SubscribeLUNCH August 24, 2007
There are very few restaurants downtown offering a good lunch (that is not a sandwich) at reasonable prices. The opening of Brasserie Brunoise by the owners of (you guessed it) Brunoise a mere two blocks from my second home (i.e. office) was one of the most anticipated moments of the spring for me. Brunoise is, dare I say it, a fantastic restaurant and I was looking forward to something more or less in the same vein from Brasserie Brunoise.
I had about six meals at Brasserie Brunoise shortly after it opened but had not been there since March. The restaurant is on a prime location on De La Montagne just across from the Bell Centre. A nice, open room with somber wood floors, big mirrors and high ceilings, it has the traditional bistro look. And when it fills up, as it often does, it has the traditional bistro atmosphere as well. I had liked a few dishes: the liver on rapini with crispy onions springs to mind, but had found a lot of the food disappointing. Undercooked vegetables, flavourless soups and bland dishes (halibut with sauce vierge on green beans and a bite of chorizo was monumentally so).
Despite my hit and miss experience, when TT said he wanted to do lunch near my office, the obvious choice was Brasserie Brunoise. TT works on the South Shore and accordingly gets little exposure to food where there are choices other than steamé or grillé, so we wanted to go someplace where we could eat a real meal. And Brasserie Brunoise has some great food it’s just a question of stickhandling through the duds and ordering the right thing.
I ordered the salade Lyonnaise, which is a dish on this menu I know is a winner. Frisée salad, thick cut bacon, croutons and a light vinaigrette, the whole topped with a poached egg. Delightful, although I think the croutons could use some work. Dessert was chocolate filled beignets with caramel sauce. Six little round sugar sprinkled beignets filled with hot chocolate sauce (try not to burn anyone- these things are like hand grenades) waiting to be dipped into the accompanying caramel. Very piggy but sinfully good and by themselves worth a visit to this restaurant.
I have forgiven Brasserie Brunoise. When it opened I expected it to be like Brunoise and was disappointed when it failed to live up to my expectations. But, as a wise man once said, it is what it is. Usually, that means good food at reasonable prices but occasionally it means mediocre food at reasonable prices . With a little practice, like me, you should be able to ensure that it is usually the former and not the latter.
Rating: Three stars
Brasserie Brunoise
1012 De La Montagne
514.933.3885
Related Posts
No related posts were found, so here's a consolation prize: Mas Cuisine.
