Wizard of ostrich

Tinto fuses innovation with
near-perfect execution

by MATHILDE RABBAT

In this business, new eateries often elicit a sense of excitement akin to that an athlete might experience at the prospect of using a piece of cutting edge equipment. Rarely does the anticipation match the bridal voyage, but once in a blue moon, a young resto comes along capable of impressing even the most jaded of critics. Tinto, a relatively new addition to St-Denis, manages to accomplish just that.

“Bar à Tapas” prominently figures on the business card, but this is somewhat deceiving. Remnants, like the layout of the space and its muted décor including classic tables and chairs, still clearly remain in the location formerly housing an upper scale Turkish eatery.

Thanks to the Peruvian chef however, the food has taken on a flavour of a very different sort. Cold, warm or seafood tapas dishes are featured on the menu with roughly half a dozen offerings per category. A few non-tapas dishes, like seafood paella ($25) and mahi mahi ($24) also make up the daily offerings. By limiting offerings, the menu doesn’t seek to be overly ambitious, which it needn’t be given the originality and calibre of dishes.

Tapas standards, such as grilled chorizo ($6), are on the menu, along with more eclectic choices, like a well-executed confit de canard ($10), best described as a simple spring roll, stuffed with chopped duck meat, marinated in port, along with finely shredded cabbage and carrot.

A warm veal ragout ($9) perched atop a mille-feuille filo pedestal, covered in a stewed mushroom melt complete with manchego cheese (Spanish sheep’s milk cheese), proved to be a satisfying choice with its tender veal cubes in a wine-based, garlic and veggie reduction.

Over the course of the meal, one dish seemed to top another as the standard set at the onset of the feast was sustained tapas after tapas. Cakes fashioned with shredded Alaskan crab, presented with salad and a chunky, but flavourful, guacamole followed the same trend ($11) by incorporating just the right amount of chives and a rich mayo topping. Even the trio of side dips (most notably a red bean and ginger spread like no other), served with a side of bread, is deserving of its own praise.

Rare are the eateries in these parts that feature ostrich. Even more uncommon are those who serve it completely raw. An intriguing ostrich carpaccio ($11) drizzled with olive oil, features vibrant red circular slices of the meat displayed in a circle, slivers of ever so tasty manchego and marinated mushrooms.

I have no bones to pick with the ostrich itself, which was tender and enjoyable, nor was there anything off about the accompanying greens. The mushrooms, on the other hand, my dinner companion and I deemed excessively salty.

It was no doubt meant to enhance the cuts of bird, as well as the salad, purposely left unsalted; in principle a good idea, but only a small dose of salt in the mushrooms’ marinade would have been necessary to complete the desired effect.

A poached pear carpaccio ($9), bathed in a porto reduction spiked with a hint of cinnamon, acted as a refreshing stand-in for more conventional desserts. Rosy pear slices, shaped like half moons, served chilled and displayed like a sundial around a heap of arugula topped with sparse, but extremely smooth, melt-in-your-mouth gorgonzola cubes and a chestnut crumble, will have you “oohing” and “ahhing.” Without a doubt one of the highlights of the meal.

Five to six tapas dishes should satisfy a couple of diners for a tête-à-tête.

How about dinner and a show? Theatregoers can benefit from a 15 per cent reduction on show nights upon presentation of their tickets for the Theâtre du Rideau Vert, conveniently located across the street.