| rev:text
| - I have mixed feelings about Candide, yet am still going to give it four stars driven more by my brain than my belly.
The fact I am first to review this several months after it opened kind of confirms who I think it will appeal to the most - not the demographic using Yelp with regularity, but rather intellectual food purists who have a high appreciation of what Candide and its head chef, John Winter Russell, are striving for on a philosophical level. Indeed, critics in both Le Devoir and Le Journal de Montreal have already heaped effusive praise upon the spot, which is what drew my attention to it in the first place.
Set in the converted basement of a church, the space is aglow in dim, yellow light that accentuates the warm exposed wood. The restaurant serves what I would describe as "elevated esoteric local," in that everything you will be served - with wine and coffee the lone exceptions - comes sourced from Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritime provinces. So that means no olive oil, no lemons, and no pepper will be used in any capacity. In contrast, you will find intriguing things like mushrooms foraged in the woods, leaves of grasses plucked from Atlantic coast beaches, and herbs found growing in the wild. Russell works closely with foraging company Gaspesie Sauvage - if you're interested, go to their Web site and check out their photo gallery to see some the things that will likely end up on your plate in some capacity.
The menu changes every month or so, but is inspired by the season. For a very reasonable $45 you will get a four-course prix-fixe dinner that includes two appetizers, a choice of two mains, and a choice of a sweet dessert or a cheese plate. You can also match each course with individualized wine pairings for an additional $40/pp, but in my view you're just as well off buying a decent bottle (and they have a nice little list) for around the same amount and going from there.
But what of the food? Well, that's the thing. Throughout the four courses of dinner, I realized I was consistently tasting things or looking at the presentation and thinking, "Now that's interesting!" or "I've never had this combination of flavors before!" but never, "wow, this is absolutely AMAZING!" My palate truly felt more like it was going through an academic exercise rather than simply delighting in what it was tasting. On the whole, the food was innovative as could be, yet still, undeniably, just a bit odd.
My recommendation: if you're willing to eat things that really can't be categorized, check out Candide's site and take a look at their menu to first validate that their limited options of the moment appeal to you (even if you don't recognize some of the ingredients). Then, enter your dining experience with an open mind; even if you remain unconvinced by what you ate at meal's end, at the very least you will have been served by a passionate staff and chef dedicated to what I can appreciate is a more sustainable way of cooking and eating, and in a cozy and relatively unpretentious venue, to boot.
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