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| - During summerlicious 2010 was when I first noticed Cafe Du Lac. I was intrigued... I checked out the website and loved the idea of the french canadian dining experience, my husband and I decided to give it a whirl. We enter into an empty restaurant and were promptly greeted by the hostess. She's super friendly and explains the overall experience we will be looking forward to ... "a Hearty French Canadian Meal" *insert hand gestures to indicate MONSTROUS HERE*. We order a couple of beers, the Assiette charcutiere (sm), Poutine cremeuse and pain de viande. First the Assiette, it came with foie gras, venison salami, a pate and thinly sliced duck. The plate itself isn't what I would describe as hearty at all, It was more dainty than anything. The foie gras was beautifully done melt in your mouth good, the ice cider glaze paired perfectly with the silky texture of the foie. The venison had a very intense wonderful red colour, but in your mouth it resembled salt lick. Due to the overwhelming taste of salt, you can't appreciate the venison. The pate was smooth, and came with a fruit chutney however it was so forgettable that I can't even remember what it tastes like. The Duck was... interesting. The duck breast is dried and thinly sliced. These slices are about 1/2 duck fat and 1/2 meat. A blueberry drizzle is poured over it. When you pop a slice into your mouth, the duck fat automatically starts to react with the heat in your mouth and slowly melt away providing you with the unmistakeable flavour of duck. As you chew, the fat and warmth starts to interact and I can't help but think, this is like eating a very decadent piece of duck jerky. If you are wondering what happens to the blueberry drizzle, so was I. Unfortunately the duck flavour over powers the blueberry hands down, not even a hint of sweetness can combat the duck fat, meat mixture. Next the Pain de viande, so this is essentially a meat loaf. I expect a few slices of meatloaf over top a pillow of potato gratin. What I get is ...different. At first glance you can't help but notice a GIGANTIC BRICK of meat, yes that's right a BRICK topped with bacon and fois gras. The brick is surrounded by roasted beets, roasted baby carrots, what seemed like swiss Chard and MASHED potatoes. Not what I was expecting, however i'm still excited about tucking into my plate. I first attacked some of the roasted veggies, the beets had a good colour to them (a nice deep burgundy red and bright canary yellow) tender enough that you can cut them with a butter knife (yes the butter knife was the only cutting implement provided) but not over cooked. Next was trying these mashed potatoes that I wasn't expecting, now picture this, a little pile of white fluffiness on your fork making its way to your mouth. You clamp your mouth down and slowly remove the fork, you start to chew, you get the distinct lumps of potato from rustic hand mashed potatoes, next you focus on the texture now that you notice that it isn't boxed potato flakes that are dancing on your tongue. The texture is smooth, almost buttery but done just right. Now, to the main. THE BRICK. I attempted to cut it with my trusty butter knife but its a bit too dense and when I attempted to exert more force on the knife it ended up crumbling into an unattractive mess on the plate. I take one of the crumbles examine it, it looks safe to eat (due to the size of the brick, I worry about food born illness). I have a taste, its luke warm, dry, lacking of flavour other than salt, I am underwhelmed. Next I try a bit of the chard, its hot and it reveals the way its been cooked, either with the same pan as bacon or cooked with bacon fat, I personally love the smokey taste of bacon so I clean the greens off the plate. Now back to the brick, I look at the piece of fois gras, with grand memories of the fois from the appetizer I had earlier, I cut into it, Its undercooked. The waitress walks by and I ask if my husbands Poutine is coming, she explains that she forgot to put in the order, I'm thinking to myself please bring it out, I'm hoping the poutine can redeem some aspect of my original excitement to coming to this restaurant in the first place. I continue to pick off the clumps of demolished cold, salty brick pieces when the poutine comes to the table. Instantly I'm excited again, but oh no another piece of fois. At this point I must admit I'm Fois'ed out! But my love of poutine begs me to continue. The beef short rib is butchered, it resembles brown confetti, there doesn't appear to be a gravy just some cream sauce that just reminded me of the dreaded american processed cheese. *sigh* I had high hopes, and even looked for ANY redeeming quality but it never came. If you like a nice waitstaff and underwhelming over priced food make your way over to Cafe du Lac.
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