Italian stallion

>> Joe Beef spin-off Liverpool House
serves up excellent meat and more

by GENEVIEVE PAIEMENT

Even before Liverpool House opened its doors about a month ago, its reputation preceded it. The second venture from the folks who brought us Joe Beef (it’s right next door), one of this city’s great restaurant success stories of the past five years, it’s more of the same, with an Italian swagger.

Similar to the illustrious Au Pied de Cochon, Joe Beef, which opened in 2005, specializes in honest, bistro-type fare with an emphasis on meaty dishes and good-sized portions served in an unpretentious atmosphere. It’s a formula that keeps food fans coming back for more.

You know a restaurant is confident when it foregoes a sign—an illuminated letter L suffices here. The interior doesn’t try too hard either. By the entrance of this storefront space, there are boxes overflowing with seasonal vegetables and antique hooks on which to hang your coat. The old-fashioned brass light fixtures, original mouldings and understated art make for a laidback bohemian atmosphere, the opposite of showy.

One recent Thursday evening, three pals and I found ourselves squinting through the very low lighting at the specials on the giant chalkboard. We dove into the entrées with abandon; the cold snap had made us all ravenous. We ordered the parmesan pudding with beet salad ($9), the oxtail and bean soup ($8), a buffalo mozzarella Caprese salad ($15) and a small salume plate ($16) consisting of a selection of Italian cured meats (culatello, lonza, coppa, mortadelle, house-made head cheese and salami).

Like the savoury English Yorkshire kind, only more eggy and with a pronounced parmesan flavour, the pudding was outstanding. It paired wonderfully with the beets, which were perfectly cooked to a silky-but-firm consistency, drizzled with olive oil and topped with chopped chives. The cold cuts on the salume plate were very good, cut razor thin and accompanied by tasty, lightly pickled carrots and small olives (not fresh figs, as written on the menu), and the thick and yummy oxtail soup was so hearty it was more like a stew. The Caprese was equally successful, the tomatoes fresh and flavourful, the cheese soft and delicately spongy.

For mains, two of us shared the bistecca alla Fiorentina (Porterhouse steak) for two ($36 per person), which came with green salad and roast potatoes, another opted for the veal scallopini ($24), and I went for the lasagna à l’ancienne ($24) on the specials menu. To drink, we got a bottle of Borgo Magredo cabernet sauvignon ($50), which turned out to be fantastic—full-bodied, intense and slightly fruity.

The gigantic bistecca got thumbs up all around, cooked medium rare, tender and juicy, and the potatoes got points for being fluffy inside and crispy without. The veal eater was happy with the tangy, creamy sauce and equally tender cut of meat. My one beef (excuse the associative pun) was with my lasagna.

The flavour of the classic bolognaise-béchamel combo was just right, but it had clearly been left under the broiler for too long, as the provolone top was a uniform, leathery dark brown. I tried to remedy the situation by pouring the accompanying bowl of tomato sauce on it, but it was absorbed too quickly. I would have asked for more sauce but our waitress was run off her feet and getting her attention proved difficult during the second half of the meal.

For dessert, we split the zuppa inglese ($8) and beignets with chocolate sauce ($6) four ways. Two of us had been to Café du Monde in New Orleans and commented on how these beignets reminded them of that place. All I know is that these sweet, wondrous, deep-fried pillows disappeared very quickly and I found myself scraping the last drops of the bitter-sweet chocolate sauce out of the bowl and licking my spoon clean.

The zuppa, served parfait-style, consisted of alternating layers of creamy custard and small, rum-soaked ladyfinger-like cookies, and held a treasure at the bottom: a generous dollop of the most divine, luscious milky-chocolate mousse. We left full, rosy-cheeked and satisfied. Opening jitters aside, the House that Joe built is a solid one.