Full steam ahead to Gare de l’Est
Gare de l’Est Brasserie (out of 4) 1190 Dundas St. E. (at Carlaw Ave.), 416-7921626, gdlbrasserie.com Matthew Gulyas Dinner, Sunday to Thursday, 5:30 to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5:30 to 11 p.m. Reservations: Yes Wheelchair access: Yes Price: Dinner for two with wine, tax and tip: $140 Gare de l’Est Brasserie is the kind of train station you want to linger in, not pass through.
Named for both the Parisian landmark and its eastside Toronto location, Gare is the lone formal dining room in the casual neighbourhood. It serves coffee and pastries during the day and decent, if pricey, French food at night.
Erik Joyal and John Sinopoli (Ascari Enoteca) opened it May 23 in the bottom of a Leslieville condo that also houses Streetcar Crowsnest Theatre. (The partners are several weeks from opening Civic restaurant in the renovated Broadview Hotel nearby.) The vibe From the Piaf soundtrack to the romantic phrases printed on the menu (“Je decrocherais la lune pour toi,” means “I’ll bring you the moon”), Gare trades on French clichés.
There are bentwood chairs, blue velvet banquettes and starched white linens. The dining room sits slightly below street level, with large windows to let in light. Service is proper but not pompous, and efficient enough to make the theatre curtain.
The chef’s bar offers a different kind of spectacle: the brigade in action. Just don’t expect chit-chat or even eye contact from the busy cooks. Beet this Dinner starts with soft butter and sliced baguettes from Blackbird Baking Co. sporting the good kind of chew. French onion soup ($15) is a good example of the genre, as is pâté de campagne ($12) and accompanying pickles. What sounds like a simple green salad ($10) brings unexpected ooh la la in the form of crisp fried onions and fresh tarragon tucked amongst the lettuces.
Beet salad ($13) is a bicoloured showstopper of the composée variety: that is, red and yellow circles prettily arranged around a centre of sharp and ashy goat’s cheese milk. On track Certain entrées come derailed, like overdone steak frites ($27) one night, flabby duck confit ($28) another. And putting soggy salad on crisp breaded pork cutlets ($21) is never a good idea.
But the kitchen gets back on track with well-timed rainbow trout amandine ($25) and its meatless take on beef bourguignon ($20), in which oodles of fancy mushrooms and pearl onions keep company with mashed celeriac and pasta ribbons in a red-wine sauce.
For an express train to deliciousness, order the steak haché ($19) or chopped brisket, a semi-burger surrounded by red wine sauce. End of the line Gare goes for maximum visual impact when it comes to dessert, lavishing a mouth-puckering lemon tart ($11) with edible flowers, blueberry sauce, herbs and hard meringues.
Crème caramel ($11) is more simply presented and at the same time less accomplished, the custard barely jelled. Choose instead the chocolate option, ($11) a scoop of judiciously salted ganache partnered with sponge toffee and gooey chocolate chip cookies.
Like its namesake, Gare is meant to be a central meeting point, say those involved.
“Everybody here feels the east end has been overlooked. The food scene is growing,” general manager Annette Bruley says.
All aboard. apataki@thestar.ca, @amypataki