Thuet Atelier - about to open?

[LissyDee]

I went past yesterday and the shelves are stocked and I would say it looks 99.9% ready to open. Sign in the window says "opening soon". Does anyone know when the opening day is?

[spigot]

I was there Sunday.

In order of enjoyableness, we had: pain au chocolat, spring roll, croissant, lemon tart, piacere (soft sheep's milk cheese rolled in rosemary and other herbs), apple tart, crab cake, caramelized onion focaccia, and a blue cheese called ciel de Charlevoix. We also bought an aged ribeye which we barbecued last night.

It was lovely. A little out-of-the-way, and a slightly awkward shopping experience - we tripped over the staff & other customers a little, and the three tables aren't a very comfortable set-up. And the staff hasn't yet worked out all the kinks. But that's trivial - the food was good, which is what matters.

I can't wait for Liberty Village to evolve a little bit - it looks like it's gonna shape up to be quite nice, eventually.

[diesta]

I went in this afteroon at approx 1630hrs and talked to Marc Thuet for about 10 minutes; truly enjoyable to hear his passion for food and what he is doing.

I was in yesterday also and talked to the in-house chef Trevor and the lady that seems to be running the shop Christine(a?). I asked them to order in some duck breast for me, and today it was available for me to pick up. The meat counter is stocked with Berkshire pork, Best Baa lamb (many different cuts), beef that is being aged for 60-70 days in Marc's personal fridges. Above this meat counter are various salami's as mentioned, sausages (toulouse was one of the ones I saw), prosciutto etc.

In talking with Marc he was saying that he is looking to have a place where locals can go to sit and have a coffee, a pastry, some prepared foods--to that end, he will be expanding his prepared food items and he listed about a half dozen items that he wil be carrying. He also said that at some point he would like to be able to serve wines and have people come and enjoy a glass of organic wine, some cheeses. One other thing mentioned that I really appreciated hearing was that they are quite open to having people ask them to call in and order 3 steaks for example, have them throw it on the grill and then pick it up 30 mins later. Overall it's looking like a great neighbourhood spot. I'm hoping that people appreciate the quality and are willing to pay somewhat higher prices.

With regards to the packaging; the paper and crushed paper products are sugar cane derived and the plastic containers are recycled corn product.

[crawfish]

"recycled corn"........what was i the first time around?

[Yongeman]

husks and cobs

[EPIcureanTO]

^^Awesome(to diesta)- thanks!

So where is the location, please?

[OnDaGo]

Atelier Thuet - Liberty Village
171 East Liberty Street, Unit 153
Take Strachan Ave. (Between Bathhurst & Dufferin), south from King past train tracks to Liberty Street

map: http://www.atelierthuet.ca/contacts.asp

[diesta]

three months after TO Life gave them tons of free publicity and said they were already open.

[Fwagra]

Toronto Life has a real love-on for Thuet. I don't know why.

He's another primadonna, living-in-the-past, resting-on-his-laurels chef charging stupid prices for trumped up messy plates of confusion masquerading as haute cuisine. I ate at Thuet before they realized that they had to do something desperate... which they continue to attempt, I suppose.

I hope that it works and he comes up with something better.

[Charles Yu]

Here! Here! Well said!

[OnDaGo]

"living-in-the-past, resting-on-his-laurels" LOL I would say that Thuet is just the opposite.. Atelier Thuet is going to try to be eco freindly not only organic food BUT no plastic takeout containers and they are looking at getting a hybrid delivery van for their breads. This is their 4th active venture in 4 years so I dont see any "resting" happening - Restaurant, Bakery, Catering and now Atelier (which will be like an small organic Pusitaries).

I think you will see other chefs trying to copy him...

[Aardvark]

I talked to them yesterday and they didn't give an exact date, just "soon". There was a writeup I read somewhere recently that said in the next 2 weeks which would put it about a week and a half away.