Boston chowhound hits Lardon

[Spike]

For appetizers, we had the pear/walnut salad and lobster salad. The pear salad surprisingly came in a cute tower presentation (see attached photos) topped w/ blue cheese instead of the usual bowl of salad with stuff on top. The lobster/shrimp salad was put on top of a long slice of cucumber and topped w/ tobiko. Both tasted great...my favorite was the lobster salad for the textural differences.

For entrees, we had the beef bourguignon which was very rich tasting from braising with bacon and extremely tender. We also had the de-boned cornish game hen (the oldest entree on the menu) and the albacore tuna. The cornish game hen tasted great, but the standout was the very sweet roasted carrots. The tuna was very nicely presented on top of tasty root vegetables and quinoa (first time I've had quinoa and can't say I'm fond of the texture unfortunately); the wasabi pea puree tasted like a nice wasabi sauce rather than something made of wasabi peas...it worked well w/ the tuna.

The bacon/maple ice cream was two round balls of ice cream on top of what looked like graham cracker crumbs...the maple/bacon complemented each other but it was weird chewing on bits of bacon for a dessert :-) The creme brulee was surprisingly topped with a gooseberry which we don't get in Boston that much (only during the summer from local farmers markets).

Service was efficient and friendly. Would love to come again late summer when there are more local ingredients...we don't have nearly enough of these little bistro places with clever food presentations and textures in Boston :-P

[ylsf]

Thanks for the review. I am curious how you came across that restaurant. Were you staying in that area (with friends or something)?

[Spike]

A friend who lives in that area suggested it. It's a bit of an odd quiet area that you wouldn't think would have enough foot traffic to survive in...seems like chow worthy spots in Toronto are in weirdish areas...even Kaji seems to be in a somewhat quiet industrial area (I find it hilarious that Kaji is next to what looks like some strangly named sushi place...can't remember the name of it offhand but it was something to the effect of "Sushi To Go" :-)

[haggisdragon]

Lardon sounds pretty decent. I look forward to your Kaji post, haven't been there in a while.

[Charles Yu]

Great job! Love posting with photos! ( Took soooo long to download though! Right?! )
Can you recall how much you pay for the meal, excluding drinks? Average price for apps and entrees? Thanks!

[Spike]

Sorry...the download should not have taken so long...AFAIK, the images don't really download in large sizes until you click on one :-)

They have a fixed price 3 course meal for $25 on weekdays (closed Mon/Sun IIRC) that includes most things (except the most expensive I think) on the menu. The entrees were roughly $20-23 and the appetizers were around $8-10 IIRC.
I think we ended up around $35/pp.
Prices are on their on-line menu. Not sure what the policy is w/ direct links on this board (used to be a no-no before the buyout IIRC), but you can search for "lardon restaurant toronto" and find it.
Cost wasn't bad...roughly average nowadays in Boston. Now Sushi Kaji on the other hand was another thing altogether, but I'm still trying to figure out which photos to post for that visit :-)

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Sushi Kaji
860 The Queensway, Toronto, ON M8Z1N7, CA

Lardon
390 Roncesvalles Ave, Toronto, ON M6R, CA

[Spike]

Here's the menu in case they don't delete it: http://www.lardonrestaurant.com/menu