Intro
My wife and I had our first date at
Petit Bill's Bistro, a
delightful restaurant that spins French and Newfoundland cuisines
together.
Located at the corner of Wellington West and Smirle, Petit
Bill's is one of those neighbourhood anchor joints that you get the
feeling will have a long and healthy life as trends fly by.
The burger
"Bill's Burger" features a 100% beef patty from
O'Brien Farms, lettuce, tomato and gorgonzola mayonnaise on a thick
slice of well-toasted Art-Is-In cheddar baguette for $13. I opted for
aged cheddar and double-smoked bacon, each $1.50 extra. The burger came
with a good helping of thin-cut frites, the same that come with their
famous lobster poutine, an Ottawa staple.
The patty was well-seasoned and moist, and at 6oz, a good portion.
Despite the flavour sledgehammer that was the gorgonzola mayo, I could
still taste the flavour and firm texture of the meat. The bun was fresh, ably absorbed juices and encased the burger nicely. It was toasted enough to provide a
needed crunch. The cheddar in the bun was subtle and worked nicely with
the cheddar on the burger - also subtle. Double-smoked bacon provided a
nice dose of salt and was cooked to be nice and firm. So far so good.
 |
| It was dim, and I haven't worked up the courage to use the flash in a restaurant! |
Gorgonzola mayo, like I mentioned, is serious business and it was
the defining feature of an otherwise traditional offering. The cheese is
an unskimmed, blue cow's milk cheese from northern Italy, and like its
other blue cheese cousins provides a wonderfully sharp flavour with
fungal after-notes. I should note that "fungal" is a positive term (for
me) when describing cheeses. Much of the gorgonzola imported to Canada
is often on the smooth rather than crumbly side, so mixed with mayo it makes a beautiful
combination. That it did not overwhelm the simple beef was amazing and a
big kudos in my books. It does, however, need a counterpoint.
The lettuce was unfortunately wilted and the tomato warm so they
didn't provide enough crunch or freshness to balance the fat. A thick
slice of red onion, or something edgier like pickled turnip, would have
taken Bill's Burger from great to excellent.
I give the folks at Petit Bill's a big thumbs-up for supporting local producers of fine food products in their burger.
Given the contemporary feel and casual-upscale stature of Petit
Bill's, $13 is very good value. I would recommend adding bacon, but the
cheddar is superfluous and doesn't substantially add to the burger.
The sides
Petit Bill's makes amazing thin cut fries. Soft with
some residual crisp, skins on, not greasy. Served up with malt vinegar
they're a great accompaniment. I paired the meal with a glass of 2009
Kingston Estate Petit Verdot from South Australia, whose full, peppery
body was a great match for the burger.
BurgerDAR
Bill's Burger gets a 5/3/4. I definitely recommend.
