Fine Dining in the 'Peg

[Pam R]

Rona - thanks for the report! I've heard good things about this place - and it's on my list of places to get to this summer - none of which I've gotten to. I'll keep it on the list though.

[prasantrin]

It's almost that time for my yearly visit to Winnipeg! Well, not really, since it's still 3 months away, but I like to plan ahead.

This year, a good portion of my eating out money will probably be spent in Chicago, so my fine dining options in Winnipeg will be limited. Of places I've not yet tried, I'm thinking:

Gluttons--despite my bad experience with the uppity hostess, I feel that Sadao Ono's win as the Canadian Culinary Champion almost forces me to dine there. I've "known" him since he first started working at his father's sushi place, and I want to see what he'd doing now.

Mise--it's always on my list, but I never get around to going there. Their limited hours makes it difficult to cram it in (especially once Folklorama starts!).

Those are the only two I can think of that I'd really like to try.

I might go back to Bistro 7 1/4--was there last Christmas for a slightly disappointing dinner. The mussels were as good as I remembered, but I had lamb shank or some other braised dish, and the sides were almost like an afterthought.

I might make it back to Tavern in the Park for a meal other than brunch, too. I've only eaten brunch there, so I'd like to try their dinner, too.

Other maybes, depending on time and money--Tre Visi, Underground Cafe (must have a sunburger), bistro dansk, Fusion Grill,

Won't be going to Bernard Mirlycourtois, Amici/Bombolini, 529 Wellingtong, or Dubrovnik's.

...are there any others I should consider? I'm especially looking for "new" places, any price range, though mid-range is best. Must save for Alinea.

[eatbc]

I'll be in Winnipeg May 9-12 to visit family and attend the Winnipeg Wine Festival.

I'll have a couple of nights and most days free, so where should I go?

Oh, Please don't make me go back to La Vielle Gare.

I would rather not return to Tavern in the Park or StepN out either.

Is Glutton's the place in the Old Pappas furs building on Corydon? Had a nice lunch there. I've tried 529. Also, Fusion Grill is a favourite, but I'm trying to find new.

Also, where does one go to wind down after the wine festival Fri and Sat nights?

Edited May 8, 2007 by eatbc (log)

[prasantrin]

I think you should try getting a table at Glutton's. Makoto Ono won the Canadian Culinary Championship, competing against chefs like Mark McEwan of Bymark and North 44 in TO, and Robert Clark of C in Vancouver. I heard it's quite difficult to get a table lately (it's a very small restaurant), and people have been flying in from TO specifically to eat there.

Tre Visi is a great Italian restaurant in the Exchange District.

Try to pm winefellow, a member of eGullet--he's very knowledgable about the current Winnipeg fine dining scene, and he's in the wine business, as well.

[Pam R]

Yep - that's Gluttons. I tried to get a reservation this weekend and couldn't.

Some ideas (mentioned earlier by Rona):

Seven 1/4 (French Bistro)

725 Osborne Street, 777-2525

In Ferno's

312 Des Meurons, 262-7400

I've not tried Sydney's - and heard mixed reviews. Please feel free to test it for us and report back.

Sydney's

Second Floor, Forks Market, 942-6075

Mise is also on my list of places to try.

For winding down in the evenings - how about heading over to Corydon, picking a patio that looks good to you and enjoying the oddly gorgeous early May weather (which is supposed to return to us by Saturday)? Or are you looking for something else?

[Pam R]

I'm also trying to figure out where to go for dinner this weekend - the Gates on Roblin just got highly recommended.

[prasantrin]

After a few years of having it on my "must try" list, we finally went to Mise.

I started with Kir. They do offer Kir Royale on their menu, but I was still expecting them to ask me what Kir was (it has happened before, especially in Winnipeg). I was pleasantly surprised that they not only knew what it was, but that they even asked me if I have a preferred type of wine with which to make it. Nice.

The amuse was some kind of curried chicken salad with apples and other stuff in a little pastry cup. It looked an awful lot like krathong thong, a Thai dish I love. It was soooooo good! I didn't expect to like it so much, but the flavours were so perfectly balanced. It had a very fresh flavour, and a little punch of heat.

Next we were given some kind of chunky hummous and sweet (maybe blueberry?) butter with thinly sliced bread. My mother really like the hummous (too much curry powder for my tastes), and I really liked the butter. My mother also proclaimed that the bread was even worthy of Tom (tino27) ("Oh, I think even Tom would approve of this. It's so fine!")

Next we share the "Warm Buche Riblaire with Sambuca Poached Black Mission Figs, Toasted Almonds, Orange Ginger Dressed Greens and Candied Parsnip". Again, a big hit. It had so many of the things I love--cheese, figs (which were dried, I think), and almonds--so I knew I'd like it. It was a wee bit sweet, but when you could get a bit of each ingredient together, it was perfect.

I had something like "Corn Meal Crusted Pickerel with Northern Pike and Crab Cake, Roasted Creamer Potatoes, Tartar Sauce and Vegetables". I think the menu has changed a little since we were there, since I don't remember the Northern Pike and Crab Cake or the tartar sauce, and mine was served with wilted arugula or some other slightly bitter green. Regardless, my main was a bit of a disappointment. I think they forgot to salt the pickerel, or perhaps salted it too lightly, because it barely had any flavour. No, that's not entirely correct, because it had a smokey flavour, as though it were finished in the oven (which maybe needed to be cleaned). Oh well.

My mother had "Seafood Linguine with BC Spot Prawns, Seared Hand Gathered Scallops, Bluepoint Mussels, and White Clams in Spicy Rose Sauce". She liked the seafood in it, but wasn't thrilled with the sauce. It was reminiscent of tomato juice. Again, oh well.

For dessert we had the pecan pie. I wanted the dacquoise, but was disappointed to hear it wasn't offered during the summer months. For a third time, oh well. The crust of the pie was very good, but the pie itself was too sweet for our tastes. It also tasted strongly of molasses. I think overall it was a good pie, but we just didn't appreciate it. We were told it was one of the most popular desserts there, however, so other people really like it.

We'll definitely be going back, but I think I'd prefer just to order off the appetizer menu, especially since the appetizers, in general, look more appetizing than the mains (to me). I know they offer an appetizer-only menu after 10pm, but I can never stay up that late, so I hope they allow diners to only order appetizers for dinner, as well.

Mise Restaurant

22 - 222 Osborne Street

Telephone: [204] 284-7916

Hours of Operation: Wednesday - Thursday 5:00 pm - 11:pm Friday - Saturday 5pm - 4am [Casual Menu 10pm - 4am]

[prasantrin]

Sydney's at the Forks is a restaurant that wasn't really on my list. I had heard of it, but was never impressed with the things I had heard. But when my cousin invited my mother and me to dinner, he wanted to try it, so off we went.

At dinner, there is only a prix fixe menu at a very reasonable price of $51. With that, you choose from several options for each course--starter, appetizer, main, and dessert. Right away, my pretension radar started to beep--seriously, what's the difference between a starter and an appetizer? If the starter is supposed to be the amuse bouche, then what they serve at Sydney's is larger than your average amuse, but smaller than your average appetizer portion. And why are they giving you a choice for your amuse bouche? Isn't an amuse a sort of "gift" from the chef and not considered a course? But I guess counting an amuse as a course gives people the sense that they're getting an excellent value--4 courses for $51!

After visiting the website again, I see that they include the palate cleanser as a course, so they say you're getting 5 courses for $51. What's up with that? Since when is a palate cleanser a course? It's a little itty bitty serving of sorbet, for god's sake! (radar going beep...beep...)

Anyway...my starter was some kind of cold soup with goat cheese foam. It may have been called a gazpacho, but it wasn't (as far as I could tell) made with tomotoes (it was green). The goat cheese foam was served separately for the diner to add as desired. It was refreshing, but I didn't think the goat cheese foam added anything to the soup other than, well, pretension. While it didn't make the soup bad, it didn't make it better, either.

My appetizer was pork belly with three sauces, and it was supposed to be Thai-inspired. The pork was very nicely cooked--it was tender enough to cut without a knife, and it was nicely flavoured. The sauces were a bit more problematic. One was coconut milk-based. It was excellent on its own, but did nothing for the pork belly. The other two sauces were less successful, even on their own. And none of the sauces or the pork belly had any inkling of inspiration from Thailand, although one did have coconut milk (but the flavours of even that one weren't Thai at all). One of the sauces was curry-based, but it was more Indian curry than Thai. I did try a bit of each sauce, but I ate most of the pork belly (which wasn't a very large portion) on its own. It was much better that way.

My main was striploin. I ordered it medium rare. What arrived was pretty close to well-done. I didn't complain, but chalked it up to the server mis-hearing my order (maybe she thought I said "medium well"??). It was dry and chewy, as one would expect from an almost well-done striploin, and the vegetables served along with it were terribly salty. I ate very little of my main, but had it packed up (my mother ended up using my leftovers to make a stirfry).

Luckily, my dinner was saved by dessert. It was the definitely the best course, and was a riff on a chocolate bar. It had a cake-like layer on the bottom and a marshmallow layer, covered with chocolate and served with caramel sauce. It didn't compensate for the other misses of the meal, but at least I had one positive experience there.

Along with the check we were presented with little sugar cookies. I vaguely remember them being pink and white, with some sort of design (hearts?). They weren't very good. I'm a little surprised they don't count the cookies as a course, making the dinner an even better value. (6 courses for $51! What a deal!)

The service was friendly and competent, although had I been the server and someone ordered striploin medium-well, I would have at least mentioned that particular cut of meat would be better if cooked less.

I liked the decor--it was somewhat eclectic in a nice way with pieces that seemed to be from all over the world. We discovered after speaking with the manager (?) that the owners buy most of the pieces at Home Sense. I'll have to shop there more often.

I can imagine Sydney's being very popular with Winnipegers. It has a slightly upscale feel, and has enough pretension to make people think they're being very sophisticated dining there. That being said, I won't be going back unless I'm dining with someone who insists on going there (who is also paying).

[prasantrin]

My source reports that Mise on Corydon has been open for several weeks now. Both my source and her dining partner enjoyed their lunches very much--one had the mussels with sausage (very tasty, wished she had some rice to soak up the sauce), and the other had some kind of angel hair pasta with vegetables (her place was almost licked clean).

When we dined at the Osborne location, the bread had been made by the sous chef, we were told. At lunch, they were told the bread (very delicious cranberry bread) had been made by Le Croissant but were not available for sale at the bakery. Le Croissant makes breads exclusively for some restaurants and they do not sell the breads to their retail customers. Of course, my source's ears are not quite what they used to be, and she may have heard incorrectly.

It seems Mise's website has not been updated to show a lunch menu, but the new contact information is there. I can't wait to lunch there next summer!