La Maquette, Toronto

Wrapping up our winterlicious tour, I decided to take my lovely lady to La Maquette as we've been wanting to go and the menu sounded very good. For those who don't know the restaurant, it's the kind of place you walk by and it makes you feel romantic just for having looked at it.

We were greeted at the door by an immaculately dressed gentleman and I immediately felt welcome and important even though we "just" having the winterlicious menu. To me this is was a great plus for the restaurant. A place that doesn't make you feel cheap or poor but welcomes you as if you were the most important guest at the restaurant. I felt this to a lesser extent at Bymark and Auberge even though they were both quite pleasant. La Maquette topped them both in terms of a welcome.

The feeling of welcomeness continued when we were greeted by our friendly waiter. Someone who looked like he was happy to serve us and make our night wonderful. And when our sommelier arrived we were greeting with not a trace of snobbishness or reluctance. He happily gave us reccommendations for our meal and explained thoroughly what we should expect when we drink it.

His recommendation for us for the meal ahead was a Moulin de la Dame 2001 which is a blend of syrah, mourvèdre and counoise grapes. The wine tasted of dark berries and the character of syrah was certainly apparent although the blending of the other grapes lent it a mellowness. It probably could have used a little more age but it was quite drinkable and matched beautifully with the meal.

The first course I had was spinach baby greens in a leek and corn dressing with reggiano shavings. The regiano was freshly shaving and had a fantastic bite to it, complimenting the dressing perfectly. The spinach was fresh and had a refreshing bitterness to it and was a good foil to the slightly sweet dressing.

For the main course I had a roast veal striploin in a creamy dijon mustard sauce served with vegetable florettes and mini roast potatoes. The veal was cooked to perfection, seared on the outside and rare on the inside. The taste just by itself was wonderul and the sauce added a completely other dimension. The wine also worked well with the sauce and veal. A great recommendation by our sommelier to be certain.

Finally, for dessert I had chocolate truffle cake with crème Anglaise. This was one of the best truffle cakes I've ever had. The texture of the cake was dense but not too dense. Chocolately but not so much that you were drowning in it.

All in all I found my experience at La Maquette to be wonderful and it was probably one of the best winterlicious destinations I've been to because of the quality of the food, the top-notch service, the wonderful ambience, and the overall impression left by the restaurant. Highly recommended.