This month’s issue of Toronto Life magazine (April 08) called out Lucien as Toronto’s best new restaurant. Colborne Lane (which Rabbitz enjoyed very much for the birthdays) was voted #2. When our foodie friends recruited us to try TL’s “best new,” our curiosity was piqued…

We met D&L on a Saturday night for a  9:00 rez. We arrived just past the hour and trawled in to find our friends already seated toward the back of the room. We made our way to our table without anyone paying the slightest bit of attention to us. This wasn’t a problem, but it is a nod to the fact that one shouldn’t expect white glove service here (it’s not Splendido, Scaramouche, or Susur). The room is very pretty and comfortable, casual and relaxed with accents of luxe… picture a long narrow-ish room in warm brown tones, chandeliers, an open kitchen, and an inviting bar. 

We started with cocktails from a list of about eight in-house creations. The Lucien is a candy-sweet red drink that channels a Jolly Rancher. Mojitos are very generous, but perhaps due to an excess of lime-aid-y mix. The Apple Crisp proved the winner of the cocktail-ing round, creating a bit of autumnal depth to the traditional apple martini with a hit of amaretto. The bartending is OK here, although Rabbit has often complained of the inattention to proper mixology in Canada.

Meanwhile, we turned our attention to the menu. Lucien offers three, four and five course pre-fixe(s) or à la carte eating. We opted for three courses each and I wouldn’t actually want much more food. Our friends like to eat and are not uptight about food-sharing, so we were able to do some good sampling. Very minor complaint here, but they were slightly stingy with the bread, so we had only two small brioche rolls to split among four of us (along with a small dish of flatbreads and bread sticks). We weren’t there to fill up on carbs, but this was a slightly parsimonious offering.

We started with the beef tataki, with various citrus dressings and accompaniment, shards of black truffle and  mint. The meat was flavourful and the citrus worked well to punch things up. 

A stunningly colourful beet salad presented heirloom beets in three colours, with plenty of frothings and foams and a slightly cheese-cake-y soft cheese (web site says it’s a sheep’s milk feta, but I’m not positive that’s what we actually ate). 

The octopus app (feature on the cover of the aforementioned TL mag) was really punched up by the fab house-made chorizo. I was a sucker for Colborne Lane’s octopus app, so I found this one less-good, but it was still a very credible and interesting plate.  

The pork belly with kimchee, cuttlefish and clams clocked in as the star starter. I could not try this dish (cursed bivalve allergy), but the presentation was lovely and I really wanted at the perfectly poached egg..  

The first course was fun eating. Nothing left me agog, but everything met expectations and offered moments of surprise and delight. Things continued to progress nicely with the mains.

This kitchen does well with its meats (and the one fish dish we tried wasn’t too shabby either). My lamb was perfectly cooked with all sorts of interesting and unexpected things happening on the plate – oat-y wheat kernels, a verdant veg puree with my greens, carrots with a rich glaze and a pappadam-ish crispbread. 

Mr. Rab’s red deer was again perfectly cooked with all sorts of granola, rice, fruit and glaze-ing. 

D’s shortribs were dark and tender and the kitchen happily substituted extra chestnuts for the sweetbreads. A savory pudding-y marrow was a beautiful adjunct to this dish (with tiny, perfect spoon). 

L’s organic salmon was moist and tender with black risotto and a visually attractive garnish of caviar.  

We were a little disappointed with desserts, but perhaps we “ordered wrong.” First, we sampled the cheese plate, five nicely varied choices with tempting sides (walnuts, oat cookies, berries). The kitchen selected a very nice mix of cheeses and had no trouble with our request to avoid cheeses blue. 

The olive oil cake was the only one of our choice desserts that the kitchen actually baked. It was approaching good, mostly on the strength of the accompanying ice cream and especially the white chocolate and pistachio bark (which was delectable). But this dessert didn’t quite hit that high note.  

Lucien’s “chocolate complex” is a manifest rip (in the Rab’s humble opinion).  Five small shards of chocolate are served with various gimmick-y accoutrements (cedar gelée, sea salt, balsamic and olive oil, rose something-or-other) for $17. The chocolate was all dark (my preference, but L prefers milk and a little bit more variety would have been fun), and came from various different locales (Madagascar, Columbia, Italy, Toronto). Mr. Rabbit says the chocolate was really not so much better (and portions were certainly no more generous) than the freebie chocolate that came with his coffee at Le Select the previous night. I would actually avoid ordering this. You can do this at home… just buy a few bars. You won’t miss out on the cedar jello.

Service at Lucien was good, but not super-polished (CL did much better on service). Our server was pleasant and patient (we had questions and spent time deliberating and getting our order together) and we did get a hello from the owner, which is always nice.  

So, did it live up to the hype? Overall, this was a fun meal and I would go back to Lucien (especially once they switch up the menu).  It wasn’t Splendido (Scaramouche, Susur) - but I don’t think that’s what it’s trying to be. And I wonder whether the #1 Toronto Life recommendation might actually be skewing some diners’ expectations? This isn’t the best restaurant in the city (I don’t think it’s even top 5), “merely” a delightful newcomer.

And another thing… comparisons between Lucien and Colborne Lane are quite inevitable… not only are the neighbours, but their dining rooms have a similar feel and their approach to food is quite alike. Both feature very imaginative menus with a focus on culinary experimentation, adventure, and high degree of fun. Despite the ostensible wacky-ness of certain menu items on each list (and I think CL is more guilty on this count), both kitchens actually have laudable restraint with respect to their creativity and the food benefits from this. In short, nothing tastes weird despite the rococo descriptions of menu items. Which is “better?” For what it’s worth, Mr. Rabbit liked Lucien slightly better, but I’m casting a solid vote for CL. I’ve thought about this for a few days and I think CL was a more memorable meal and special meal (and a slightly more polished and refined experience).

There has been some writing lately about changing trends in Toronto restaurant-ing. There seems to be a general feeling that diners no longer want the full expense (financial, temporal, caloric) of the four-hour tasting menu treatment so popular five years ago. A new breed of restaurants in Toronto, including Lucien, Colborne Lane, Globe, etc., seem to be more playful, experimental, casual spots. The service isn’t totally sycophantic or crumb-scrape-y, wine lists seem slightly compromised*, but it’s a really fun way to spend an evening. Many restaurant-goers have become pretty sophisticated and I think this new breed of restos caters well to the mindset of these patrons who are curious, adventurous and always looking for something new. Food has become something we play with (an evening spent eating is good entertainment for spoiled brats like us), and Toronto seems to have some really good players right now. No doubt a few grand dames and expense account places are always going to be around (and should be), but I’m what I see as the current trend in restos.

* A note on that wine list. The Rabs complained quite bitterly about the sad and deficient wine list at Colborne Lane. Lucien does better, but with both of these restos the focus is on food and hard-core oenophiles are probably going to be disappointed at either. 

Financials -  4 x 3-course dinners, 4 cocktails, one bottle of Chianti ($58), coffee (often refilled since this is a very pleasant place to linger… $480 with tax and tip.

PS - A special thanks to our friends D&L for putting up with cameras over dinner and for sharing our obsessive love of talking about and consuming food. A think you’ll hear about them again on Rabbit.

Posted on April 8th, 2008 by rabbit
Filed under: Toronto, Restaurant Reviews