature Caribbean flavours M. Bloquel became acquainted with from a period working in a kitchen in Guadeloupe.
I’m not crazy about the decor - upscale Eggsmart with artworks that remind me uncomfortably of the Mr. Brainwash paintings Café Boulud deployed when they first opened - but when the food is this good, I can live with it.
Some pictures of the meal:
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We did the Chasse & Peche menu last night,
Superb! That Pigeon dish was magnificent.
That menu available at the ‘bar’ (more accurately a counter) until the end of the year.
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Loved it — really accentuated the poached trout.
My second favourite dish (after the Pigeon). Still had the ‘pop’ when pressed against the tongue, and the textures worked perfectly.
AmuseGirl is not a fan of ‘caviar/eggs’ - but she thought this dish was among the best fish dishes she’s had this year.
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We had our first meal at Lucie. We chose the bar, because the Chasse & Peche menus sounded great. Alas we caught them just in the midst of a changeover. They had no Chasse & Peche menu. They initially told us they were sold out of the new 7-course menu, so we started looking through the new à la carte menu. Then they decided we could do the 7-course after all and agreed to sub the foie gras for another fish course. Then they told us they were out of the sweetbreads course, so we ordered lamb instead. Then they told us they could do the sweetbreads course after all.
After all this chaos and the fact that it was a new menu, it is not surprising that some of the dishes needed some fine tuning. While there was much to be impressed by in overall presentation and flavours, a few dishes were oversalted. The service was attentive and generous (they gave us a free cocktail just before dessert).
The amuse was a warm and smooth mushroom veloute with a sweet onion confit tarte tatin with nasturtium leaf. A perfect way to start. We had this with a glass of Perrier-Jouët, grand brut, épernay.
They offered 3 types of bread and of course we got them all - a nutty 5-grain baguette, tangy olive rosemary sourdough, and delicate semolina 5-flour. These were great for mopping up subsequent dishes and also with the butter they provided.
La Soupe du Barry - cauliflower cream, Oscietra caviar, (green) leek custard, lace bread tuile, orange confit - rich and yet well-balanced. It was paired with Muscadet 2022 Domaine l’Ecu, Granite , Loire - nice acidity to go with the richness.
Replacing the foie gras course was Le Saumon - seared BC salmon, sliced sweet pickled turnips, horseradish carpaccio, bonito flakes, vegetable and citrus broth with green oil drops, and a little kick - the dish was overall gorgeous, but the broth was way too salty.
This was paired with Pouilly Fuisse 2021 Domaine Luquet, Mâconnais - malolactic and green apple, with some mushroom and grapefruit.
La Sole - Atlantic sole stuffed with mussels, Buddha’s hand citrus (not obvious), parsnip cream over parsnips, Nantua sauce (supposed to be a crayfish sauce, but it seemed to be a mussel jus), fried sole bones - delicate and perfectly cooked sole, but the mussel stuffing was oversalted. This was paired with Bordeaux, Château Haut-Grelot 2021 Cuvee, with some nice citrus notes.
Les Ris de Veau - walnut caramelized veal sweetbread (likely pancreas), roasted carrot, carrot purée and emulsion. The walnuts were just part of the presentation, but we asked for a few and they gave us some. The sweetbreads were creamy but mine was a touch underdone (some bloodiness in the centre) for my preference. The carrots provided sweetness and contrast. This was paired with Cantos Malbec 2021 De Combel-La-Serre - smoke and red fruit, tangy.
La Caille - Ontario Nipissing farm quail, stuffed with black truffle, foie gras, salsify confit, reduction jus, carrot purée, and ventreche (bacon-y bits). The quail was juicy and the stuffing added complexity. But the jus was quite salty. This paired with Domaine de Ferrand, Mistral, 2021, Côtes du Rhône - mainly black cherry.
The palate cleanser was L’Ananas Victoria - pineapple sorbet, herbal foam (tarragon, mint, vermouth), dehydrated pineapple on top, shortbread crumble - refreshing.
This was when they gave us an extra cocktail of chartreuse, lemon juice, honey apple cider vinegar thyme syrup - also refreshing and well-balanced.
Le Chocolat - 66% Valrhona chocolate, toasted buckwheat, passion fruit sorbet, and gel and shortbread crumble - even though only 66%, the chocolate was not too sweet and the passion fruit sorbet had great tang. They served with with Taylor Fladgate 20 Tawny port.
Then for petit fours, we had marshmallow infused with lime zest (lovely though coated in sugar) and chocolate ganache and hazelnut nougat (great, somewhat bitter).
All in all, there were enough strengths to be impressed by. We have booked again in February for the bar to try the Caribbean menu. This time we are booking after that menu has been up and running for a couple of weeks, so we hope any initial kinks will have smoothed out.
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We were at Lucie last night (although we opted for the Table d’Hote menu).
Certainly the menu is “in transition” and we were told that their ‘Burgundy’ menu will officially launch on January 29th.
I don’t take pictures of food any more, so appreciate your pics.
We started with “Le Rutabaga” - a rutabaga confit with smoked eel, Oscietra Caviar and fermented Meyer lemon creme - the lemon zing providing a great contrast to the earthy flavours of the rutabaga and smoked eel. Amusegirl opted for the Gambas (a dish we had on our first visit (this was #5). Flavours and seasoning on both were perfect (a slight criticism was the servings weren’t as hot (temperature) as they might have been [they offered to re-serve both dishes, but we declined]. Incidentally ‘salting’ of both of these was perfect - either they read DrJohn’s critique, or just had an off night when he attended).
Seasoning on our mains was also perfect - and both came out ‘piping hot’. The lobster is also a repeat - I HATE having to extract the meat - both messy and the food gets cold. here the “whole lobster” is completely disassembled in the kitchen and only the contents are served (worth the $30 supplement IMO). And our other Main was the Sweetbreads (‘officially’ only on the tasting menu, but we were given the opportunity to sub in anything if we so chose). Looking at Dr Johns pictures, our’s was similar, but the portion was larger - we had 3 pieces of sweetbread on the single plate. Delicious - and definitely not too salty.
We were also comped an ‘experimental’ cheese course (under development) which was essentially a cheese foam (actually thicker than a foam, more of a whipped cream consistency) with a savoury cracker, plus a cheese sorbet accompaniment. Very creative and delicious.
Desserts were the Pecan Mousse with pear marmalade and pear sorbet, plus the ‘Chocolate and Passion Fruit’ which was also part of DrJohn’s dinner - except NOT really! Ours was a completely different presentation of that dish. [Amusegirl’s photo]
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Good to hear that the salting is improved. We gave them the feedback that evening, so I hope it was taken into consideration. It makes sense that they would give you a bit larger portion of the sweetbreads if it was part of a 3-course Table d’Hote menu instead of a 7-course tasting menu.
Looking forward to the Caribbean bar menu in a few weeks.
We went back to Lucie at the bar, having been promised that they would have a Caribbean-focused menu by now. However they have deferred that menu until later in the spring and instead are featuring a Burgundian-focused 5-course menu. Despite our disappointment, we really enjoyed our meal and there weren’t any lapses like we experienced last time.
Our amuse was a cromesquis (tiny croquette with liquid filling) of foie gras with fig marmalade, and buckwheat (cream) soup, with smoked bacon and bits of buckwheat. Little morsels of richness to whet the appetite.
The bread remains addictive - crusty multi-grain baguette and spongey semolina sourdough.
We split the all-Burgundian wine pairing. First up was a 2021 Domaine Regnard, Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Beaune - a chardonnay with malolactic fermentation - smooth and elegant, no oak, and stonefruit. This went well with Le Persillé: ham shoulder and hock, poached in bouillon, parsley gel around it, mustard “à l’ancienne“ ice cream on top, and topped with a very fancy parsley tuille. This was a great fancied-up version of what is usually a more rustic terrine.
We next had a glass of 2021 Bourgogne Hautes-Cotes de Beaune, Domaine Lucien Jacob (grand vin de Bourgogne) - only pinot noir, 90 days oak aging - ripe cherry, peppery, and a bit of evergreen on the nose. This was light enough to go with a delightful L’oeuf en meurette - egg “parfait”, Paris mushroom, caramelized onions, smoked bacon, red wine reduction poured over, bread tuille, also pieces of bread around the sides, parsnip purée, parsley gelée drops, and beetroot powder around. A beautifully runny egg with an umami-rich (but not oversalted) jus.
Sticking with pinot noir, we next had a glass of 2015 Savigny-les-Beaune, Ez Connardises, Domaine Françoise André - darker fruit, more oak, and firmer tannins. This provided the necessary structure for Le Faisan - Ontario pheasant “Façon Gaston Gérard”, breast galantine with foie and truffle wrapped in swiss chard, skin of leg around more pheasant and foie gras and chives, potato confit with bechamel and comté cheese, potato mousseline droplet, mustard and white wine reduction. The mean was gorgeously moist and just-done, redolent with the flavours of all the other components.
Next a glass of 2020 Givry Premier Cru La Plante Danjean-Berthoux, chardonnay (central Burgundy), oak aged, malolactic, honey and a bit of tannic presence from oak, also floral and lime. This went really well with both the savoury and sweet components of the “cheese course”. Le Délice de Bourgogne 3 ways: 1) parsley jelly with cheese and truffle inside (savoury); 2) cheese sorbet with shortbread crumble (slightly sweet); 3) espuma over pear confit with vanilla pumpkin seed, cinnamon and anise, pumpkin praliné dollop on the tuile (sweet) - all beautiful and delicious.
Last but not least, a glass of Vitteaut-Alberti Crémant de Bourgogne Brut Blanc (40% chardonnay, 40% pinot noir, 20% aligoté) - mainly ripe apple for us. This was festive enough for the impressive Le Soufflé - almond and amaretto soufflé, dark chocolate square on top, almond praliné, blackcurrant sorbet with shortbread crumb - light-as-air soufflé texture, not too sweet, and excellent tart sorbet.
The meal finished again with their wondeful lime zest gimauve (marshmallow) and the chocolate ganache with hazelnut nougat.
Overall a great experience this time, with no missteps. The menus will be changing over again in April, first the 7-course and then the 5-course bar menu. We are still hoping for the Caribbean menu, but we will have to see.
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Nicely done Dr John. I think a trip is due soon for Lucie
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I had this tasting menu earlier in the week and it was as good as you described it. I was offered a “premium” wine pairing but stayed with the standard ($75) one that you had. My pheasant course came with a copious shaving of black truffle.
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No black truffle for us, although the pheasant was wonderful without it. They also didn’t offer us the premium pairing and we were quite happy with the one we had.
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We were back on the weekend for this menu at ‘Le Comptoir’ - essentially the same menu and thoroughly recommend it.
The cheese course (Delices de Bourgogne) was the evolution of the ‘work in progress’ we tried on our previous visit - and delicious.
I asked about the caribbean menu and it is “still coming later”. They pivoted to the Burgundy one when they were asked to prepare a menu for some ‘special dinners’ where “French food” was requested - so they developed that one first (I note that Visa has booked the entire restaurant for a dinner next week, so possibly that’s the reason - the Visa menu isn’t revealed anywhere I can find).
I also got the Burgundy black truffles. Five visits now for me - which sums up what I think about Lucie.
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The comptoir/bar menu resumes tomorrow (April 23). The promotional email promises “a specially curated, ever-changing four-course tasting menu”, $98 excluding beverage pairings.
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If you try the bar menu, let us know how it is.
We asked them again about the Caribbean menu and the answer we got was vague. I’m guessing it may never happen as it doesn’t really fit with the clientele they have coming in the door. Too bad.
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