Absinthe Cafe
1208 Wellington St. W., 613-761-1138,
absinthecafe.ca
,
instagram.com/absinthecafe
Open:
dining room closed due to COVID-19, takeout and delivery available Tuesday to Saturday 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., closed Monday and Sunday, check its Instagram page for takeout lunch specials
Prices:
mains $19 to $25, dinners for two $80 and $90, barbecue kits $40 to $55; deliveries by Love Local Delivery for $5 or more depending on distance
Last Friday at lunchtime, we were lined up 10 deep and two metres apart outside Absinthe Cafe in Hintonburg.
Old-school sandwich-board advertising and new-fangled Instagram posts had done the trick. Both touted chef-owner Patrick Garland’s daily special of lobster rolls. The $20 price was a splurge to be sure, but who wouldn’t want a delicious reminder of seemingly long-ago vacations in P.E.I. and New England when life in quarantine too often feels like a never-ending stay-cation?
The lobster roll in my paper bag was a little less plump than the one depicted on social media, but it still satisfied with chunks of sweet, well-sauced Gaspé Peninsula lobster. For a few dollars more, some duck fat fries and chocolate chip cookies were comfortingly familiar but also notably above average in terms of flavour and texture.
In all, that lobster lunch was a fine, if necessarily casual, way for me to reacquaint myself with Absinthe, which opened in 2003 and moved to its Wellington Street West location in 2007.
I’ve long expected to be impressed by the sure-handed bistro fare served there, from a signature steak frites to duck confit to the fondue I enjoyed in late 2013. Garland even had the culinary chops to win Ottawa’s Gold Medal Plates competition in 2014. With Absinthe pivoting to takeout and delivery fare in response to COVID-19, I was curious to see if the restaurant could wow me with not just that lobster roll, but also with food brought back to my place.
Passing over mains such a burger, striploin steak and lamb shanks, we opted for the roast chicken dinner for four ($90). Happily, nearly every component of that meal was close to definitive. On the whole, Absinthe’s family meal ranked among the top takeout dinners I’ve had since COVID-19 shut Ottawa’s dining rooms almost three months ago.
The chicken was well-seasoned not only on its skin but through and through, and every bite of it, whether it was light or dark meat, was perfectly moist. While the bird really was not wanting for anything, it was even better with its mushroom gravy of equally deep flavour.
The mashed potatoes perhaps could have used a bit more buttery richness. Notwithstanding that, the vegetables, which also included roasted carrots and squash, were exemplary.
Focaccia was fine and perfect for mopping up that exceptional gravy. An otherwise laudable Caesar salad included the meal’s only small flub because some of its lardons were burnt. Better was an add-on to our dinner for four, the seared tuna Niçoise salad, augmented with fiddleheads and boosted by a thick, lemon-y vinaigrette.
For dessert, the apple and rhubarb crisp asserted its tartness while more of those cookies took care of sweeter cravings.
In addition to ready-to-eat fare, Absinthe also sells barbecue-it-yourself dinners featuring marinated meats including lemongrass chicken, chermoula striploin steaks and more. With Father’s Day approaching, this kind of meal might be just the thing to share with my son.