By Michael Minorgan for Curtains Up minorganmichael@yahoo.com
The restaurant business, under the best of circumstances, is a challenge even to the most comitted devotee. In today’s world, faced with ever increasing overhead costs, fewer diners and onerous governmental regulations, the challenges are even greater for these young entrepreneurs.
When a business that operates on a maximum 10% profit margin every penny counts both on the expense and revenue side. Unfortunately, when all these things are lumped together, they have accounted for the recent loss of several of our city’s most iconic eateries: Magnan’s Tavern, Globe, The Beaver Club, Le Latini, Le Continental, just to name a few.
In spite of this somewhat depressing news thank God that we have a burgeoning group of eager, young and talented cooks that are not put off and remain so committed and passionate about their craft that they are willing to wade into this abyss vigorously attacking these headwinds and opening up many innovative and exciting new eateries.
These new restaurants are largely cook owned and operated (a good thing for diners) and are, more often than not, in the ‘casual’ dining category with menus displaying more modest prices. With a few exceptions, the higher priced fine dining establishments are not as ‘au courant’ as they used to be. The ‘high end’ restaurants that are left are well established and draw their clientele mainly from the wealthier and ‘business account’ Montreal diners.
For new restauranteurs financing of restaurants through the regular financial channels of banks etc is now almost nonexistent. Their source of ‘start up’ cash comes almost entirely from personal savings or small investments from friends, family and close compassionate business associates.
One of these ‘new’ restaurants is Wilfrid sur Laurier, where owners Zach Suhl and Michel Ross have come together again after their 41/2 year stint with the critically acclaimed Brunoise that closed its doors in 2008. Zach, a self described former cook, is now in charge of the front of house with his partner Michel commandeering the kitchen.
I hope, seeing that the restaurant is named after our longest serving prime minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier, it will prove a good omen for Wilfrid’s future. It deserves it !
The menu at Wilfrid occupies just one page and is very market orientated with the selections seemingly changing with the seasons. Dishes are largely presented ‘mezze’ or ‘tapas’ style with four selections served as ‘main courses’. The mezze or tapas dishes range in price from $9 to $17 and the main courses from $23 to $27. There is an excellent selection for all tastes, vegetarian included. Great care has obviously been taken in the sourcing ,preparation and plating of all the fresh local ingredients.
The restaurant itself, located on busy Laurier Avenue, is warm, vibrant and inviting with facing exposed brick walls, distressed wooden planked floors and a large sit up bar and party table located at the rear of the room. I was also informed that there is a large outdoor terrasse at the back of the restaurant. The night we dined there the room was packed with diners of all ages and as there were a couple of parties going the noise level was definitely ‘kicked up’ a notch.
The service at Wilfrid is top notch: polite, friendly, informed and thoroughly professional.
We started our meal with two of their tapas offerings: Nokedli, White Beans, Roasted Root Vegetables and Paprika ($9) and Cured Salmon with Crispy Sunchokes, Fennel Salad, Yogurt and Dill ($14).
The nokedli, small Hungarian dumplings served with white beans and roasted vegetables, was a rustic and ‘peasant’ preparation..a hearty dish with great flavor and texture from the paprika, fresh thyme and al dente vegetables.. The flavors were all there in spades. I did however find it a bit dry and felt it could have benefitted from a final generous drizzle of fruity olive oil.
The marinated salmon was obviously of top quality and had a wonderful ‘melting’ mouth feel .Its accompaniments of thinly shaved fennel, crispy sun choke chips and a luxurious dollop off thick yogurt with dill were perfect companions.
We decided to choose our next courses from the main dish selections opting for the Sea Bass with Wild Mushrooms, Polenta and Red Wine Sauce ($24) and the Hangar Steak with Aligot, Rapini and Garlic Chips ($25)
My sea bass was, in one word, ‘perfection’, the pan fried filet was perfectly moist and sported a wonderful crisp skin. It sat on a medallion of sautéed creamy polenta and was accompanied with a medley of perfectly sauteed wild mushrooms and a robust red wine reduction. ..one of the best fish dishes I have had in quite a long time!
The hangar steak, a cut of meat that can easily be destroyed if not prepared properly, was tender and perfectly cooked to order. The aligot, a luxurious combination of melted cheese, pureed potatoes and roasted garlic was wonderfully rich and creamy and, along with the same medley of sautéed wild mushrooms, was another perfect dish.
We chose a red wine from the Coteaux Languedoc region of Southern France: Pech Radon, Les Cades ($47) to accompany our meal. The wine list at Wilfrid offers an excellent selection of both reds and whites all very reasonably priced with several selections under $40.
We ended our meal with two of their homemade desserts: a Chocolate Torte with Caramel Scented Ice Cream ($6) and a Cream Filled Profiterole ($6). Both were exceptional.
With such a wide variety of restaurants in Montreal I very seldom return to restaurants deciding instead to search out new dining gems. Wilfrid sur Laurier will most certainly be an exception to this rule.
I look forward to returning often!
Our meal and wine came to $131 not including taxes or tip
222 Laurier Ave West
514 495-4961
Dinner: Tuesday – Saturday 17h30 – 22h00
Lunch: Wednesday – Friday 10h30 – 14h00
Brunch: Saturday & Sunday 10h30 – 14h00
