Bistro Alégria
77 Prom. du Portage, Gatineau (Hull sector), 819-771-2244, bistroalegria.ca
Open: Tuesday and Wednesday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday 5 to 10 p.m., closed Sunday and Monday
Prices: main courses up to $29, sandwiches up to $18
Access: small step to front door, washrooms on ground floor and downstairs
The property at the corner of Promenade du Portage and Rue Leduc in Gatineau’s Hull sector has seen restaurants come and go over the last few years.
For a time, Aura Resto-Lounge served tapas and martinis. More recently, Lyna Le Lounge offered all-you-can-eat sushi from a treadmill. If a single Yelp review and a Google image are correct, about a year ago the tenant at the address was Resto Le Fat Burger, where the Thursday happy hour was called “Crazy Thursday.”
Since last fall, 77 Prom. du Portage has been home to Bistro Alégria, which has banished tapas, martinis, treadmill sushi and Crazy Thursdays in favour of chef Alex Gomez’s Latin-American fusion dishes.
Gomez’s extensive menu, which ranges from appetizers to sandwiches to burgers to mains, is dotted with references to the flavours and cuisines of the Caribbean and Central and South America, from Cuba to Mexico to Argentina to Colombia to Chile to Peru to Costa Rica to the Dominican Republic, the chef’s own homeland.
That’s a lot of culinary ground to cover, and I admire Gomez’s ambitions, particularly when the vibrant food that inspires him is under-represented in the Ottawa-Gatineau area. By my tally, we most notably have one restaurant similar to Alégria — the more refined Soca Kitchen on Holland Avenue — and then a few good Mexican restaurants, two Salvadoran restaurants, plus two Gatineau restaurants and an Ottawa food truck that serve Peru’s unique dishes.
In Spanish, alégria means joy. During a recent dinner and lunch, we had reasons to be happy, and some small letdowns, too.
We liked the feel of the place, which seats about 50 at black tables in an attractive rectangular room. At the back of the room is a small bar that has about a half-dozen major-label beers on tap and dispenses tropical cocktails. Potted plants plus paintings and images of tropical scenes warm up the space, as does the salsa soundtrack. Service at Alégria was consistently friendly, attentive and multilingual.
Some of the best items that we had at Alégria were utterly simple. Complimentary baskets of puffy tortilla strips, served with an avocado cream-cheese dip, were perfect to nibble on and rouse our appetites. Small deep-fried, corn-based empanadas filled with ground beef and mashed potatoes were well-made and comforting, and on the side, the bowl of bright-flavoured corn salsa with a chimichurri-like component — Colombian “aji,” or sauce, the menu said — kicked the humble pastries up to another level.
Tortilla strips at Bistro Alégria
Empanadas with corn salsa at Bistro Alegria in Gatineau’s Hull sector
Camarons al Ajillo, the classic Spanish/Latin American dish of garlicky shrimp, was nicely rendered as an appetizer ($15), with its shrimp that were big and luscious bolstered by a mellow roasted garlic sauce and topped with onions, tomatoes, coriander and more.
Garlic shrimp (camarons al ajillo) at Bistro Alégria
I guess that tastes in ceviche vary. My preference is for the boldly acidic and spicy versions that I associate with Peru. Alégria’s house ceviche ($15), made with salmon and shrimp, was much more restrained in terms of its flavours and citrus cure.
Salmon and shrimp ceviche at Bistro Alégria
At dinner, we tried four of seven main courses, which were generously portioned but somewhat uneven in quality.
Pechuga de pollo ($23) elevated a moist grilled chicken breast with a tequila-chipotle sauce, and the accompaniments — sweet potato purée and a tomato-topped stack of grilled vegetables — were all winners.
Chicken breast in tequila-chipotle sauce at Bistro Alegria
In Peru, lomo saltado is a popular stir-fry of beef, influenced by the country’s Chinese immigrants. At our Alégria dinner, lomo saltado ($27) was upgraded to a prominently charred piece of steak, flavoured with ginger and aji amarillo, served with big, crisp yucca fries and another stack of grilled veg.
Lomo Saltado striploin steak with yucca fries at Bistro Alegria
Puerco asado ($23) sat roasted pork tenderloin on a platform of pineapple and topped it with a salsa of tomato, pineapple, onions and chimichurri. The pork was overcooked a bit, but still tender.
Pork tenderloin with pineapple at Bistro Alegria
I’ve found that paella at restaurants that don’t specialize in that glorious rice dish usually fall short of what you can coax from your kitchen, or better still, your barbecue. Alégria’s “tropical” paella ($29), alas, was another example that disappointed. Yes, it brimmed with copious proteins, including pieces of chicken breast, shrimp, squid, mussels and chorizo. But only the shrimp impressed, while the chicken and squid were bland. A big piece of minimally flavoured fish product was meant to simulate lobster, I think. Plus, the rice needed more depth of flavour and the “tropical” take was not an improvement over the traditional boldness of a Spanish paella.
Paella Tropicana at Bistro Alégria
During a lunch visit this week when Alégria was crowded, two hefty, if somewhat messy, sandwiches did the trick. The Cubano sandwich ($17) of tender pulled pork, ham, Swiss cheese, mustard and mayo underplayed its pickle component but was satisfying nonetheless. The Atlantico sandwich ($18) of fried cod with arugula, cucumber and a lime aioli was nearly as good — perhaps the fish was just a touch overcooked, my friend said.
Cubano pulled pork sandwich at Bistro Alégria in Gatineau’s Hull sector
Atlantico cod sandwich at Bistro Alégria in Gatineau’s Hull sector
We tried two house-made desserts at lunch, neither of which wowed us. Churros and a cold, dense, egg-y piece of flan ($6 each) were both ordinary and a little heavier than they needed to be.
Churros and flan at Bistro Alégria in Gatineau’s Hull sector
On Friday and Saturday nights, there can be Latin-based live music at Alégria, for which cover charges apply. Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer real musicians to the DJs who entertained at some of Alégria’s precursors. They add to the human dimension of the place, which hopefully will also have a longer run than the eateries that came before it.
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