LEA

By Michael Minorgan for Curtains Up

Westmount has always had its share of good restaurants, but recently the stakes have been raised quite a bit with the presence of acclaimed chef Antonio Park and the opening of his critically acclaimed restaurant Park on Victoria Avenue and his recent addition of the adjacent Lavendaria featuring the cuisine of his time spent growing up in Argentina.

Another recent and successful addition is an off shoot of the highly popular meat centric Grinder in Griffintown. Although sporting the same owners, the cuisine at Lea is definitely Mediterranean with a heavy emphasis from Portugal and Spain
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I happened by Lea one midday a few months ago and stopped in for lunch. I found the menu both intriguing and very creative and thoroughly enjoyed my table d’hote lunch. I promised myself a return trip to sample their dinner choices.

I finally made good on that promise a couple of Saturdays ago.

The restaurant is laid out over two floors. The design and ambiance is at once both creative, warm and intriguing with many nooks and crannies offering unique and cozy dining areas. The first floor is dominated by an efficient open kitchen. The second floor with many of those cozy dining areas is centered around a large sit up granite topped bar.

All the staff are young, hip, friendly, accommodating and largely efficient.

The menu at Lea is interesting to say the least, with an obvious Mediterranean slant. I was intrigued with almost every dish and had a hard time winnowing down my choices.

After enjoying a cocktail at the bar waiting for our table (the restaurant was packed!) we were ushered to one of their cozy dining areas surrounded by a plush leather banquette and a Plexiglas floor under foot revealing the diners below (slightly unnerving!).

The menu choices are many with interesting selections of hot and raw appetizers and an equally diverse choice of main dishes in meats, fish and seafood. The emphasis in this kitchen is definitely on bold flavors and varied textures, some simple and others more complex, but all distinctly Mediterranean.

For appetizers we chose Grilled Calamari ($15) and Green Pea Falafels and Crab Claws ($15).
The wonderfully tender grilled calamari rings were presented in a rustic clay cassoulet. The flavors were delicious and robust. They were accompanied by pickled potatoes and enhanced with a basil mayonnaise and a light but assertive mustard oil. A perfect balance of textures and flavors!

Our other choice consisted of three plump crab claws and three light and fluffy fried green pea falafel croquettes. The crab claws encased wonderfully moist and rich meat that was a bit hard to get out, a small seafood fork or similar utensil would have made it easier to retrieve the delicious sweet meat inside. The entire dish sat atop a smear of velvety garlic milk mayonnaise and surrounded by a mix of crunchy homemade pickled vegetables. Once again a great mix of flavors and textures. As someone who is equally attentive to plate presentations, believing that we eat first with our eyes, I would recommend using a larger plate, mine was very cramped given the quantity of food presented.
Spending some time perusing the main dishes, they all sounded equally worthy of sampling, we decided on one choice from the meat section and another from the seafood selections: Beef Short Ribs ($32) and Grilled Octopus ($25).

Both these dishes unfortunately fell short of expectations. The short ribs, slowly braised, were tender enough, but the accompanying espresso chili BBQ sauce was a bit on the sweet side. I realize BBQ sauces are mostly sweet (although not always) most also have a tart flavor included in the mix to balance the sweetness. This was lacking here. The portion size was also not entirely worthy of its ($32) price tag given there was nothing else on the plate save the three or four relatively small rib pieces.

All main course at Lea come with your choice of one side dish. In both instances we chose the Smashed Potatoes with olive oil and green onions. They were fine but, a bit dry. A drizzle or small well of a good olive oil would have enhanced them greatly.

My grilled octopus consisted of two small tentacles that were tender enough, but sadly lacked that wonderful charred flavor and texture from the grill that always makes this dish so appealing. The whole dish came across as rather flat. The advertised piri piri sauce and capers were didn’t make an appearance on my plate. The octopus was very dry begging also for a good glug of good olive oil. The tomato ragu was nicely seasoned and draped with two white anchovy filets. Centered in the dish was a chorizo enhanced croquette which in itself was light, oil free and delectably ‘gooey’ inside.. If all the ingredients had been there it would have perhaps had a different outcome. The portion size was again a bit miserly given its ($25) price tag.

For our wine we chose an excellent light and aromatic Spanish red: Emporda, Flow 2013, Bodegas sota els Angels ($58)

For dessert we shared a light lemon olive oil cake sitting atop a wonderfully tart lemon curd and garnished with a slightly sweet blueberry compote and a sprinkling of sugared crumble. The perfect balance of sweet and sour…right on!

My second visit to Lea was a bit of hit and miss affair, but given the wide choice of intriguing choices on their menu I am more than willing to make a return visit to sample some of the chef’s other creations.

Given the packed house the night we were there and the success of Antonio Park’s restaurants just down the street it seems that Westmount is more than ready to take its place as a ‘go to’ area for interesting and creative high end dining.

Our meal came to $196 (including cocktails, food, wine and taxes)

4922 Sherbrooke St West
Tel: 514 508-0545
info@learestaurant.ca
www.learestaurant.ca

Mon – Wed: 12h – 15h/ 17h – 23h
Thurs & Fri: 12h – 15h/ 17h – 24h
Saturday: 17h – 24h
Sunday: Closed