Changes at Le Bleu Raisin

[carswell]

If Le Bleu Raisin's website is anything to go by, the St-Denis restaurant is no longer a BYO and has a new-fangled menu consisting entirely of little dishes.

Dès le 13 mai 2004, le Bleu Raisin vous offrira une cuisine de dégustation.

Une suite de petits plats que vous choisirez, dans l'ordre ou dans le désordre, selon vos goûts et votre appétit, accompagnés de notre sélection de vins.

Arnaud, le propriétaire, reprend ses fourneaux. Genivève et Jacques sont toujours là pour vous acceuillir.

De plus, vous profiterez de votre repas dans un environnement sans fumée.

Several of the dishes are carry-overs from the former menu. Veggies, especially the green leafy kind, don't loom large. The wine list is competent and contains a surprise or two (Tignanello?!); mark-up appears to be 100%, alas. I wonder how this concept will fly.

Edited May 19, 2004 by carswell (log)

[grill-it]

Wow - that's too bad. It was one of my favourite BYOW's in the city. I've always had an enjoyable experience there. I hope that they won't lose their loyal following that they've built up over the past couple of years....

[Lesley C]

I dined at Bleu Raisin last night and thought it was great. The new menu format is wonderful because you can create your own tasting menu without walking away feeling stuffed. I had some wonderful foie gras, these nice Vietnamese-style cold spring rolls made with salmon, great scallops, duck, and more. Desserts were also very good.

I think the restaurant has reached a whole new level and their decision to drop the BYOW policy was to discourage diners who were coming there for a soup and salad to pair with three bottles of wine. They are certainly aiming higher, and from what I tasted last night, they are going to succeed.

And BTW, the cheese course is till superb: four Quebec cheeses (Laracam, Pied de Vent, Chevre Noir and Gre des Champs) all served in generous portions.

[carswell]

Thanks for the report, Lesley. Will look forward to your review.

A few questions:

- What's the bottom line, pricewise? (The prices are listed on the online menu but without seeing the portion sizes it's impossible to know how many dishes you'll order for a standard size meal.)

- What about vegetables? Do the dishes come with them as sides, or are you forced to resign yourself to an animal protein-intense meal?

- Does the wide-variety-of-small-dishes approach have the potential to make wine-matching difficult? (The St-Émilion that goes great with the beef probably won't work with the scallops.) Do they serve wines by the glass (an obvious solution to the problem)?

I think [. . .] their decision to drop the BYOW policy was to discourage diners who were coming there for a soup and salad to pair with three bottles of wine.

Yeahbut the flip side is that it makes the evening that much more expensive and also means there's one less restaurant in town that it's worth taking fine bottles to. (Remind me again why corkage is illegal in this province...)

Edited May 29, 2004 by carswell (log)

[carswell]

After — what is it? — nearly a year, it looks like they're back in business. Anybody been?

http://www.lebleuraisin.com/

[carswell]

Tastet reviews Le bleu raisin in this week's Voir (the link will take you directly to the review until next Thursday, after which you'll have to pull it up from the archived reviews listed on the left side of the page). From the photo, it appears they've redecorated, opting for an upscale bistro look and feel. The menu's now written on big blackboards and they've dropped the many-little-plates approach in favour of three first and three mains a night, each listed with a recommended wine by the glass.

After bravely confessing that he has "repeatedly failed Wine Appreciation 101" (my translation, as are the other quotes), Tastet admits to bringing along a wine geeky friend, who claims not only that the winelist is populated with many interesting bottles but that they are reasonably priced; in fact, some sell for scarely more than retail at the SAQ. No examples are provided, alas.

The food sounds interesting if a bit predictable (where have we heard the phrase "market-driven French" before?), though some of the ingredients are unusual. Tastet swoons over a couple of dishes and complains about the size of the foie gras appetizer

[the chef's] escalope of foie gras caramelized with buckwheat honey atop a jumble of golden beets is prettily accompanied by milkweed pods and a cloudberry compote. Since I'm something of a tightwad (the dish goes for $23, all the same) and I like to call a spade a spade, I would be more inclined to call it an escalopinette, which is, as everyone knows, the diminutive of an escalopette, itself the Lilliputian version of an escalope. Either that or it was the liver of a very small animal. But let's not be petty: the dish is succulent, rich and amusing and fills with bliss whoever comes near it.

The elaborate names of the dishes come in for some ribbling ("detailed to the point of tedium"):

- Tartelette d'escargots et de lentins de chêne, pignons de pin et graines de cumin torréfié, le tout coiffé du Riopelle de l'Île-aux-Grues

- Ragoût de pétoncles acadiens tendres arrosés de vinaigre de malt, cassolette de pépins de grenade, lentilles vertes et boutons de marguerite

- Mijoté de jarret d'agneau gaspésien à l'eucalyptus et raisins imbibés au Pineau des Charentes, coulis de Bouq-Émissaire des Bois-Francs et mousseline d'aubergine à l'huile de sésame grillé

- Pétales [!] de cerf de St-Alexis-des-Monts sur fondue de chou frisé au pain d'épices, jus et copeaux de truffe noire himalayenne.

The desserts: Île flottante sur crème anglaise à la menthe, coulis de fraise à la cardamome or a Pot chocolaté, délice de pommes, parfum de basilic et Bouq-Émissaire. "Don't bother with the crème brûlée, the menu's weak link, basically due to its lack of originality. Which is certainly not the case for the restaurant or its cooking."

None of this comes cheap: first courses $14-23, mains $32-39, desserts $6-8. Guess you make it up on the wine.

Open Tuesday to Saturday from 6 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.

[carswell]

According to its updated website, Le Bleu Raisin has gone back to being a BYOB.

[Lesley C]

Yes, sad but true. The wine service was the best thing about the place when I last ate there in the spring.

[Lesley C]

Yes, sad but true. The wine service was the best thing about the place when I last ate there in the spring.