Table: Tapenade Bistro
Anata and I were thinking of dinner possibilities when he remembered seeing a Groupon for a Steveston restaurant. So I looked it up and it was for Tapenade Bistro, a $30 for $60 deal. We made the necessary arrangements and off we went. Because it was later in the evening the 3hr free parking lot nearby had spots so we parked there and walked over. It's located near the boardwalk in Steveston in a fairly central location where most of the restaurants are on Bayview St.
We entered and were greeted warmly, and seated in a nice corner booth with a view of the main dining area. The restaurant is split up into several sections, with the main dining room, the bar, and a smaller nook that can be easily adapted for a dinner party or a private area. It's warmly decorated with lots of artwork displayed.
We quite enjoyed their bread. It was really crisp and crunchy crust, but soft inside, with great flavour with the butter. It was unfortunate that it wasn't served warm, but we requested a second order and were told the kitchen was baking a fresh batch, and when it arrived it was warm and yummy :)
We started off with an order of their French onion soup and their beef carpaccio. The onion soup came in a small serving that seemed like a mix between a goblet and a bowl. The cheese on top was melted through but not browned, and the broth was nice and beefy with the taste of the wine. However, it tasted light and didn't quite have a layered richness that I associate with French onion soup. Anata thought the one we had at Burgoo was better, to which I agreed. This one was light and "nice" but not quite comfort food material. Maybe more from the onions or something to add depth to the soup?
Their carpaccio was arranged attractively with pickled veggies and frisee and some horseradish. Altogether it made for a good combination, with the pickles adding lots of texture and crunch, and the horseradish bringing some brightness and the acid complementing the beef very well. Anata liked it but also commented that the beef component individually tasted "less juicy" than the carpaccio we've had at other places.
I went for the veal cheek pappardelle, and it came with rockette and grated cheese overtop. The veal cheek was soft and lovely, really tender and delicious. It was like fluffy pillows of meat morsels on the plate and hiding amongst the pasta. However, I found the pasta to be a little lacking. They were kind of flat, and didn't have the kind of springy bounciness I associate with handmade pasta. There were a couple pieces where the pasta stuck to each other during the cooking process and so it formed a chunk that wasn't completely cooked. The sauce was flat and though tasty with nice flavours, I felt like it was supremely lacking and wasn't very exciting. I actually took the sour cream that came with Anata's fries and used it to jazz up the sauce - after doing that it really felt like the flavours totally came together and I enjoyed it, but without that it was just really.. lightly played with flavours without depth to them. This dish was a bit of hit and miss, with components that were done well, and some components that needed a bit more oomph to them. The sauce was really playing with my senses in that it kept trying to promise more but didn't quite deliver. But the sour cream made it more bourguignon-y and yummy, so that seemed to work out in the end.
Anata ordered the mussels, which came with a side of fries and sour cream as dipping sauce. The fries were nice and light and crunchy, and they went really well with the sour cream sauce and with the broth for the mussels.
Anata's mussels were wonderfully cooked, soft and tender without any hint of rubber to them, but cooked through! Really good cookery there. He elected for the lorraine-style sauce which was cream, leeks, bacon, and white wine in the broth. I could taste the white wine in the broth, and the bacon was more nice cubes of lardons that were tasty bits of meat. It wasn't too heavy, and was light enough to complement and not overwhelm the mussels. Anata thought the fries and sour cream combo was the winner of the night, and the moules frites was definitely the dish of the night here.
We elected to try dessert, and Anata ordered the fondant chocolat while I ordered the creme brulee after being advised that it was our server's pick and that the chef had made earl grey creme brulees.
Anata's cake was nice and moist throughout, but we thought it was going to be like a lava cake, not just.. cake all the way through. No matter, it was still tasty, and Anata really liked how it wasn't too sweet. The mousse was served on both sides with a shmear of some kind of ...red wine, cinnamon, and nutmeg plus other stuff combination. It was really super strong and acidic so I would not recommend eating it alone, but together with the mousse and cake it really melded all the flavours together and added brightness while cutting the sweetness of the mousse. The mousse was topped with a kind of meringue sugar biscuit which was nice and crisp.
The creme brulee came in a regular sized ramekin and a side of some kind of sweet relish and a small round of shortbread cookie. The relish was a little odd by itself - I would liken the taste to licorice, but with the brulee it was good. The creme brulee did have a subtle taste of earl grey, and I enjoyed the custard because it wasn't too sweet. I'd say the balance of the desserts was really good, and the side fixings really helped to add depth and elevate flavours.
Overall we had a good experience here. The service was a little slow, so I wouldn't recommend it as first date or if you're not sure you really want to spend time and chat with the person you're with, and my main thing about the service was really that they plonked the plates down on the table so things got a little.. noisy. The other thing we didn't really care for was that there was a bit of a mix up for the bill, with somehow another table's drink orders (wine and coffee) being added to our receipt, but it was cleared up quickly without any trouble at all. Mainly in terms of value and pricing, the groupon made it worth it, because otherwise I don't think the quality was really worth the money we would have been charged without the groupon.
The food had great promise, with the components being done well, but maybe some balance issues in the savoury dishes that need to be tweaked. The desserts were done really well and spot on for balance, so they were quite good. Star of the night was the mussels, which were cooked quite excellently.
We entered and were greeted warmly, and seated in a nice corner booth with a view of the main dining area. The restaurant is split up into several sections, with the main dining room, the bar, and a smaller nook that can be easily adapted for a dinner party or a private area. It's warmly decorated with lots of artwork displayed.
We quite enjoyed their bread. It was really crisp and crunchy crust, but soft inside, with great flavour with the butter. It was unfortunate that it wasn't served warm, but we requested a second order and were told the kitchen was baking a fresh batch, and when it arrived it was warm and yummy :)
We started off with an order of their French onion soup and their beef carpaccio. The onion soup came in a small serving that seemed like a mix between a goblet and a bowl. The cheese on top was melted through but not browned, and the broth was nice and beefy with the taste of the wine. However, it tasted light and didn't quite have a layered richness that I associate with French onion soup. Anata thought the one we had at Burgoo was better, to which I agreed. This one was light and "nice" but not quite comfort food material. Maybe more from the onions or something to add depth to the soup?
Their carpaccio was arranged attractively with pickled veggies and frisee and some horseradish. Altogether it made for a good combination, with the pickles adding lots of texture and crunch, and the horseradish bringing some brightness and the acid complementing the beef very well. Anata liked it but also commented that the beef component individually tasted "less juicy" than the carpaccio we've had at other places.
I went for the veal cheek pappardelle, and it came with rockette and grated cheese overtop. The veal cheek was soft and lovely, really tender and delicious. It was like fluffy pillows of meat morsels on the plate and hiding amongst the pasta. However, I found the pasta to be a little lacking. They were kind of flat, and didn't have the kind of springy bounciness I associate with handmade pasta. There were a couple pieces where the pasta stuck to each other during the cooking process and so it formed a chunk that wasn't completely cooked. The sauce was flat and though tasty with nice flavours, I felt like it was supremely lacking and wasn't very exciting. I actually took the sour cream that came with Anata's fries and used it to jazz up the sauce - after doing that it really felt like the flavours totally came together and I enjoyed it, but without that it was just really.. lightly played with flavours without depth to them. This dish was a bit of hit and miss, with components that were done well, and some components that needed a bit more oomph to them. The sauce was really playing with my senses in that it kept trying to promise more but didn't quite deliver. But the sour cream made it more bourguignon-y and yummy, so that seemed to work out in the end.
Anata ordered the mussels, which came with a side of fries and sour cream as dipping sauce. The fries were nice and light and crunchy, and they went really well with the sour cream sauce and with the broth for the mussels.
Anata's mussels were wonderfully cooked, soft and tender without any hint of rubber to them, but cooked through! Really good cookery there. He elected for the lorraine-style sauce which was cream, leeks, bacon, and white wine in the broth. I could taste the white wine in the broth, and the bacon was more nice cubes of lardons that were tasty bits of meat. It wasn't too heavy, and was light enough to complement and not overwhelm the mussels. Anata thought the fries and sour cream combo was the winner of the night, and the moules frites was definitely the dish of the night here.
We elected to try dessert, and Anata ordered the fondant chocolat while I ordered the creme brulee after being advised that it was our server's pick and that the chef had made earl grey creme brulees.
Anata's cake was nice and moist throughout, but we thought it was going to be like a lava cake, not just.. cake all the way through. No matter, it was still tasty, and Anata really liked how it wasn't too sweet. The mousse was served on both sides with a shmear of some kind of ...red wine, cinnamon, and nutmeg plus other stuff combination. It was really super strong and acidic so I would not recommend eating it alone, but together with the mousse and cake it really melded all the flavours together and added brightness while cutting the sweetness of the mousse. The mousse was topped with a kind of meringue sugar biscuit which was nice and crisp.
The creme brulee came in a regular sized ramekin and a side of some kind of sweet relish and a small round of shortbread cookie. The relish was a little odd by itself - I would liken the taste to licorice, but with the brulee it was good. The creme brulee did have a subtle taste of earl grey, and I enjoyed the custard because it wasn't too sweet. I'd say the balance of the desserts was really good, and the side fixings really helped to add depth and elevate flavours.
Overall we had a good experience here. The service was a little slow, so I wouldn't recommend it as first date or if you're not sure you really want to spend time and chat with the person you're with, and my main thing about the service was really that they plonked the plates down on the table so things got a little.. noisy. The other thing we didn't really care for was that there was a bit of a mix up for the bill, with somehow another table's drink orders (wine and coffee) being added to our receipt, but it was cleared up quickly without any trouble at all. Mainly in terms of value and pricing, the groupon made it worth it, because otherwise I don't think the quality was really worth the money we would have been charged without the groupon.
The food had great promise, with the components being done well, but maybe some balance issues in the savoury dishes that need to be tweaked. The desserts were done really well and spot on for balance, so they were quite good. Star of the night was the mussels, which were cooked quite excellently.