Posted by Melissa Bell in french, restaurant review on July 24, 2008 at 7:49 am

Café du Lac
2350 Lake Shore Boulevard West
416-848-7381
Dinner for two with all taxes, tip and wine: $135

My first visit to this newly opened little bistro was on a Tuesday evening. And Tuesday evenings are All-You-Can-Eat Mussels nights at Café du Lac. Anyone who likes mussels is in for a treat. $20 includes a starter of a nicely dressed, super fresh mixed green salad, an enormous (and bottomless) bowl of steamed mussels in either a tomato sauce or white wine broth, a huge portion of double-cooked frites (excellent), and a pudding of the sticky-toffee variety with fresh berries. For those who don't like mussels, they also offer the steak frites. And while the steak isn't all-you-can-eat, the frites certainly are. $20. That's got to be one of the best deals around.

Because I first showed up on an evening where the menu is prix fixe, I was duty-bound to return in order to check out more of Café du Lac's Quebec-inspired menu. I am tempted to try out the foie gras-topped poutine ($21), but that guy at The Toronto Star already beat me to it.

Warm Quebec goat cheese with maple caramelized shallots and toast ($11) turns up as a salad (there is no mention of all this greenery on the menu). I love the dressing at Café du Lac and would appreciate a bit more of it. Eating dry baby spinach leaves is no fun. The shallots are minimal, and I don't detect much in the way of caramelization, maple or otherwise.

The cherry tomato tart ($7) is pretty; sweet little tomatoes in a light-textured butter and cheese sauce with a perfect hit of garlic, and a short crust that is lovely and crisp.

Duck magret with potato gratin ($26) is also attractively presented, but the duck meat is strong-tasting and tough, its skin soft and flabby. The gratin, however, is great – wafer-thin slices of buttery potato topped with a cheesy crust.

Grilled salmon with sauce vièrge ($17) is just a little on the dry side and has that gas-grilled flavour, and the sauce vièrge adds little to the fish.

Service is less than fabulous. On our first visit, our young server seems overwhelmed by a large table of guests, and it takes a long time for anything to arrive. However, once the co-owner, Kathryn, makes an appearance in the room, the pace starts to pick up a bit, as well as the energy.

The second visit, the young server has been replaced by a more mature gentleman. The place is busy, and one guy on the floor (and the patio) just isn't able to attend to everything in a timely manner. And his multi-tasking abilities need some work. As my guest and I wait and wait to order dessert, our server drops by our table to remove our wine bucket. I thought this would be a good opportunity for him to take our dessert orders, but apparently not; he takes our bucket and leaves. And does not return. I would have loved to have tried Café du Lac's lemon tart ($7), but I'd already been there for two hours. Where is Kathryn? We miss her.

I really hope Café du Lac can work through some of its issues. The place can get noisy – probably due to the hard surfaces everywhere with nothing to absorb the sound. During our second visit, somebody was hammering away violently on the floor below – at one point it became so loud that everyone in the room stopped and looked around at each other muttering, "What the hell is that?" I also caught sight of a gentleman walking around near the back of the restaurant with a clipboard and some kind of laser device, pointing it at the walls and the ceiling. This stuff just kind of kills the ambiance, you know?

The seating is a bit of an issue with tables being very close together. There's also one table by the door that should be avoided. The poor lone diner I witnessed was in danger of getting clocked every time someone came in or out of the restaurant. It will be interesting to see what happens in the colder weather because those tables close to the front of the room are going to be mighty uncomfortable in mid-January.

But Café du Lac shows promise, and having had a bit of a conversation with the couple seated next to us (did I mention the tables are close together?), it's considered a welcome addition to the neighbourhood. There is no shortage of diners during either of my visits.

I would certainly go back for their mussels and frites any day of the week – too bad they're only available on a mardi.