Pied-a-Terre (November 30, 2007) by ts

http://www.pied-a-terre-bistro.ca/

Review by ts
(See review by js here.)

Just about the food:

I didn't order the Table d'Hote (haha, making mine more expensive again, but still cheap!).

I wanted to order the Steak Tartare (because, yes, for some reason I can't resist raw beef when dining out, hehe), but then, that would've been weird if I had the Steak Frites for my main. So I chose the Alsatian Onion Pie.

It was really good. I can't even describe the taste of it, because it was very familiar, yet not. It had onions (of course), and it was sort of "custard'-y... but it didn't feel heavy at all. It was served with a salad of frisee and lardons. (Ooh, lardons!)
9/10

I will have to try the steak tartare at another time.

Steak Frites
I had the onglet, which was the 8oz size. It was good. Flavorful.

I chose the pepper sauce -- but it wasn't very peppery at all! Granted, I did grow up under Letty's black peppercorn regime, but really, it wasn't very peppery at all. I just saw a few whole peppercorns on the plate. Otherwise, the sauce didn't have flecks, it was just a smooth taupe-colored sauce. I'll try the other sauces next time.

Frites
Sad to say, the frites were a little disappointing. They were "ok"... I dipped some in Jojo's trout dish sauce. But yeah, they were no match of Bistro Pastis' potato dishes.

(That Bistro Pastis knows their potatoes!)

Or, even those pommes allumettes at Bistrot Bistro. (Basically really thin-cut fries. They were good.)

I had the Creme Caramel for dessert. It was good, but nothing spectacular. The texture wasn't quite there. But maybe it was because I didn't really care for the orange zest flavor (which is traditionally what the French put, I think). Or, maybe because mine was better... teehee... although, mine was LECHE FLAN, not a traditional creme caramel.

So, overall, still a very good meal.
Maybe just not the Chef-Andrey-ultimate-super-super-extreme-super-good level of yore.

But, I must say again -- ultra cheap!

We got 2 appetizers, 2 mains, 2 desserts, a bottle of water, a glass of wine, and a coffee. $80+ only!

Oh, I must add, I tried Jojo's trout dish.

It was sooooooooooo good! I guess it really is more than just the sum of its parts.
I mean, just SOOOOOOOOOOOO good!

(See review by js here.)

Pied-a-Terre (November 30, 2007) by js

http://www.pied-a-terre-bistro.ca/

Review by js
(See review by ts here.)

So. Finally.

We've been waiting for the new Andrey Durbach/Chris Stewart offering, the French bistro, Pied a Terre. It's located on Cambie and 18th.

We've actually tried to sneak in last Saturday, on the way home from West Vancouver (went to the butcher; bought some beef shanks). We were there at 5:30, exactly the time they open, but the French-looking girl told us that they wouldn't have any seating until 10pm that night.

Shrug. Fair enough. So we would have to wait another day.

The day was yesterday. It was somewhat on a whim too. At around 3:30 in the afternoon, we were discussing what to cook. (Salmon in the fridge, but needed another dish to round out that night's dinner.) After tossing and turning, we still can't figure it out. TS decided to call Pied a Terre to see if they have space. Surprisingly, they said they could accommodate us, a party of 2, for 8:30 that night.

Okay. So problem solved. If we weren't going to eat home that night, we'll cook the salmon and head on out. (Salmon was cooked, wrapped with bacon. TS also made a butter corn side-dish for the kids and CSC.)

8:30 it is. Plenty of parking at the back.

We had to wait a few minutes while they get our table ready.

While waiting, we saw a "minor celebrity" dining there with friends. I think his name is Zack Spencer, who used to do the weather on CTV or BCTV or Global -- but now does some sort of car show on either of those channels.

The grudging glass of wine I had to order: a Sauvignon Blanc. Because, you know, they were going to hate us if we don't partake of alcohol. The wine was surprisingly good: none of the icky wine taste.

(I told TS I don't want to learn about wine. I don't particularly care for wine and I don't want to care, because I'm afraid if I do start learning, it is just going to take way too much of my energies.)

We did also order a bottle of mineral water.

After discussion, I decided to have the Table d' Hote, consisting of 3 courses: soup or salad, trout or steak, creme caramel or chocolate mousse.

I had the soup, which was a split pea soup. I generally love split pea and ham soup, so I was happy they had this. I was expecting some smokiness to the soup though, which I didn't get. The split pea soup was just okay, not spectacular.

I had the lemon tart brulee, which I've been wanting and wanting for so long, ever since I've had lemon tart brulee at Parkside. It's not the same though (the Parkside one was way, way, way better) and I have to say the dessert again is not spectacular.

What was spectacular about the meal was my trout. It was cooked with a kind of butter sauce and capers -- and it was excellent. Somehow, it seemed to be greater than its parts. I've had brown butter sauces before, but this went beyond the usual deliciousness of a brown butter sauce. The trout was perfectly cooked, crispy skin and all. If I had to nitpick, I would say that the side could have been better. I had 3 small pieces of potatoes that were not really that memorable. Tasted bland.

Overall, a very good meal -- and very reasonable. When we got the bill, I was a little bit amazed, because we had 3 courses each and beverages, and the bill came to 86 and change. I was expecting a much higher tab, so it was a nice surprise.

For its price level, the restaurant delivers. There's no wow factor, but it doesn't make wow promises. It's a neighbourhood French bistro: food done well and not too expensive. So if you're hankering for some classic French bistro food, head on over to Pied a Terre.

Oh, we also saw Vikram Vij, his wife, and his daughter. They came in around 10pm. Another minor celebrity sighting.

(See review by ts here.)

EAT magazine: Interview with Andrey Durbach

EAT Magazine has an interview with Andrey Durbach.

(He is the chef behind Parkside and La Buca, the one that csc wanted to "punch...punch... punch.")

http://www.eatmagazine-digital.com/eatmagazine/200701112/
See page 42.

Parkside (June 13, 2007)

http://www.parksiderestaurant.ca/

Three reviewers: ts, js and allu


[allu]
Apparently it was a tough decision, whether to dine at La Buca or Parkside.

JS made the reservation (and decision) for us. The final location was kept a secret...at least I wasn't told where we were going.

Had I known ahead of time, and had this not been my last night in Vancouver, I think I would have dressed up a bit for this dinner. But under the circumstances, I went in my jeans and my "lulu girl" shirt (haha, at least I wasn't in my home clothes...)

We went to Parkside.

[js]
I actually wanted to go to La Buca, but I thought it would be tougher to get a reservation at La Buca. We've been turned away a couple of times already at La Buca and I thought that trying to get a reservation just two days in advance of the date was pushing it.

La Buca has the kind of food that I want to eat everyday. As mentioned before. LOL

[ts]
Well, Parkside was fitting if you wanted something more "special" for your last night, whereas La Buca would've been fitting if you wanted a laid-back approach. I think you melded the 2 when you wore your lulu girl shirt to parkside. Haha.

[allu]
And apparently, *some* of us (no names mentioned) had gone online and studied the menu ahead of time! But the chefs at Parkside most definitely would not let us cheat this easily...the menu we were presented with was a little different from the one online =)

[ts]
I didn't know where we were going until about 1 hr before when JS suddenly went:
"Psst... what items do you think you're ordering?" [while perusing the Parkside menu online]

[allu]
Went for the four course menu:
Well-seasoned steak tartare with pommes gaufrettes
Grilled prawns with potato (?), crisp bacon (?), micro greens, sherry dressing
Crisp skin Cornish hen, herb spaetzle and spring vegetables, sauce
Colbert Parkside Black Forest torte

[js]
I had the 4-course meal, starting with a sweet onion soup with goatcheese crostini, papardelle (sp?) with lamb ragu, the Copper Riversockeye, and a fromage frais brown sugar cheesecake-type concoction with strawberries and raspberries.

Overall, I would say I was satisfied with what I ordered, but not totally enamoured.


1. FIRST COURSE

[allu]
Well-seasoned steak tartare with pommes gaufrettes

How anyone could resist steak tartare is beyond me. I had to have this course. Loved the pommes gaufrettes, perfectly fried slices of potato chips. If I were Japanese, I might be tempted to say "it's a bit oily"...but I'm not Japanese, and how can you expect there to be no oil if these are fried?!? The steak tartare itself..well, nothing to complain about here. But maybe if there were more capers in there..haha..I love capers.

[ts]
I had this as well. Nothing to complain about. In my head I was comparing it to the tartare w a kick(!) at Bistrot. This also came with some microgreens that were dressed and seasoned really nicely.

[js]
Sweet onion soup -- good.
Soup was spot-on. Perfectly seasoned and the onions were sweet.

2. SECOND COURSE

[allu]
Grilled prawns with potato, crisp bacon, micro greens, sherry dressing

Actually, this is not exactly what i had. They've updated their menu on the website and I can't see our menu from the night of the 13th. So I'm just piecing things together with items on the current menu that resembles what I had on the 13th.

Here's what I remember: there was definitely prawns, potatoes, micro greens, sherry dressing, and a processed meat of some sort...

The sherry dressing complemented the prawns well..though I found that some parts of the prawns were over-grilled (is there such a word?). Could have been better without the occasional "burnt taste".

That being said, I still finished the whole plate..haha...

[ts]
Mushroom Risotto

I forget how it was called, exactly. Anyway, there was a mix of mushrooms: chanterelles, morels, and porcinis, I think. I don't like porcinis. The risotto was nicely done, although it was a bit too "meaty" for me at the time. I guess it's permanent damage, this aversion of mine to "brown" taste.

[js]
I think I made a mistake with the lamb ragu.

See, if there's an option for fresh pasta on the menu, I would go for the fresh pasta --because, really, nothing beats fresh pasta. So it was the papardelle for me.

The pasta was excellent, but the first bite of the lamb ragu didn't do it for me. I thought I was tasting Irish stew out of a can. The menu said it had basil and chilis, but I really didn't taste anyof the basil and the chilis. On the subsequent bites, the lamb ragu did taste a little bit better, but it would have been a lot better ifthey did what was advertised on the menu and hit the lamb with at least some basil and some chilis.


3. THIRD COURSE

[allu]
Crisp skin Cornish hen, herb spaetzle and spring vegetables, sauce Colbert

The spaetzle was surprisingly good! I still don't really know what spaetzles are..but it was good. The spring vegetables included white asparagus, yellow string beans, peas, and pea shoots. The string beans were my favorite. I never really got why white asparagus was such a delicacy...they're not very good, in general...

The crisp skin cornish hen..well....it was good...but.....

Here's what happened, we went to Fisherman's the night before and ordered the Chinese version of the crisp skin chicken. My goodness, this was really "chicken yummy!"....

So when I ordered the cornish hen, I still had that Fisherman chicken in mind..the really really amazing crisp skin, and the juicy yet tender meat underneath....

The Cornish hen, I'm sad to say, came nowhere near as good as the Fisherman chicken...Maybe it's unfair to compare them..but it's what I was looking for and I didn't get it here. The skin of the cornish hen was simply not crispy enough! Maybe it was the sauce Colbert that ruined the crispy-ness....And when I cut into the hen, I was hoping that the skin would stay somewhat attached to the meat so that with each bite, I can experience and taste the crisp skin with the tender white meat...but this didn't happen. The skin came off with every slice. The meat of the hen was okay, but not SPECTACULAR, and without the crisp skin...well....I was disappointed. I wanted Fisherman...

[js]
Well, that Fisherman's Terrace crispy skin chicken really qualifies as "CHICKEN YUMMY, CHICKEN YUMMY!"

With Alice's cornish game hen, it's a bit of a risk. It's so hard to cook small poultry; it's so easy toovercook them to tough-and-dry.

[ts]
Halibut?

A-ya! I don't remember what I had for my main dish!! It was halibut, but I have no idea what its accompaniments were... =(

Had a little help from jowbel re the accompaniments!

There was fennel and pepperonata... oh, and a little cake of some kind. Brandade cake!

The pepperonata was really good. It was surprising that I enjoyed it because there was a time when I was sick of roasted peppers. Basically the accompaniments were good on their own, and also in any combination with each other... and with the fish. Just a little complaint is that the fennel salad was a little too olive-y for me... I don't really *like* olives that much; i like/dislike them on a case by case basis.

I guess that's it. I forget the sauce(s) that came with the dish.

[js]
For the Copper River sockeye, I thought the dish was good.

The brown butter noisette, with the capers and croutons was delicious. The salmon itself was delicious as well.

My only gripe about the salmonwas how crispy the crust was -- it was TOO CRISPY.

See, sockeye is generally not a fatty type of salmon and fillets of salmon are usually not thin. So I think it was over-seared for a second longer than it should have been. Salmon was a tad dry. If they perhaps chose to go with a steak instead of a fillet, then it would have been perfect.

(Perhaps I'm also reliving my experience of grilling a fillet of Copper River sockeye, in which I also ran into the same tough-and-dry problem. If it were just me eating, I would have left it a little bit raw in the middle, but I wasn't the only one eating it.)


4. FOURTH COURSE

[allu]
Parkside Black Forest torte

When JS asked me if I tasted the black forest-ness...I was a bit confused. I must confess that all the black forest cakes that i've tasted before were from Chinese bakeries...so I figured they are all "asia-fied" in one way or another. Sometimes these black forest cakes would have cherries in them, and sometimes not. The only "constant" was the chocolate =)

So I don't think I'm really qualified to answer the question "is this torte black forest-y?", cuz, what do I know about black forest cakes?

So "black forest"-ness aside, this torte was pretty good. I like chocolate, I like cherries, what can possibly go wrong?

Well, maybe more cherries would have been nice. And I did find a little piece of what appeared to be eggshell in my torte (is that bad?)....

But, once again, I finished my torte.

[ts]
Poached apricots with warm brown butter almond cake and cinnamon ice cream

The apricots themselves just tasted like apricots, no biggie. The cinnamon ice cream was pretty good.

BUT! BUT! The cake! The cake!!! That was super good!! It was served warm: nice!

So I think the best part of my meal was the cake!! So rare, that I would think that dessert was the best, and that somebody can actually make good dessert.

I was taking a risk ordering the ALMOND cake, because i HATE that almond essence taste. I like actual almonds. In this case, they used ground almonds in the cake (thank goodness). None of that pesky essence!! But yeah, that cake is just super good. I could've dispensed with the apricots and ice cream. Teehee.

[js]
Fromage frais brown sugar cheesecake-type concoction with strawberries and raspberries

Dessert was okay, although I can't help comparing it to Thomas Haas' stilton cheesecake which was absolutely delicious. They should have brought back the lemon tart 'cause that was SO YUMMY.

[allu]
Items that I tried and loved:
TS's order of risotto and almond cake with cinnamon ice cream;
JS's order of spring salmon

The almond cake with cinnamon ice cream was heavenly....and i didn't even get to try the apricots!

[allu]
I kind of wish I had ordered the beef tenderloin for my main....

Still, I enjoyed this meal, and wish I can eat here again =)

And am very curious about La Buca.

[ts]
So, I guess not a glowingly glowing review, but still a good one.

Haha, CSC said she was glad the reviews were not too glowing, because they made her less likely to want to eat there. She said she wants it when the chef (Andrey Durbach) is the one cooking.

So I said, just wait until August!!! Pied-a-Terre!! oooooh.

La Buca (April 2, 2007)

Second time here!

Two reviewers: ts and csc; with a cameo by js

[ts]
Haha, I guess csc forgot all about her GRAND PROCLAMATION that she wouldn't return to either La Buca or Parkside until a REALLY LONG TIME has passed.

(We last ate at Parkside on March 23.)

[ts]
Anyway.... We decided to eat like "normal" people and ordered "normal" amounts of food. The same server was there! Teehee.

[her] "Are you the...?"
[me] "Yes."
[her] "You're the group that..."
[me] "Yes."
[her] "You ordered 4 courses?"
[me] "Yes."

Haha.

Calamari ripieni alla griglia, salsa verde
Grilled stuffed squid with tomato fondata and green herb sauce

[ts]
This was CSC's dish. This was the appetizer of yore, so as you already know, it's really good. CSC would like, however, to reiterate her satisfaction with the nutty, peppery flavor of arugula.

Linguini Puttanesca
Olive, caper, anchovy, red onion, garlic, chili

[ts]
I had a HALF-SIZE of this. (Haha.) Don't really have that much to say. It was good.

Risotto
The risotto of the day was sweet corn and pea risotto with scallops.

I was tempted! But, am not really a scallop person. It was the CORN that was the most tempting for me, but I decided to go with the special MEAT for the day.

Duck breast, duck meat cannelloni, vegetables, blood orange sauce/reduction
The cannelloni was all right. I was actually still a little full because I ate "lunch" at 430pm!

The duck itself was pretty good. The GENIUS, see, was the blood orange sauce! It saved the dish from being too "MEATY."

On that note, though, WHY IS IT THAT I STILL CAN'T EAT TOO "MEATY" THINGS?!?!!!

I mean, that veal cheek trauma was way back in January! Also, since I have low iron, wouldn't it stand to reason that my body would actually CRAVE iron-y/meaty/bloody things?! But nooooo...

Why?!?! Why?!?!

Fish of the day:
Halibut, crispy-fried artichokes, potatoes, dried tomatoes, olives and such, sauce

[ts]
csc's dish. I don't really know the details re this dish. I only know the GENIUS part where Andrey Durbach MADE her like artichokes!!! HAHAHA...

[csc]
Artichoke… fried with batter… don’t know what… but little pieces, like 1 inch long, and boy, were they GOOD!!!!

I mean, I liked them with the halibut, and I liked them even without the halibut. Texture wise, they gave the right amount of “chewiness/crunchiness” and then flavor wise… I liked them a lot!

I was almost not wanting to order the halibut dish coz I heard “artichokes” but then I also heard “fried” so I figured, well, maybe they will be ok… or I’ll just put them on the side…

but then had to eat them all, and was actually too enthusiastic that I miscalculated and had halibut left over, and no more artichokes… usually, I’m pretty good with eating things in proportion (ie, every single bite has every single ingredient in it until the last bite).

Dessert:
Sauteed strawberries, aged balsamic, pinenut sable, whipped cream

[ts]
This was good. The balsamic didn't really have any vinegar-y taste at all. I forget how old the server said it was. But i guess really old! Haha... So I guess it's like a "parfait" or "trifle" in format: basically the different components were layered in a glass.

Dessert:
Chocolate "Salami", orange marmalade, whipped cream

[ts]
The GENIUS, the GENIUS.

When the server said "Chocolate Salami", I know right away we had to order this, hehe.

Apparently, CSC said when she heard that, she immediately dismissed it. She said she didn't HEAR the quotation marks around "salami." =)

Anyway, the genius is this: instead of just having a chocolate pate like almost everybody else, his chocolate pate was studded with ladyfingers and nuts and such! (Basically it's in a round, then sliced. It had squares/rectangles of stuff in it, like the fat squares in salami.)

I don't really get just having a plain chocolate pate -- coz that's just one taste. Sure, most of the time, restaurants pair it with raspberry sauce or some such thing, but really, it's just one-dimensional. But here, the "salami-ness" of the dessert is GENIUS!!! The ladyfingers and nuts and such are GENIUS! And CSC said that the orange marmalade also went really well with the "salami."

[csc]
Oh, chocolate salami dessert…

Shobe (aka "ts") was very insistent that I order this dessert… and truth be told, as soon as I heard “salami” I don’t want to order anymore and so completely ignored what the server was saying… ..hahaha…

but good thing one of us was listening… so then I got this and it was good. I normally don’t like chocolate pates (don’t really get the point), but this one… “salami-like” in style, but wonderful in taste!

[csc]
When we were waiting for dessert, the table next to us had their order arrive, and I can tell you, my mouth started watering just looking as their pasta order… (this after I had appetizer and main course).

I want to PUNCH that chef and tell him STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT…

I don’t like getting too enthusiastic about food… coz you know… too much food, not good… plus it adds up (price)… so I think I am starting a “love-hate” relationship with this La Buca/Parkside chef.

[js]
HAHAHA
This is soooooooooooooooooo funny. . .the part with the punching and the STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT. . .LOL

[ts]
To summarize, my duck dish was "all right" for me... Again, crazy "meatiness" aversion at work.

But, still, again, HE IS A GEHNYUS AND WE NEED HIS MAAAHND!!!

Parkside (March 23, 2007)

http://www.parksiderestaurant.ca/

Two reviewers: ts and js; no reviews by csc and the 3 g-ongs

[ts]
I don't think I remember too much about this meal, so I guess this will be short... or shorter than usual.

(I guess everybody sighs a collective sigh of relief?)

[js] Short and sweet I can do as well. LOL

FIRST
Spring garlic and spinach soup, basil cream

Salad of roasted beets and their greens, clementines, herb goat cheese, pecans, hazelnut vinaigrette

Salade paysanne: sautéed chicken livers with duck prosciutto, frisée, poached egg, red wine dressing

Crisp brandade cake with shellfish bisque sauce, melted leeks, wild prawn, micro celery leaf

[js]
Very subtle the garlic. It was mainly soupy (didn't really get to taste the spinach at all) with the underlying sweetness and pungency of garlic.

(As per usual, there was the usual haggling prior to the ordering. My choices were the brandade or the salade paysanne, but those were already spoken for, so I have to make do.)

[ts]
A note about the brandade cake: that was csc's choice and she REALLY liked it!

[ts]
I had the beet salad. Beets are "OK" for me, in general. I don't find them offensive nor do I find them to be especially good. So, the beets were OK.

Speaking in csc terms, the "combo" that I chanced upon in this dish was the clementine-goat cheese combo -- that was good!

PASTA
Braised veal cheek agnolotti, sage butter, shaved parmesan

Cavatelli with basil pesto, potato, and prosciutto

[js]
The cavatelli was the surprise of the whole evening. Based on the description, I really didn't think I would like it, given that it has prosciutto (I'm all prosciutto-ed out) and basil pesto (I'm all pesto-ed out).

But lo and behold, the magic of Andrey Durbach, and this was a dish that sings.

Cavatelli was fresh hand-made pasta and really I'm a sucker for fresh pasta. Once you've had fresh pasta, there's no going back. LOL The basil pesto, prosciutto, and potato are wonderful together, with the potato perhaps soaking up the stronger flavours of the prosciutto and the basil.

I was angling for the spaghetti Sicilian-style, but truth be told, this was the better dish.

[ts]
Tasted this (Jojo's dish). I thought I would be nauseous from the pesto (coz, i smell it everyday!), but this was actually pretty good. Hand-shaped pasta! So good!

Spaghetti with Sicilian style calamari sauce

[ts] No complaints. =)

MAIN
First of the season halibut, crisp bacon, braised chicken wings, pea purée, jus rôti (+3)

Poached and roasted truffled breast of organic chicken, gnocchi & spring vegetables, sauce Colbert

Formula milk fed veal sirloin, wild mushrooms, pommes dauphinoise, red wine jus

Grilled medallions of venison, Lyonnaise potato, braised endive, crushed pepper and cranberry sauce

[js]
Wanted the halibut but two people were already getting the halibut so have to switch gears.

Second choice was the chicken but csc took the chicken as well.

It was between the Berkshire pork and the veal, and given that I had Berkshire pork at Rare, I thought I'd try the veal instead.

Veal is veal, as in I don't really find it too flavourful and would probably have been happier with the pork. The mushrooms are nice, but I wasn't WOWed by this dish so much. It was a fairly standard dish, I feel, and didn't have anything to put it over the top.

[ts]
I had the halibut.

Again, the thing that sort of "ruined" it for me was the "meaty" braised flavor of the chicken wings! That thick, brown taste! I don't know why I can't seem to stomach that now. Insanity!

Anyway, the halibut was good. I like halibut and its firm texture. Bacon is always good. I've completely forgotten what the other components on the plate were.

Oh! I know! The potato fondant!

Grace was singing the virtues of the potato on our dish all throughout the meal! (She also had the halibut.) We were trying to figure out why this block of potato was so good. It really was just a block of potato! Turned out it was potato fondant, potato poached in butter. No wonder! Haha. It was "flavorful", very fragrant, with the outside having a little bit of crust.

The pea puree would've been fine with me, but it was a minted pea puree. I like or dislike mint on a case-by-case basis. In this case, I didn't like it! (Although, mint and peas are a classic combination.)

DESSERT
Parkside banoffi pie

[js]
Surprisingly good, given it's custard-like/flan-like texture. I thought it would be a more cake-y pie, but I liked this very much.

Banana and toffee -- wow. Never thought it'd be that good.

Molten chocolate beignets, Williams pear purée, white chocolate ice cream

Pineapple tarte fine with brown sugar ice cream

[ts]
I had the pineapple tarte fine. So very good! The pineapples were caramelized, crisp pastry... It was the best dessert of the bunch, I feel. =D


Done!

La Buca (March 2007)

http://www.labuca.ca/

Two reviewers: ts and js; no review by csc

[js]
A couple of notes:

First, we need MORE of these places in Vancouver. Fantastic -- and it really is fantastic! -- food, reasonable prices, casual service, convenient location (ie 10-15 minutes away from home).

Second, the food they serve at La Buca is the food that I want to eat all the time. In my head, this is what food at home should be: nothing too fancy, that is, basic but good ingredients simply prepared. The Italian aesthetic of "simple perfection" is closest to my heart and my stomach.

On to the review.

[ts]
In usual fashion, [js],[csc] & I ordered "a lot." We each had a starter, a full-serving pasta course, an entree and dessert.

The server informed us that we could actually get a half-size portion of pasta. I was considering this, but while CSC & the server were in discussion, CSC concluded that she would order the full size. JS and I followed suit.

The server (and soon, Chris Stewart as well) was a little concerned about the full-size serving, but were mollified when we mentioned we could always take the leftover pasta home.

Cuori di lattuga
Hearts of romaine lettuce, lemon, anchovy and parmesan dressing 8.5

Cozze con salsiccia del finocchio
Steamed mussels with fennel sausage, white wine and fresh bay leaves 11

Daily Special
Grilled squid stuffed with crab meat, tomato-saucy-thing, arugula salad, salsa verde

[ts]
I had the squid. First bite: sooo good!

The grill aroma & taste were good; the squid was perfectly done, the crab stuffing was excellent. Everything on the plate was soooo good.

Tasted the others as well:

Salad: Crunchy romaine! Nice dressing. There was fried anchovy on the plate (woohoo!), as well as parmesan frico. Again, good.

I don't normally like mussels that much, but this was good. The sauce and all the stuff in it were good. I liked how the fennel sausage was sliced thinly (a departure from the usual thick slices or cubes of sausage).

I'll leave JS & CSC to fully review their starters.

[js]
The salad was PERFECT. Hits the spot. Crisp, crunchy romaine hearts in a fabulous dressing with just the right amount of parmesan cheese. Again, nothing complicated about this dish. We can all do this! LOL

I'm glad I ordered this salad instead of the other salad that TS kept pushing on me. Which would have been good as well (buffalo mozzarella, grilled radicchio, pine nuts, olives) but I was really jonesing for just a very basic, very well-executed salad.

I tried TS's squid and I also tried CSC's mussels. CSC's mussels came with GRILLED BREAD (YES!) that was oh-so-good. It might have been a tad too long on the grill and could have used some garlic but IT'S GRILLED BREAD! So huge bonus points from me. The mussels were big and well-done and by itself it could have been a meal. It was certainly substantial enough.

The real star of the APPETIZERS though -- the superstar among the other stars -- was TS's squid. I had a piece of the squid and was I glad I was sitting down! Because, really, it was THAT good. It was a morsel of perfect happiness: I felt that that squid just fired all the right neurons, because it was bliss.

Spaghetti
- Puttanesca: Olive, caper, anchovy, red onion, garlic, chili 14.50
- Gamberi: Rock shrimp, cherry tomatoes, olive oil, fennel and herbs 17

Tagliatelle
- Bolognese: Rich meat ragu 16

Gnocchi con pollo alla cacciatore
Potato gnocchi with hunters-style chicken ragu 17

[ts]
I actually wanted the puttanesca. But I thought I'd go for the gnocchi since not a lot of places have that on their menus regularly.

JS actually ordered the puttanesca, but the server made a mistake and gave her the tagliatelle bolognese.

I thought my gnocchi dish would be more like the usual pasta dish: pasta + sauce. But it turns out, the gnocchi was more or less an accompaniment to the "sauce". The "sauce" was chicken cacciatore! So it was actually the stew/ragu that was the main component. The gnocchi itself was very good! So pillowy and soft, and good flavor. The ragu was a but too much for me, flavor-wise. That is, it was very "strong" and meaty. Otherwise, it was good; just a bit too husky/burly.

Tasted the tagliatelle: the pasta seemed hand-made. It had a very nice consistency. The sauce itself was good, too, but again, HUSKY! I guess am still tired of that "braised meat" flavor.

No ragus for me then! And since JS was denied, I think the next time we go there, Puttanesca it must be!

Anyway, since I was not in the mood for too-meaty flavors, CSC's Gamberi spaghetti was spot on. I will leave her to describe it.

[js]
Pasta: I had the tagliatelle Bolognese, which I didn't order. I had ordered the puttanesca, but our server made a mistake. I felt she was too concerned about our stomach room. I could have told her, "Don't worry; we know what we're doing; we do this all the time!"

The pasta was very good as well, given that this is a dish I would *NEVER* order in a restaurant. Points for having FRESH pasta. The meat sauce was very meaty, very hearty, and indeed, this pasta dish was very filling, a substantial meal in itself. The meat sauce could have used a couple of brighteners (too much meat) and I felt it was not seasoned enough (could have used more salt).

I had a taste of CSC's spaghetti gamberi and TS's cacciatore. Both were good. The cacciatore was too meaty and earthy for me as well, but Claire's spaghetti was light and perfect.

I WANT MY PUTTANESCA! Anyways, I can't really regret the tagliatelle because of THE FRESH PASTA. CSC's spaghetti is the dried kind and there is a difference.

[ts]
At this point, we had our unfinished pasta set aside (still on the table) when we requested our mains to arrive. We were saving room, see.

Also, there was this older couple beside us who kept looking over at our table. As in, they looked like they were watching a show, almost. Teehee. We were speculating that, perhaps, they were aghast and felt compelled to watch and see if we could actually finish what we ordered.

Pesce del giorno
fresh fish every day: chef's preparation or simply grilled with lemon, olive oil and herbs AQ

Pollo arrosto
Crispy chicken roasted with lemon, rosemary, garlic, black pepper; olive oil mashed potato 19.5

Scallopine di vitello
- Marsala milk-fed veal scallopine with Marsala wine sauce 22.50

[ts]
JS got the fish. It was ling cod, with seafood (mussels, prawns, etc), bouillabaise-style. It also had vegetables in there, some pasta (more pasta!), etc.

[js]
I had the fresh fish, as mentioned above, chef's preparation (as opposed to grilled). I wish I had the grilled version though 'cause I was really hoping for something lighter and fresher on the palate. Not that the ling cod in the bouillaibaise (sp? too lazy to spell-check) wasn't delicious -- because it was and the sauce/broth was just spot-on, with notes of fennel and parsley, and would have went great with some grilled bread. What I probably found too "heavy" about the dish was the fried/pan-fried ling cod. If it were steamed in the broth, I think I would have liked it even more.

[ts]
My veal: so very tender. Like a little behby (baby). Haha. (Which it is... a baby, ie.)

I've had scallopine before but I don't remember them being tender. Usually they were sort of tough. The Marsala sauce was "sweet" (not sugar-type sweet) and fragrant. The dish smelled like french toast! (From the butter.) It had green beans and asparagus, and a baby carrot. It also had polenta. The polenta was so good! It was crisp on the outside and really soft and creamy inside. Very good flavor by itself too.

Mineral water, still

[ts]
Since we didn't order any alcohol and Chris knew who I was, we had to at least give them some sort of beverage money. Hehe. So mineral water it was! Still (ie, flat), though. Sparkling water is just yucky.

(Oh, JS ordered coffee too.)

Tiramisu
Panna cotta with blueberry sauce
Dark chocolate tart with sundried cherries & whipped cream

[js]
Tiramisu -- EXCELLENT. This is what I want in a tiramisu.

[ts]
Tasted the tiramisu. Good! Although, I was already swimming in Marsala, so I only took 2 bites out of this. Besides, I was concentrating on the panna cotta, since both JS and CSC didn't seem to want to try/have it.

Panna cotta: good! The blueberry sauce I could've done without, but then, that's because I really just like the panna cotta's inherent nature. So milky and such. =)

Tasted the dark chocolate tart. It really was a dark chocolate! Good too, but it was a "dry" dessert -- I guess because I didn't want to eat it with the cherries (they were stewed in some liquid, probably some sort of liquor). But as I mentioned, I was concentrating on finishing the panna cotta.

[js]
I found my dark chocolate torte a little too hard for my taste. I think if they microwaved it a little bit then it would have been better. But hey, it's DARK CHOCOLATE -- so points for them. The sun-dried cherries, which I thought I wouldn't like, were actually quite perfect with the dark chocolate.

[ts]
All in all, once again, as per usual, this was GOOD!

To quote Frahnk from _Father of the Bride_, they are "gehnyuses and we need their MAHHHnd!" I mean, really!

Usually my comments for anything is just "OK", "not bad"... but this, one really must say GOOD (in caps lock, no less.)

Rating: umm... I guess this meal is about 8 or 8.5/10... (The HUSKY stuff brought the score down. But that's just my personal preference; or actually, just my mood.)

[js]
So THIS IS THE PLACE -- my home kitchen HAHAHA. Or what I think my home kitchen should be like. LOL Go to it. It's excellent food.

My score is 9 out of 10.

[ts]
Oh, there was nothing leftover from the meal. We finished it all!

But MAN!! I'm SOOOOOOOOO FULL!!!!

Parkside (January 31, 2007)

[This is a long dialogue. Get yourself a cup of tea and relax.]

Dine Out at PARKSIDE RESTAURANT, January 31 2007
http://www.parksiderestaurant.ca/

[ts]
[js]
[csc]
[We are labeled & color-coded!]

Prologue

[ts]
I had been to Parkside a year after it opened. So perhaps this was about 2 years ago, but I don't recall exactly. My experience there was good: there was one dish where I was tempted to lick the plate! (I had to contend with using a piece of bread to squeegee the plate.)

So, I was definitely looking forward to dinner there last night.

Parkside & the Dine Out dilemna

[ts]
Whereas Dine Out menus at other restaurants only have 3 choices per course (or 2, in some cases), Parkside offered FOUR choices for each course. The three of us spent countless minutes trying to finalize our strategy for ordering the food when JS made a BOLD, SURPRISING and INTRIGUING PROPOSITION.

[js]
We sat down and sat down to the inevitable jostling/positioning/discussion/negotation as to who was having what. Back and forth, back and forth, why don't you have this and I'll have that, but I don't want that I'd rather have this. . .and so on and so forth. This is our birthright as part of the most dreaded of all restaurant customers, the Fukien group (article forthcoming). We must have spent close to 30 minutes discussing the menu when,

"Why don't we just order ALL of the FOUR?"

That way, nobody gets left out and not a dish goes untried.

Simple and elegant? The answer to the mysteries of the universe? This might REVOLUTIONIZE the way we think about restaurant ordering. LOL It's a paradigm shift!

In any case, it solved the problem of endless discussion.

[ts]
CSC & I were surprised and delightfully intrigued by this idea. We then enthusiastically decided to forge ahead with our 4 Dine Out meals!

[csc]
Actually, I knew I was having the chicken for main course, but when I changed my mind about the appetizers, that's when the sisters started (or extended) their bargaining, discussion about what they were having... until JS's BOLD AND INTRIGUING PROPOSITION.

[ts]
Teehee. I was excited for us to make that order so I was a little impatient for the guy (waiter) to come and take out orders!

[csc]
Yes, I was quite impatient for the waiter to take our order, but when he came, we had to point to each other as to who would then tell him the INTRIGUING PROPOSITION!

[[This new format in reviewing where we have a dialogue instead of posting individual reviews reflects the consequences of revolutiuonary thoughts like JS's BOLD and INTRIGUING PROPOSITION.]]

[[Haha.]]

BEVERAGES
Fresh squeezed blood orange and carrot juice with fresh ginger $5
Basil and lemon soda with fleur de sel $4
Sparkling apple juice with elderflower and fresh mint $4

[ts]
They actually had imaginative non-alcoholic beverages! I didn't have to resort to my standard pineapple juice, hehe.

I had the blood orange/carrot/ginger concoction. It was good; not too sweet, as the blood orange juice acted as the sole source of sweetness. The combination was nice, especially with the ginger, but I would've liked it more if there was less carrot juice. The carrot juice has an "earthy" taste that I don't care for that much. By "earthy," I mean a "soil" taste.

Sipped a little of the basil-lemon soda. Again, this was very good and not too sweet. The combination of flavours was nice, especially the salt!

[csc]
I had to exchange my blood orange for JS's basil-lemon. I don't like ginger so I don't know why I would choose this drink! Really not good for me. But the basil-lemon was good. I don't like basil, but with this drink, I think I might start liking it. This is similar to the drink that TS makes at home but the basil gives a different depth that's a nice change to the familiar.

[ts]
(If the g-ongs remember our "home-made" mocktails, the basil-lemon soda is an upper scale version of that. Teehee.)

[js]
I liked both these drinks, although I probably liked the basil and lemon soda better than the blood orange. The carrot juice does "ground" the drink a little bit and gave it body, but I'm not that big a fan of the carrot juice. I would have liked more of the zing of ginger, I think, to counteract the carrot.

The basil was Thai basil and if there's anything else, perhaps I would have added a little bit of mint in this to complete it.

[ts]
We should've ordered all 3 kinds of drinks, but ordering the drinks came before JS's BOLD AND INTRIGUING PROPOSITION. By the time the food came, we were less concerned with the drinks and ordering the apple juice with elderflower never happened.

[js]
And we didn't know what elderflower is. Sounds like a flower that has lost its bloom already, past its prime. A geriartic flower.

[ts]
I was just afraid it would be too flowery. I still can't get over ordering Rose Tea a long time ago (at a bubble tea place). It was like eating potpourri -- I couldn't down the drink!

Already this much copy and we haven't gotten to the food yet.

FIRST COURSE
Oxtail consommé with Madeira, shiitake mushrooms, bone marrow dumplings
Salad of lettuces and herbs, avocado, crispy rock shrimp, mustard, crème fraîche and chive sauce
Alsatian onion tart, curly endive and bacon salad
Handmade pumpkin ravioli, sage butter and crushed amaretti

[ts]
The consomme was too "meaty" in taste for me. It tasted like the "iyak" Mama makes for me! Otherwise, it was good enough. I don't remember how clear the broth was.

[js]
Of the first courses, this consomme was the dud for me. It was too one-dimensional. The bone marrow dumplings were intriguing, but ultimately, I really didn't get the bone marrowness of it. I felt it was too dull -- don't know if it was a function of underseasoning -- but it needed something to brighten it up, an agent to make the ingredients shine even brighter. With the shiitake and the dumplings (aka wontons), they could have gone towards the Asian end of the spectrum. I don't have expectations vis a vis food (I'd rather be surprised by the chef) and I don't know if I expected them to take it towards that. But anyways, this was dud-dy for me.

[csc]
This consomme reminded me of "mah-kut teh" (Singaporean soup), which I like. So this wasn't too bad for me.

Salad of lettuces and herbs, avocado, crispy rock shrimp, mustard, crème fraîche and chive sauce

[ts]
The salad was just "OK" for me. I wasn't really looking forward to salad that night.

[js]
When I first bit into the crispy rock shrimp, it tasted like those run-of-the-mill battered and fried shrimp that you see everywhere: in the frozen food section, in all-you-can-eat buffets (Oriental), chain restaurants. It's just like that, except this *is* slightly better, as it didn't have that preservative, old-oil, processed taste. Maybe there is nothing you can do with rock shrimp and they're just really awful. 'Cause of course this would be a totally different dish if it had better quality shrimp. And grilled.

I liked the salad very much. Usually I don't like avocados that much but with the lettuces and herbs it's a great mix. I don't remember the chive sauce or the creme fraiche. Given the non-remembering, I wonder if they changed the dish somewhat from the advertised menu.

[ts]
I thought the chive sauce/creme fraiche was part of the concoction with the avocados.

[js]
If that's the case, then it was very good.

[csc]
OK -- me, I like the "run-of-the-mill fried shrimp". So with the added ingredients of endives,sauce, etc etc...this was just great!

Alsatian onion tart, curly endive and bacon salad

[ts]
Now, the tart! It was very good! It was "all that it should be and more!" (George Costanza, Seinfeld)

Even the curly endive was good! The tiny dice (plural) of bacon in the salad were crucial -- without them, I wouldn't have enjoyed the endive; the saltiness of the bacon really cut through the bitterness of the endive. Bacon makes everything good!

[js]
I didn't feel like the endive was particularly bitter. In fact, I don't remember it being bitter at all. The tart was very, very good. I like tarts in general -- something about that pastry shell -- and onion tarts are always good. This is a particularly well done version.

[csc]
You may notice that my reviews are all somewhat like this: This was good, this was bad... etc. Nothing about each particular ingredient (unlike the 2 sees-ters). I don't really dissect my meals that much... I like them all mixed together and then figure out if I like the taste and the textures. So for this onion tart... I thought this dish was SURPRISINGLY GOOD! I wouldn't order anything ONION but this was really nice. I honestly can't remember the endive/bacon thing being mentioned above. hehehe.

Handmade pumpkin ravioli, sage butter and crushed amaretti

[ts]
I thought the sage butter would be a brown butter type sauce (not emulsified), but it was actually a smooth emulsified sauce. Again, all elements of the dish were perfectly executed. The crushed amaretti cookies provided the perfect "grainy", crunchy contrast to the smooth, soft (sweet) pumpkin filling, the pasta, and the smooth, rich butter sauce. I would've been happier if it were just seasoned breadcrumbs (because I don't really like that "almond essence" flavor). However, the almond taste really did go well with everything else in the dish.

[js]
Yeah, I didn't like the amaretti. The almond essence was the first thing that I tasted. After going past the almond, I got the pasta and then the sweetness of the pumpkin. Don't recall the sage butter unfortunately. One thing about the PROPOSITION: I think I was slightly confused, having rotating plates and all. The pasta was a tad tougher/chewier than I expected. Being that it was handmade, I thought it'd be softer. By chewier, I mean denser.

[ts]
I liked the texture of the pasta. I thought it was the way it was supposed to be.

[js]
For being freshly-made, I thought it was too thick. But what do I know -- I only had half a ravioli, given that somebody finished off my other half!

[csc]
I think this restaurant is surprising me a lot. I normally would not order RAVIOLI. I just don't get them... ie, it's just the same one dimensional taste after another. But the pumpkin filling gave a hint of sweetness that was quite nice. So this was actually pretty good. Although, I'm glad I only ate one, because I don't think I'm still a ravioli kind of person.

[ts]
(An aside: but why would ravioli be more one-dimensonal than other pasta dishes? It's still pasta with sauce -- but with a filling inside!)

SECOND COURSE
Fillet of steelhead trout, French beans, fondant celery root, toasted hazelnuts, scallop tartlette
Polderside farms organic chicken, mushroom duxelles, gnocchi, braised lettuce, Parma ham, jus rôti
Braised veal cheeks & grilled flatiron, cauliflower puree, pomme croquette, gremolata, red wine jus
Assiette of Italian vegetables and legumes

[ts]
I think I was in the mood for "lighter fare" that night (very rare, indeed).

The braised veal cheeks -- ah yes, braised veal cheeks -- brought back memories. (Haha. See Figmint reviews.)

Again, they were very tender, but in this version, they still had form (as opposed to being totally "melted"). But, Andrey (chef) probably knew about this "veal, all the time, all day, everyday" problem, because this dish also had grilled flatiron (steak). Both the cheeks and the steak were very good, but I just didn't feel like meat.

I didn't really taste the cauliflower puree as it seemed to have disappeared by the time the plate got to me. ;P I also don't remember the gremolata on the plate. The pomme croquette was good.

[js]
As with the beef and beef-like offering of the oxtail consomme, I really didn't care much for this dish. I actually liked the Figmint veal cheeks better, because it had another dimension to its flavour via the saffron. I can see that Parkside veal cheeks are a well-executed dish, but I just didn't like it that much last night. The veal cheeks were just too much of that braised-meat-brown taste for me.

I didn't care much for the flat-iron steak either. See, the flat-iron steak I expected to be beefier but it was slightly bland-tasting to me. It must have been overpowered by the beefiness of the veal cheek in this dish.

Aside: I haven't had very many cheeks of veal -- hence the PROPOSITION so we can try this version of veal cheek -- but the best beef cheek rendition I like is in a cabeza taco! Mexican cuisine! Authentic Mexican cuisine. They know how to cut through that meatiness and those cheeks are just too darn good. They still retained that essential beefiness but something else has happened to them. They've transcended their nature. Went over and beyond beef cheek.

I didn't really like the pomme croquette that much. It sort of tasted like tempura batter to me: don't know if they used panko crumbs for that exterior.

[ts]
(Note: Pomme Croquette is basically mashed potato formed into a shape, then breaded and fried.)

[js]
I didn't taste the cauliflower puree either. I didn't even know where it was! I got a hint of lemon on a spot of a veal cheek, but I didn't see the gremolata either. They should have put more of the gremolata, because that lemon made everything so much better.

[csc]
This dish landed on my spot first, and I had steak for lunch so I wasn't really looking forward to having any more beef. But I needed to try this veal cheeks to compare to Figmint. First taste, I was surprised by the texture... thinking, wow, something to chew on. But then realized later it was the flat-iron steak. And then I discovered the tender veal cheeks (see Figmint review: I don't like too-tender food). But the fact that the chef knew to put flat-iron with veal cheeks, I think tells me he cares about texture, etc. So, bonus points.

Polderside farms organic chicken, mushroom duxelles, gnocchi, braised lettuce, Parma ham, jus rôti

[ts]
The chicken: this dish was more than the sum of its parts. It was more than what one would expect simply by reading the menu.

The Parma ham (prosciutto) was a long slice on the bottom of the rectangular plate. It covered the plate from one end to the other. Then the other components of the dish were placed on it, so you wouldn't have known it was underneath everything.

Mushrooms: yes.
Braised lettuce: yes.
Gnocchi: even bigger yes! I really liked the gnocchi and its pillowy self.
Oh, of course, the chicken too.

Everything was very good and very well executed.

[js]
Of the dishes, I thought it's the chicken dish that was the best. Extremely well done. Gnocchi was good. The lettuce excellent. This was the winner. Who would have thought, chicken?

[csc]
I KNEW I was going to have this dish as soon as I read it on the menu. So I had to PATIENTLY wait for my turn... which meant, I ate this dish 3rd I think. But then I got the chance to finish most of it off! hahaha. I can't believe I would enjoy the braised lettuce sooooo much. This dish, I would go back for to have a WHOLE plate. Not just slightly more than 1/3!

Assiette of Italian vegetables and legumes

[ts]
Vegetables! Haha, of course, if we didn't accept JS's BOLD AND INTRIGUING PROPOSITION, we wouldn't have even seen this dish!

There was a section with white beans (cannellini) in a tomato sauce. There were grilled radicchio. There was a ratatouille with bell peppers and olives. Oh, there was also polenta.

Again, all the components of this dish was well executed. The grilled radicchio had SO MUCH of that grill/charcoal taste! Nice. I liked the polenta as well. Everything was just tasty.

[js]
The vegetables were very good. In fact, if we didn't have the revolutionary way of ordering, I was seriously considering getting the vegetables. By process of elimination, I didn't want the veal cheeks and I didn't want the steelhead trout. I was going for either the chicken or the vegetables. If CSC had the chicken, then I would have gone for the vegetables.

I liked the ratataouille. The bell peppers had a nice sweetness to them and the olives its particular oliveness. I also liked the cannellini beans. In fact, I liked every vegetable in this dish, especially the grilled radicchio. Yum, yum. That grilled radicchio was extremely delicious. I liked the broccoli rabe as well.

The thing with vegetables though is that they don't seem to have any "flash." Or "flair." As I'm describing the dish, I guess I'm thinking, "Hm, that's it?" "That's the vegetables?" "Nothing to them?" "What else can you do with vegetables?" "That's it?"

[csc]
Ate this. To me, the vegetables are just the "sauce" or "topping" for pasta or some sort of meat... not a real meal. So I couldn't quite get it when JS is saying she was seriously considering this as her main course. That's why during the initial discussion period, I was trying to get her to order the other meat (veal cheeks) by saying, "Well, if you get the veal cheeks, you could compare it to Figmint's and see how they fare in execution and taste."... So then that got both sisters into longer discussion as to who will get what... until, as mentioned, JS's BOLD AND INTRIGUING PROPOSITION.

Fillet of steelhead trout, French beans, fondant celery root, toasted hazelnuts, scallop tartlette

[ts]
But, with my mood for "lighter fare", I think my favorite was the trout. Yes, trout! Surprising, indeed. Especially since this was STEELHEAD trout (faux-salmon type)! (See reviews/info re "Dine Out Vancouver" at our house. We were so SICK of salmon and steelhead trout by then.)

The trout was pan-fried; crisp exterior, of course. French beans -- those smaller, thinner green beans -- are one of my favorite vegetables. There were wedges of celery root (celeriac). (I don't know what they mean by "fondant celery root". The only fondant I know is the icing-type paste used to decorate cakes.) The scallop rested on puff pastry. There was a sauce on the plate, herb-y and smooth. Perhaps a type of butter sauce?

Anyway, I enjoyed eating all of the components in this dish in a variety of combinations. What I really liked was the contribution of the toasted hazelnuts. The toasted flavor has infused the sauce on the plate so that with every bite, there is a quick little puff of toasted hazelnut taste and aroma. This added a depth to the dish that grounded it and prevented the whole "light fare" thing to float away.

[js]
I didn't have a lot of the trout and didn't really get to explore all of the elements of the dish. I liked the scallop on the puff pastry (I like puff pastry). I didn't care much for the steelhead trout, but that's just because of my pink fish fatigue and not something inherently bad about the trout or the dish. The dish, again, was very well-executed and I really have no complaints about the dishes. I just didn't feel the trout-love tonight.

[csc]
This dish was nice. I actually liked the (1/3) scallop on the puff pastry that's on the side. The trout was... well, like hubby's trout that I ate 1/2 of at Figmint's. But I think I prefer this Parkside trout better.

[js]
Again, the rotating plates were a little bit confusing for me. LOL

FINAL COURSE
Espresso panna cotta with white chocolate foam and chocolate dipped biscotti
Prune and Armagnac ice cream with a brandy snap biscuit
Lemon tart brûlée with blood orange sorbet
Bleu de Bresse with spiced nuts, kumquat marmalade, brioche toast

[ts]
The ice cream was good and very well made. Although, it was too liquor-y for me. Of course, if you like armagnac, then this would rate a 10. I liked the brandy snap biscuit.

[csc]
The ice cream did taste too liquory. But for some reason, if you want to have a "fake buzz" of something non-alcoholic...this would be it. Nice. hehe

[ts]
I don't like blue cheese. However, this did seem to be a mild type. It was OK when I ate it on brioche toast with the kumquat marmalade. That way, I had the creamy, velvety mouthfeel of the blue cheese, but not too much of its "blue" taste. All the components in this dish went well with the cheese and with each other, in various combinations. It also had celery sticks as well (for eating with the blue cheese).

[csc]
I had to try the blue cheese and it turned out quite nice with the brioche and marmalade. I like it, but I wouldn't eat too much of it.

[ts]
I like panna cotta. This panna cotta was very well done: it had a strong espresso flavor and wasn't too sweet. I don't really have detailed comments. I just like!

[csc]
Panna cotta, again. Surprise for me. I don't like soft mushy nothing to chew anything. But this was good!!

[ts]
Again, with this strange phenomenon of me & "lighter fare", my favorite of all the desserts (the panna cotta comes pretty close, though) was the lemon tart! Very, very surprising (again) as I'm actually not too fond of lemon curd-type items.

Before going into the tart itself, the blood orange sorbet was very nice and complemented the tart. It had a nice texture.

Being a brûlée tart, the top of the lemon tart was caramelized (like a creme brulee). I, of course, like the thin layer of caramelized, crackly sugar. The lemon "filling" was superb! The texture was very smooth; it had a light lemon flavor; it was rich and luxurious but light all at the same time. It really was super good.

[csc]
OK, this dish was DISGUSTING to me!!! Just plain yucky! It had the taste of "wet meat" or unwashed rag or whatever it was... Like prosciutto that's too wet, soft. I couldn't understand why TS and JS like this at all!! As mentioned, I don't generally like soft mushy things... but this was soft/mushy, which wouldn't be too bad (see Panna cotta), but this was just AWFUL!

[ts]
I don't know what CSC is talking about regarding the taste of "wet meat" vis a vis the lemon tart. I mean, really, the filling (which was the objectionable part for her) tastes like a good/better lemon curd!! IT REALLY WAS THE BEST LEMON TART FILLING I'VE EVER TASTED!

So, JS and I were trying to figure out that perhaps CSC objects to the "egg" or "protein" taste? But then, she likes egg yolk and such!

(This then led to a discussion of how CSC's one big walking contradiction in terms of tastes: she likes sour, but sometimes says she hates sour things... She likes something else, but also hates it. It's very frustrating!!! Hahaha.)

[js]
I think the eggs they use at Parkside are just more flavourful than standard eggs at the supermarket. Might be from the Polderside chicken that we ate! LOL. That's why you get more of that "protein" taste.

The lemon tart was good! I liked the tart and its lemoniness. (For some reason -- and I'm thinking age is the reason -- I've been wanting lemon and lemon in dessert manifestations.)

(The eggs in the tart tasted like the eggs in "egg pie" that I had in the Philippines, which would make sense, because the eggs in the Philippines are more likely to be free-range than eggs here, which tend to be from commercial farms.)

[js]
Everything was good, re the desserts.
I think I got slightly buzzed from the armagnac even!

[csc]
(See I told you!)

[js]
I liked the bleu -- it's not as blue as other cheeses, that is, not as pungent -- and it was good with all other elements of the dessert.

The panna cotta was also very good, not too sweet.

Of the desserts, I liked the armagnac ice cream the best.

Epilogue

[js]
I rate this 8 or 8.5/10.

[csc]
Hmmm... I rate this 9/10, despite the disastrous lemon-tart, which I would NEVER order anyway.

Wait, why not just give it a 10? Well, too bad for I did taste the lemon-tart. =(

[ts]
I really don't get CSC & her lemon-tart objections! I have a feeling this is going to be one of her feuds -- like her and AURORA BISTRO, hahahaha!!

[ts]
All in all, Parkside does not disappoint (yet again). I rate it 10 or something like it.