L'Atelier

[Thesorus]

I just tried L'atelier on St-Laurent.

I really enjoyed (*) eating there tonight.

I passed in front of the restaurant a couple of times in the last few weeks since it openned, and always had other plans.

The restaurant UI look is simple, a series of standard tables, ranging from straightforward 2 seaters to round tables and a banquette along one wall, with a mural of cross sections logs!!; but what makes the restaurant fun, for the celibate me at least, is the large and very confortable "bar" area. There are about 12 seatings on high confy stools and the bar itselt is made of slate ( the rock thing ) which adds a touch of elegance.

The colours range from dark gray ( slate ) to dark brown and white, with exterior street lighting, it made the restaurant very stylish ( IMVHO )

I also like the china, the glasses and the cutlery.

now, to the food part :

The restaurant offers mainly "appetizers", or entrées in French, so that you can select more than one, and they suggest 3, entrées for a full meal.

Tonight I had the following

- A cold potato and fish salad, a nice piece of artic char ( omble chevalier ) with some white and purple potatoes in a salad, the fish was very good, as were the potatoes ( they could have been a very little more cooked )

- Risotto de petit gris and red rice with fois gras shaving. This was very good also, it reminds me a little of the risotto of The Club Chasse et Peche minus the pig and with some morilles ( I LOVE morilles )

- Noix de Cerf with a big shrimp, this was good, the Cerf was a bit under cooked ( for my taste ), but the pepper piperade was nice seasonned with piments d'espelette .

And I finished with a duo of Chocolate with piments d'espelette, which was nice, the ice cream was better than the tartelette, and both were lacking the hotness and flavor of the piments.

I really liked the way they set up their menu, it makes choosing a lot harder, but in a group of 3, 4 people, you can have a lot of fun trying all those dishes.

The staff was friendly and professional.

(*) it was cold in the restaurant.

http://www.restaurantlatelier.com/

[nanbanane]

We went last Sunday (yes finally a good restaurant near home that is opened on Sundays!) and loved it also. The place was half full and other dinners seemed to be getting a kick out of the place too.

Out of all the new eateries on St-Laurent north of Fairmount this one is the only one that I felt like trying out. The others seem a little stiff to me.

I agree with you about the staff and we let the chef choose what we would eat. I love doing this the first time I go somewhere, you are sure to see how the kitchen performs and if the chef knows how to wow us! And he did: We had the fish of the day, whole fish grilled with fennel bulb and onions, perfect (sorry I can't remember what the fish was...) before that we had two smaller dishes both exquisite: the tartar of magret de canard with red rice (which I'm predicting will become the new fetish staple ingredient in restaurants) walnut oil, walnut shavings and oyster mushrooms, and the asparagus with rabble (simple and perfectly prepared)

I found the wine list a little steap, maybe only 2 or 3 wines in the $30 price range.

As for the heat, we were fine and is was much colder last Sunday night than this past week, so there must have been something wrong the night you went...

The waiter told us they got a 4 star rating in the Gazette! And have been invaded by the westend crowd ever since.

[sf&m]

Looks good - and you can easily "BU" pre/post.

What's the price level?

[nanbanane]

It will run you about $30-$40 per person for food. But you could do it for less if you chose amonst the bigger portioned dishes as oppposed to the "dégustation" sized plates.

[iharrison]

L'Atelier did not get 4 stars in The Gazette. Lesley Chesterman gave it 2.5.

Still good. But not 4.

For the record, I had a wonderful meal there a few weeks ago.

[Lesley C]

Actually I gave it three stars. Unless I missed something. The review ran while I was out of town.

[iharrison]

My bad! You did give it three.

The review is still online actually ...

[gus_tatory]

has anyone been here recently? i have a reservation for the 23rd, and my Mom is coming all the way from Nova Scotia ( ) to see me and eat at this place.

seriously, i'm wondering what their winter menu is like, if anyone can endorse or recommend staying away from any particular dishes, etc. thanks in advance~! i very much appreciate the weblink to the menu, but in all likelihood, that menu will not be the same when we go...

[iharrison]

has anyone been here recently? i have a reservation for the 23rd, and my Mom is coming all the way from Nova Scotia (   ) to see me and eat at this place.

seriously, i'm wondering what their winter menu is like, if anyone can endorse or recommend staying away from any particular dishes, etc. thanks in advance~! i very much appreciate the weblink to the menu, but in all likelihood, that menu will not be the same when we go...

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I ate there last week with a large group and we had every dish on the menu. The food was still wonderful and the wine service is superb.

[gus_tatory]

Great--thanks for the update, iharrison~!