ALLIUM ‘RELIABLY GREAT’
Cosy atmosphere and dishes delight
A few weeks ago, on a Monday night, we were scrambling to pull together a last-minute dinner out with some friends from out of town. For the first restaurant that sprang to mind, the early seatings were all booked. Then, the second restaurant that we considered was closed. Our plans only firmed up when we snagged a table at Allium.
Last, but not least, indeed. After thoroughly enjoying a meal of small plates at the Holland Avenue restaurant, we kicked ourselves for not having thought of Allium before the others.
Opened in the fall of 2004, Allium was last reviewed by the Citizen in the summer of 2011, when my predecessor declared that chef-owner Arup Jana’s restaurant was “cooler than ever” and “reliably great.” I’m pleased to re-affirm that assessment, thanks to that Monday night dinner and a second visit last week.
At both meals, the kitchen turned out well-crafted and colourful dishes that popped with vivid flavours and smart combinations. There was a spirit of generosity to Allium’s food, reinforced by servers who, for all the casualness of their jeans and T-shirts, were very much on top of their game — attentive, gracious and knowledgeable of menu and bar offerings.
A cosy, woody space with a warm, bustling, unfussy vibe, Allium must have registered with us as more of a neighbourhood eatery than a “destination” restaurant to bring out-of-town visitors to. We realized our wrong-headedness when the some standard-setting small plates hit our table.
Jana’s been serving small plates on Mondays since a few years into Allium’s run, ahead of the small-plate curve in Ottawa. Maybe they were meant as an antidote to lagging business on Mondays, but the dishes we tried from Allium’s constantly changing “tapas” menu (I think the Spanish reference is misapplied, but maybe that’s just me) were treats you might want any night that you revisited at the restaurant.
There was cornmeal-crusted soft-shell crab so fresh and good that we had to order another. Slabs of ruby-red seared tuna looked and tasted like tiny indulgences, garnished with edamame and standing up to spicy aioli and slices of jalapeno. Seared scallops nicely caramelized exteriors and quivering interiors were also expertly made. Chunks of flank steak brimmed with beefy flavour, while foie gras two ways, seared and in terrine form, felt big and luxurious — a good, fatty thing in a small package.
Allium’s banoffee pie ($9) has been around since the restaurant’s earliest days and it remains a must-order dessert that delivers smooth, sweet, creamy, chocolatey pleasures in the proper proportions. Sorry, most other desserts in Ottawa — you must bow down before Jana’s banoffee pie.
Last week, we beat the Mother’s Day rush with a family dinner at Allium. The well-written menu, which changes monthly, forced us to make some hard choices from eight starters and seven mains.
Beef tartare was an obvious winner, visually lovely, but too delicious to admire for very long. A lot of supporting components, including parsley aioli (Jana has a thing for tasty emulsions), foie gras mousse, pickled shallots and kale vinaigrette, added rich or bright complexity to the meaty mouthfuls scooped up on housemade potato chips.
A warm asparagus salad was less harmonious, striving to unite cucumber, orange segments and morsels of pork belly with the asparagus and its Béarnaise aioli. Even if it didn’t come together, the plate delivered some prime pork belly goodness.
For the table’s teenager, a simpler starter of greaseless, tender, deep-fried calamari with a superior Sriracha mayo was a polished version the cephalopod staple.
A main course of lamb rack, pink and juicy, came with refined Mexican-influenced supporters, including citrusy black beans, blobs of lime crema, a chipotle jus, slices of pickled chilies and a cuminy toss of peppers.
We mentioned that the duck breast main was going to be split between two smaller appetites, and the kitchen thoughtfully sent out half-orders on separate plates. Even the less loaded plates made clear Allium’s strengths — proteins cooked just so and unique side elements (in this case, a pancake of grated potatoes, spinach strudel and a savoury slice of Eryngii mushroom, to name a few) to make the dish sing.
The most traditional, comforting main was a slab of wellseared, but succulent pork loin that sported a bit of a tang from its cider brine. Creamy potato purée, a topping of bacon and mushrooms, some watercress salad, a brandy-spiked jus and the modernist novelty of apple slices, made extra tart through vacuumsealed compression.
Desserts ($11) were highly composed, multi-component affairs on the themes of lemon tart and chocolate cake. The more traditional latter, with its flourless cake and dark ganache, did more for us than the former, which seemed overly deconstructed and disproportionately concerned with lemony cream cheese.
Between the two meals, we thought that the small plates night out was a touch better than the three-course dinner. But that could well have been addressed with another helping of banoffee pie. Both dinners, however, were on a level that should keep any Ottawa restaurant, “neighbourhood” or “destination,” puffed with pride.