Chez Céline

Just because a restaurant is "French" doesn't mean that it necessarily representative of France itself.  Take St. Lawrence for instance, they are French Canadian (Québécois) restaurant with definite French influences, but in reality, a unique cuisine in itself.   Now St. Lawrence is a Michelin-starred establishment which isn't a place that is your usual daily dining spot (unless you are loaded).  Well, they now have such a place named Chez Céline out in the Fraserhood.  More approachable eats, yet at the same time, capturing the charm of bistros found in Montreal, Chez Céline did elicit memories of Montréal (as I was there recently, and yes, the posts are coming!).

To start us off, we got an Amuse Bouche of Fried Chickpea Fritter.  These were well-salted and almost creamy on the inside.  Perfectly crispy on the outside.  Onto our first appie, we had the Croque Monsieur Croquettes.  These were cleverly presented with a creamy béchamel filled croquette topped with ham and gruyère.  This definitely captured the spirit of a Croque Monsieur where it was more crispy and slightly deconstructed.

With all of the available options to accompany the Sourdough Flatbread, we went for the Rillettes de Carnard (Duck Rillette).  First and foremost, the bread itself was fluffy and appealingly chewy in the middle while sporting the ever-so-lightly crispy crust on the outside.  As for the rillette, it was plenty meaty and quite moist.  Hence, it had the desired succulence associated with well-prepared duck.  Unlike other duck rillette I've had, this was not overly fatty.  Flavourwise, it was naturally gamy with balanced sweetness and savouriness.

Sporting the same bread, the Terrine de Campange was a hearty slice.  It was plenty meaty and ate quite well in chunks rather than being spread onto the bread.  In actuality, this isn't supposed to be spread anyways due to its density.  Lots of natural flavours was accented by a touch of earthiness from the herbs and also the background flavour of cooked-down alcohol. 

Topped with anchovies, the Beef Tartare was prepared so that there were discernible pieces of beef present.  This gave the dish plenty of meat chew, yet at the same time being tender and buttery.  It was mildly seasoned where the tanginess of the white anchovies added acidity and also just a touch of salt (as they are not the salty type of achovies).

Really enjoyed the Charred Radishes served atop EVOO and tonnato.  Juicy and tender, the radishes were aggressively charred and hence, were smoky with plenty of depth.  The earthiness of the radish still came through in a sweet and bright manner.  Oh that tonnato was creamy and flavourful with just a touch of brininess.  It was also great with any bread we had left.

We went for both pastas including the Pappardelle with red-wine braised short rib.  The wide ribbons of pasta were al dente but still had a tenderness to them.  Nice bounciness.  They were inherently flavourful for the salt in the water, but the shortrib did add plenty of meatiness and rich braised flavours.  Loved the acidity to the dish from the cooked down wine as it kept it from being too heavy.  The meat itself was super tender.

Even though the Cavatelli was functionally prepared well, the dish itself was quite subtle.  It did have the promised mushroom and earthy flavours, but it was mildly impactful.  Compared to the mushroom pasta I had at Dovetail recently, this was only 1/4 of the impact.  It wasn't as if this wasn't good though as the pasta as al dente and they didn't overdo it with the truffle.

My favourite dish was the 18oz bone-in Pork Chop.  It featured a modest brine which kept the meat juicy and tender.  It also added aromatics in the form of thyme and sage.  However, the maple apple cider sauce was the star as it was sticky, sweet and full of umami.  Nice acidity too as it kept things from being overly rich.  I really enjoyed the bone as it ate like a sweet and sticky rib.

The T-Bone Steak was prepared to medium-rare as we requested.  Pretty even cook despite consisting of both tenderloin and striploin steaks.   If you look closely, this was more like a porterhouse as it had big portions of both striploin and tenderloin. Naturally, the tenderloin was softer and required very little chewing.  Striploin was predictably more meaty, but it was still plenty tender.  Nice char on the outside and the black pepper sauce was creamy with only a hint of pepperiness.

We ended up with 2 of their sides that were the same base ingredient, but ate very differently.  The Frites were excellent being crispy with some fluffy potato left inside.  It was served with a garlicky aioli.  The real star was the Poutine with legit cheese curds and a well-balanced gravy.  Since the gravy had a consistent viscosity, it was able to coat the fries without drenching them.  Hence, the fries were still crispy with the flavour of the gravy coming through and the partially melted cheese curds (with a few that were not, which is ideal) added that unmistakable texture.

With the desserts, it was only logical that they had a Maple Crème Caramel available.  This was predictably sweet and well, "Maple"-tasting.  In fact, it was quite apparent and concentrated.  As for the flan itself, it was smooth and had the desired density.  It was also sweet, but not as much as the maple caramel sauce.  That in itself saved the dessert from going overboard with the sweetness.

Our last 2 desserts both had soft-serve ice cream.  The first was the Profiteroles, which featured some on point choux pastry.  It was crispy on the outside while airy and light on the inside.  It held up to the creamy soft-serve and table side chocolate sauce.  It wasn't as sweet as it looked, which was appreciated.  The best dessert was the Pain Perdue (Bread Pudding) as it was not dense at all and ate quite fluffy.  With reserved sweetness and the hit of fall spices, this was comforting for a cold day.  The contrast of hot and cold with the bread pudding and soft-serve was rather appealing.  Overall, the food at Chez Céline is good and the menu is fairly well-priced.  Since I recently revisited Montreal, this gave me the same vibes.  Would come back.

The Good:

- Solid eats

- Decent portion size

- Authentic Montreal bistro vibes

The Bad:

- Loved the sourdough, but too many appies featuring it, need a bit more variety