Return of the mac

Stellar macaroni and cheese is a highlight at
Outremont brasserie Les Enfants Terribles

by MARK SLUTSKY

How could this place not succeed, really? A cavernous, nicely-designed comfort food-inclined brasserie in Outremont with a big, lovely sidewalk terrasse—of course Les Enfants Terribles has been packed every time I’ve gone in. And for the most part, the restaurant deserves the attention. It’s not breaking any new ground, but it’s comfortable and fun to visit, and some of its dishes hit their targets perfectly. But some of the food—well, there’s a trend I identified in a few of the dishes that I couldn’t really get with. But more on that later.

With an interior consisting of a big dining room bifurcated by a rounded bar, apparently a repurposed lane from a bowling alley, Les Enfants Terribles has high, mock-vaulted ceilings (look up and you’ll see a sort of antler-chandelier) and a very pleasing monochrome mural on one wall. Nice design all around, and it seems to attract a pretty mixed crowd, as far as Bernard restaurants go: everything from bleached blond Real Housewives of Outremont types to anglo hipsters.

The menu is a grab bag of the can’t-really-go-wrong comfort food variety, the kind of thing I’ve seen in a lot of restaurants the last few years, and while the novelty of eating fancy mac and cheese in a nice restaurant has definitely worn off, when it’s done well I can’t really complain about it.

Starters were mixed. I liked the kitchen’s geometrical take on the insalata caprese ($14). The tomato was diced and reassembled in a sort of flat square on the plate, with the bufala mozzarella sliced and served aside, drizzled with sweet balsamic vinegar. The cheese was fresh and fluffy and the tomatoes and fresh basil, tasty.

The beet carpaccio ($10) looked beautiful, but lacked a little on the flavour side. Thin slices of red and yellow beets were layered alternately on the plate, with a side of whipped goat cheese; it really looked great, but the vegetables themselves were lacking in succulence and taste; they just didn’t seem fresh.

We tried one of the menu’s tartares, the tuna ($15 for an entrée-sized portion); this was made with tiny cubes of mango and served with an over-dressed salad. And honestly, it didn’t really cut the mustard. Something was missing; the tartare was just too sweet, and this problem would recur through the night, culminating in a truly sugary fruit salad. It needed more acidity to cut the mango flavour, and the tuna was barely discernable. I had a similar problem with the bison ribs ($24), a main that featured tender, tasty meat overwhelmed by a too-sweet orangey glaze.

Too bad; there’s just some sort of sweet tooth at work here I’m not down with. However, on to the good news—the dishes that didn’t succumb to the sweet streak were great. I really liked the fish and chips ($14), served fish-finger style with a spicy dip, a tartare and crisp fries; I would definitely order that again. Burgers seem a strong point; yes, everyone’s doing burgers these days but I liked these—they offer a beef ($13) and lamb ($15) variation and on a recent visit they even had a special featuring the ever-popular mini-burgers (with a soupy poutine on the side).

But by far the best thing I tasted at Les Enfants Terribles—much to my surprise, really—was the macaroni and cheese ($14, or $8 for a half-portion). It is so easy for restaurants to fuck up this seemingly simple dish; I am constantly disappointed by it. It’s always too soupy or too bland. But this was great; rich, gooey, full of flavour and beautifully textured, all light and crispy up top and thick and creamy below. It was something else and a real pleasant surprise.

I’ll probably be back to Les Enfants Terribles; what they do right is satisfying enough and pleasant enough that a warm summer evening on the terrasse sounds pretty good to me.