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Food & Drink

TIFF buzz bistro

LA SOCIETE (131 Bloor West, at Avenue Road, 416-551-9929, lasociete.ca) Complete dinners for $75 per person (lunches/brunches $40), including tax, tip and a glass of wine. Average main $25/$18. Open Monday to Friday 11:30 am to 4 am, Saturday and Sunday 11 am to 4 am. Licensed. Access: barrier-free. Rating: NNN


Charles Khabouth is in the business of buzz.

And very successfully so, if the Tattoo Rock Parlour, Ultra Supper Club and Spice Route resto-lounges are any indication. All have a certain undeniable glamour and crowds clamouring at their red velvet ropes, but none of the jewels in the club king’s crown are known as dining destinations. Killer cocktails? No question. Food? Further down the list.

So imagine the surprise that is La Société, Khabouth’s sprawling three-month-old brasserie in Yorkville’s Colonnade. A kitchen in these posh parts could serve cat food on a cracker and it would still be shoulder-pad-to-shoulder-pad with the rarefied types who can afford to shop at Prada and shack up at the Four Seasons. Instead, we hoi polloi get executive chef James Olberg’s more than competent takes on the classic French canon at prices that won’t break the bank. On two spectacular terraces in the heart of Yorkville yet.

Yes, they kill us on the drinks. Our overly attentive server can’t seem to top up our glasses of Perrier ($8/750 ml) fast enough. Good thing we’re not necking $26 flutes of Veuve Clicquot. But 13 bucks gets us a perfectly respectable rustic pork-shoulder pâté wrapped in fatty smoked bacon and studded with green peppercorns and pistachios, a tangle of watercress and frisée in a light lemony vinaigrette on the side.

Laced with cognac and gooey Gruyère, a substantial tureen of onion soup Lyonnaise ($11) is almost a meal in itself, although one better suited to the dead of winter than a summer heat wave. At lunch, the starter-sized Niçoise ($14/$24 main) dressed with barely seared sushi-grade tuna, a few fingerling potatoes and correctly al dente haricot verts (green beans to the rest of us) can easily be shared by two.

Rather than using a cheap flank or bavette, Olberg expertly grills 8½ Felliniesque ounces of aged New York strip loin for his steak frites ($29 dinner/$26 lunch) before daubing it with an herbed pat of maître d’hotel butter and siding it with skinny sea-salted fries. Those same super spuds – now brought to the table in a cute miniature fry basket – pull double duty with moules-frites ($19), two dozen PEI mussels steamed in a creamy saffron-scented white wine broth. You’ll want a second basket of chewy Thuet baguette with whipped butter to sop up every last drop.

Having recently eaten our way across the GTA in search of the best 50 burgers, frankly, we’re a little burgered-out. But we’d be back in a flash for La Société’s white cheddar cheeseburger, a meaty 8-ounce patty slathered with house-made pickle aioli ($16 with frites and salad, easily the best deal in the house). Anyone who remembers the similar burger at the long-gone Bemelmans will instantly fall in love.

We’ve also been on a bit of a macaroni and cheese bender of late, and Olberg’s rendition doesn’t disappoint. It’s a comforting buttery mess of long Franco-American-style casarecce noodles swimming in fontina, Gruyère and grana padano – more cheese than pasta. Served in a goblet and topped with a stick of Pocky, pastry chef Stephanie Forgione’s chocolate mousse gets less impressive with every spoonful Dream Whip and Bill Cosby’s Jello pudding come to mind.

But do save room for her profiteroles (both $10), an exquisite trio of cream puffs stuffed with house-made vanilla ice cream and finished with Callebaut chocolate sauce and a toss of toasted almond flakes.

We’re usually with Groucho Marx when it comes to clubs. Thanks, but no thanks. Based on this dessert alone – though there’s plenty on the carte to back it up – we’ll gladly make the exception for La Société.

stevend@nowtoronto.com

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