Ottawa Foodies

Visited here for lunch today; excellent. I had the smoked chicken quesadilla that came with homemade salsa and guacamole and a small pear salad. It was delicious.

Not that busy for a Friday around Tunney's Pasture but the service was prompt and the food came up very quickly. Great beers on tap; Beau's, Steamwhistle and Mill St. come to mind.

All of the lunch items are between $10-13.

I am looking forward to trying this new location for dinner, particularly now that the street in front is no longer ripped up for construction.

I dined at Absinthe for the first time on Sunday. It was an overall good dining experience.

The three of us all went for the table d'hôte. I started with the seafood trio which comprised a mini crab cake atop some orange-coloured sauce, a scallop on a bed of mango salsa (delish!) and a shrimp on what appeared and tasted a bit like an egg and mayo sauce. My second course was a caesar salad which was very small but good. The greens were crisp and fresh; the anchovies really came out in the dressing and gave it a nice bite. For my main, I had the steak and frites which came on a bed of haricots verts. The steak was perfectly cooked and the portion was quite large. The fries were good and came in this adorable little kettle-pot on the plate. The sauce to accompany the meal was a horseradish aioli.

All in all, the food was good. The service was also very good. My friends and I had tickets to a show and we had told the server we needed to be out by a certain time. They accommodated our orders and without any prompting, the server kept us up-to-date on the time so as we would not miss our show.

My dinner club group went to Absinthe for our monthly dinner last Thursday Jan 24th.
As the previous poster mentioned, since we were all using our Entertainment Cards, we were told that we could not use the card if we ordered the Table d'Hote.
Mr KSW and I started with Gratiné of Mushroom and Escargots and the Soup of the Day which was a cream of mushroom. Both of these starters were very good.
The other two couples both ordered the cheese plate to start and enjoyed it very much.

Our mains were the Steak Frites and the Duck served with roasted beets and mashed potatoes. Mr KSW enjoyed his steak but felt that the portion was way too small. Everyone else at the table also ordered the Steak Frites and they all also felt that the portion was very small.
I am the only one who branched out by having the duck. The portions was ok, the sides were delicious as was the "jus", but the duck itself was very fatty and I had a couple of grizzly pieces.
I had the recommended glass of Pinot Noir with this but at $12 a glass it was too steep to have a second glass.

For dessert we had the Chocolate Fondant cake and the Profiteroles. Both were tasty.

Service was very polite and attentive, atmosphere was inviting. Although it is one large room, with the low lights and enough space between the tables, I still found it cozy.

So here's my take: It was good, but it did not blow me away, the portions were really small and the prices really high.
I compare this place to Allium for example. Same type of menu, same concept, same neighbourhood, but Allium just does it all much better and the prices are lower so why would I go back to Absinthe if I can go to Allium instead?

I finally made it to the new location on the weekend. My wife and I both ordered the table d'hote. I started with a rabbit and fois gras terrine, which was great, followed by a soup, also very tasty. My main was the duck breast, which was a really small portion in my opinion, just three slices off a breast. The taste was good however. My wife started with a salad, and the same soup , followed by the steak frites, and she loved all of them. The wine was good, maybe a bit too chilled for a red, but it came to temperature nicely. Service was a bit unattentive, no returns to ask about each course until they were pretty much finished, and we refilled our own wine glasses. Another small note is that the entertainment card does not apply towards table d'hote, only individual mains.

We had a party cancel New Year's Eve and so my son, who was visiting, got us an early reservation at Absinthe. Our service began slow, looked like preparations were still in progress for a busy evening to come, but once our drinks arrived and orders placed the service was attentive, food wonderful, and wine selection perfect.
I had scallops followed by duck breast with a mushroom/pate in pastry and we all had the warm chocolate cake to finish off the meal. Our waiter recommended a very nice dessert wine to accompany the chocolate cake. We will definitely be returning.

I find myself going to Absinthe all the time, only well because it's close by, and it's generally gourmet at non ridiculous gourmet prices, though the prices have gone up due to the new location, the menu has changed a bit as well. I have not seen Bison on the menu for a good while, though it was one of my favorite dishes.

as for the Absinthe Drink in general, it's old fashioned, the burning of the sugar cube used to signify measuring alcohol content or something of the sort... personally I just like blue flames :P though at 14 bucks a pop, I've spent tones of cash just on blue flames :S

anyhow, the deserts are absolutely amazing, I certainly enjoy their freshly cooked bread, even their special wholegrain that they make in house... sooo good...

I've found it's certainly not a place for those who enjoy more well done meals, the steak and duck is done very nicely, and slightly chilled to reduce run away juice.

Overall the atmosphere is very nice and ambient, everything on the menu is generally good (yes even the undercooked tuna .. which is supposed to be :P since it's served medium rare as well .. just like at big daddy's crab shack :P ... what's it called.. the cow of the sea? *sigh) but generally anything you ask for I find as to well done, they will highly recommend not to go that route....

which well.. it's almost sacreligoe in cooking any fine meats. There are not very few places I recommend but I would certainly recommend that everyone have a go at this place.

It's really unfortunate, because I really wanted to like Absinthe. I'd heard lots of good things about it, and it's near my neighbourhood, so that made it seem even more attractive. Unfortunately, it just didn't measure up.

Just some highlights of my experience there:

- Weird way of serving absinthe (tossing a sugar cube into the glass with the liqueur already in it, then passing us a pack of matches!)
- Overcooked tuna (that was also a poor cut and grizzly!)
- Slow, somewhat grumpy service
- Tables too close together to allow a nice, romantic dinner for two

However, I did enjoy my French onion soup appetizer, and I liked the profiteroles.

I had the wine paring with my 3 course meal and each selection matched the course perfectly! Excellent selection.