First Peek at St. Lawrence

So this was a complete accident...I wanted to go to Makayoshi for dinner, but since they were closed for the Canada Day long weekend, I couldn't make a reservation. Fortunately, the boy thought ahead and made a reservation at St. Lawrence, so here we are! Rising from the ashes of Big Lou's Butcher Shop amongst a scandal involving one of the founders, St. Lawrence is helmed by J-C Poirier, from Ask for Luigi fame. The restaurant serves classic Quebec dishes that reflect the chef's roots and upbringing.

But first things first, the boy decided on the vino of the night while I snapped pics of the menu. See below..."pour commencer" and "les légumes et les plats". Menus evolve, so what you get might be a bit different.

For starters, there are a few tasty choices. La Terrine du jour popped out at me. But I was quite intrigued by the Langue de Bison as well.

And there are more delicious choices for Les Légumes & Les Plats. Does something jump out at you? Decisions had to be made, read on to find out what we ordered!

So the chef started us off with La Terrine du Jour and a grainy mustard, served with a hearty portion of warm rustic bread. To be honest, as a "non-carb lover", I LOVED this. Creamy and rich, but not overly decadent...it was a perfect starter.

 

For our appetizer, we opted for the Steak Tartare, chèvre noire & pomme gaufrette. Chef J-C Poirier started making this two seconds after we ordered, seriously fresh. The chips were warm and crispy, becoming a perfect vessel for the creamy tartare. The cheese gave a punch of flavour to the tartare and we polished this off in about 5 minutes, greens and all.

  

Our next dish was the Vol-au-vent au Champignons & Sauce Mornay. The various mushrooms were earthy and juicy, sitting atop a light and buttery puff pastry pedestal. Despite the small size of this dish, the mornay sauce was rich and made the dish a heavy hitter in terms of flavour. 

  

Our first main was Ballotine de canard, pomme dauphine & sauce a l'érable and it was stunning. The forcemeat was wrapped around the tender duck and served to keep everything moist and juicy. The potatoes had a nice crisp on the outer edges, but the inside was buttery smooth. I would definitely order this again.

 

And this was our other main, Côte de porc, fromage Oka & sauce charcutière. The bone-in pork chop was recommended by the chef and it was a great pick. The meat was super juicy due to their bath in a brine. The Oka cheese flavour is really strong and pungent, and if you're a cheeselover, put this on your "must-eat" list! The potatoes are smooth as butter and it brings the dish over the top.

  

My regular readers know that I'm not usually a dessert fan, but this was a gift from the restaurant and I was a grateful recipient. This Rice Pudding with a splash of salted caramel wasn't overly sweet and it eradicated all my negative notions of rice pudding, and I would gladly order this again.

And yes, we did order a lot of food...so some of it had to come home with me...and Charlie had a helluva treat the next day. I think he'll become a Canadiens fan now.