Bijou Steakhouse

Bijou Steakhouse

152 Main St

Kenora, ON

P9N 1S9

807-468-3463

http://www.bijousteakhouse.com/ordereze/default.aspx

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twitter:  @bijousteakhouse

February 2014

As a newer restaurant along the trendy Main Street in Kenora, the Bijou Steakhouse has the advantage of a great location, and has the opportunity to bring more life to an already vibrant neighbourhood.  A few years ago, there was only one restaurant along the harbour, and they only served mediocre food.  Over the last little while, I’ve seen a number of places spring up, and all of them serve up great food.  Bijou joins this distinguished movement.

I have the good fortune of hitting Bijou during the Winter Bites Festival, which means that I get to try a lot of food in one sitting.  For more on the Winter Bites Festival, check it out here. 

Bijou’s capacity only holds 55 people, so I see a lot of people being turned away disappointed during the busy season.  A stage in the middle of the restaurant tells me that music is a big part of this place, and could add to the demand for seating. 

While the ambiance looks rustic, with lots of wood and brick in the interior, the menu (by contrast) looks very sophisticated and urbane.  Yes, this is a steakhouse, and yes, they have a lot of steak options, but they have so much more, including a large assortment of seafood and some selections of tapas. 

Our appetisers start with the beautifully plated Beef Carpaccio.  The traditional carpaccio dish comes with raw tenderloin, but Bijou’s version has the tenderloin seared before being thinly sliced.  The caramelised edge gives the beef a bit of the grilled taste, adding a layer of flavour to the pure taste of the meat.  They added just enough balsamic and parmesan to add a zing to the beef, without overtaking its delicate taste.  I love the minced raw garlic, although it might be a bit pungent for some.

If raw/ultra-rare beef isn’t up your alley, the Salmon Won Tons is an equally compelling intro.  Conventional wontons come entirely wrapped and are either deep fried or steeped.  Bijou’s innovative version simply sits on a wedge of a fried wonton wrapper. 

The wrapper simply acts as a base and provides little more than some texture to accompany this wonderful melange of smoked salmon and wasabi mayo.  Both the wasabi and the onion cut through the saltiness of the salmon and gives the diner a dazzling mouthful. 

Bijou prepares its mains equally well and continues to balance its dishes on a fine needlepoint.  The filet mignon comes wrapped with bacon and grilled to perfection.  Sometimes, I find the bacon overwhelming, as its smokiness overtakes the understated flavours of the tenderloin.  Bijou does a magnificent job of barely cooking the bacon through, leaving most of its powerful flavour locked into the strip, and not blasted onto the steak.  The bacon acts as an enhancer, rather than a dominator.  Bravo!

The steak tastes so good, you might forget to eat the accompanying vegetables.  I advise against leaving the sides behind as the veggies have a lovely grilled edge and the potatoes taste deliciously complex, mixed with assorted goodies.

Make no mistake about the other main:  the Coquille St. Jacques is heart attack on a plate.  But if you’re like me and you eat well on a normal basis, eating out is the time to eat as decadently as you want.  There aren’t a lot of prawns in here but every bite has a taste of delicious scallops, thanks to another bout of ingenuity from Bijou.  Most scallop dishes come with whole scallops, which is visually appealing, but leaves you with only a few bites of scallops.  Bijou slices the scallops, which ensures that it comes in most every bite.  You can even cut back on the number of scallops and let the diner believe that there’s more in the dish!

One of the French mother sauces, bechamel is essentially a light roux, diluted with milk (or even cream!).  This is the perfect sauce to go with seafoods and Bijou hit it out of the park with this one.  The layer of cheese on top sees just enough of the broiler to give it a hint of browning and gooification. 

If at this point you still have room for dessert, the Sugar Pie should put you over the edge.  Our server calls it a pecan pie without the pecans, and that’s exactly what it is.  I eat pecan pie specifically for the pecans but this dessert tastes surprisingly adequate without it.

The other dessert, Mini Chocolate Souffle and Mini Crème Brulee, are adorably cute and about all I can take after this massive menu.

The mousse tastes barely crisp on the outside, and deep and rich on the inside.  The crème tastes equally rich and the flamed crust snaps easily and gives the desired texture to the package.

Bijou Steakhouse is a fabulous restaurant that offers some of the best foods around.  The quality and preparation here rival the greatest restaurants we have in Winnipeg, and all of the prices remain very reachable to everyone.  It doesn’t get better than this—it really doesn’t.  You get world-class food at corner café prices.  Wow.

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