Apr. 27, 2005 - Issue #497: Great Outdoors
A Select setback
Slow service, uninspiring presentation mar visit to Café Select's new southside location
Turtles, as you may recall from junior high science class, are famous for their longevity—the average American box turtle, for example, can live upwards of 130 years. Still, while undoubtedly interesting, this fact seems to have done little to guarantee a long, healthy life for off-Whyte mainstay the Turtle Creek Café, which closed its doors late last year ostensibly for renovations, and eventually for good. But when you have a location as good as the corner spot on 109 Street and 84 Ave that Turtle Creek left vacant, it was clear to folks in the neighbourhood that the space wouldn’t stay empty for long—and sure enough, the beginning of April saw the space reopened as Café Select, sister restaurant to the cozy late-night wine-and-chat destination of the same name just across the river.
As a former downtown resident, I had been to the Select on 106 Street and 100 Ave many a time, but my visits had become increasingly rare since my relocation to the Whyte Ave area, and so I was excited about the prospect of having a Select open up kitty-corner from my apartment. But seeing as there’s a rule of thumb that says you should try and give a new restaurant at least a month to get the hang of things—especially if you’re planning to review it—I held off on my first visit until early this week (almost a month, anyhow), hoping this would assure a pleasant evening out. Sadly, however, my girlfriend and I left our late-evening meal feeling, well, a little disappointed.
We arrived at the tail-end of the dinner rush, and only a few tables lingered on the main floor of the open-aired two-level eating area. We were shown to a cozy table for two off the main atrium, and while waiting for the server, we had a chance to take in the renovations. Surprisingly, Select seems to have done little to change the old Turtle Creek’s curious layout, with the stairs to the upper level you have to duck under on your way to the patio and the oddly-placed bar taking up prime space in the dead centre of the main floor. Overall, the changes are more of a facelift than major surgery, but a facelift was indeed welcome; gone are the dated terra cotta tiles of old, replaced by muted dark browns and grass-textured, deep green walls. (The browny-red tiled floor still remains, though, and does stick out a little.)
The server arrived, and after perusing Select’s ample wine list, we decided to go by the glass rather than get a bottle. I was in the mood for a big, smooth red, and so chose the Foxwood “Old Bush Vine” Syrah from France at $7 (although the Moore’s Creek Shiraz was indeed tempting), while my girlfriend went with a dry and fruity Chilean Isla Negro Chardonnay ($6). To eat, we didn’t want to put down anything too heavy given the time of night, so we focused our attention on the Lighter Fare section of the menu; I chose the intriguing-sounding combination of Marinated Olives, Manchego Cheese and Chili-Toasted Almonds ($11), while my girlfriend opted for the Smoked Salmon, served with red onion, capers, cream cheese and Chazzan rye bread ($13). Having ordered, we settled in to sip our wine and wait.
And wait we most certainly did, for a little more than half an hour, which seemed like an awfully long time considering the quiet hour and that we’d ordered two food items that basically required no cooking other than a quick toss in the pan for my almonds. And this holdup was only made worse by the fact that our server had earlier found himself increasingly occupied by a table of his friends nearby, leaving us to wait to place our food order while he glided by unaware again and again, thoroughly tunnel-visioned by his acquaintances’ drink orders. While our server was indeed pleasant enough and eventually started paying us mind once we were eating, it was nonetheless a frustrating way to start the evening.
And unfortunately, when the food did arrive, it proved to be not worth its beyond-fashionable lateness. While my girlfriend’s smoked salmon, arranged simply on a plate with the onions, capers and lemon hanging out on the side and an accompanying basket of bread, was fine (albeit a little pedestrian, as she reported), I couldn’t help but be disappointed by the presentation of my choice. When I ordered the olives, cheese and almonds, I knew I would be getting some amount of all three of those things—but I certainly didn’t expect them to be so plainly and unadventurously separated in little white bowls on a bare plate with a meagre offering of toasted bread on the side. I had assumed I would be getting an assortment of these three ingredients arranged on a bed of greens, or with crackers, or anything, really; what I got was an uninspired collection of ingredients. And while the ingredients themselves were nice—the cheese was firm and pungent and the almonds were nicely toasted, although seemingly devoid of chili—I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect more attention to composition and presentation from a restaurant of Select’s stature.
When we got the bill, there was one last surprise, as the wines turned out to cost 50 cents more each than what the menu had said they did—a negligible difference, sure, but one that you’d hope would be brought to your attention. All told, the evening came in at just north of $40 before the tip. Overall, our first experience at the new Select had not been overwhelmingly positive, to say the least, but it’s possible that most of my concerns can be chalked up to the establishment being still a little green. We’ll see how things go again in a couple of months. V
Café Select
8404-109 St • 438-1812
More info about Café Select →
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