A TALE OF TWO RESTAURANTS: GALT’S THE FRENCH & UPTOWN’S LALA SOCIAL HOUSE
WORDS & PHOTOS BY CHRIS TIESSEN
‘I’m so excited for this first bite,’ Cai announces as she slices her spoon through a thick layer
of emmental and into the steaming broth below – a wonderful mélange of rich meat stock, gently fried onion, and sourdough crouton. I am not surprised that she’s pumped. After all, I’ve heard Cai wax poetic about french onion soup for years. And I’m certain that this performance of the french classic will deliver. After all, we’re lunching at the recently-opened Galt location of The French – an aptly-named bistro whose (original) Hamilton location remains a favourite culinary destination. (See TOQUE 24 for a full feature.) And if the second iteration of this Equal Parts Hospitality-operated restaurant is anything like its Hamilton sibling, this meal is sure to be a triumph.
I watch as Cai deposits the spoonful into her mouth, and grin as she dissolves into a state of bliss. ‘So good,’ she murmers – following up her first bite with a second. I’d be jealous, if not for the exquisite dish poised to deliver my own first mouthful: ‘Salmon Crudo’ – a delicate array of lightly cured salmon, crème fraiche, citrus, coriander, tapioca, and nori. The dish is an aesthetic masterpiece, meticulously crafted by Equal Parts Hospitality Director of Culinary Operations Chef John Forcier. While Chef John splits his time across all Equal Parts restaurants – including Hamilton’s Aberdeen Tavern, The Diplomat, and (the OG location of) The French, as well as a ‘born again’ Uptown Waterloo restaurant that I’ll get to in a bit – today he’s here, in Galt, working with Chef de Cuisine Scott Mills as Scott’s team gets this place up and running.
Opening the Galt location of The French has been an ambitious project, to be sure. Fewer than two years ago the expansive space – part of HIP Development’s fantastic Gaslight District multi-use development project – had been slated to become Bellflower Market: a sort of hybrid market-café concept. But things at Bellflower didn’t quite work out, and now we’re here. And I’m not mad about it. The restaurant space – literally cradled by the shell of the site’s original century foundry building – is divine. Soaring (and original) wood slat ceilings. Poured concrete floors. Arched doorways. Off- white walls punctuated by massive windows overlooking Gaslight square. Tasteful artwork. A delicious bar. Separate café. And long flowing curtains that give the whole place an unmistakably Mediterranean feel. While most people close their eyes to feel transported to another time or place, here, at The French, I only have to keep mine open to experience the look and feel of the south of France. And the taste, too.
Like this crudo. Sublime. A delicate balance of flavours and textures, its tapioca ‘wafer’ offering a crisp base for the contrasting crème, citrus, and lightly cured salmon. A paired negroni (equal parts, of course) adds to the experience. Cai is indubitably enamored with her soup, paired auspiciously with an Old Fashioned. Once Cai and I are finished our starters (and onto our second cocktails), our mains arrive. For Cai: the ‘Croquemadame’ – essentially a croquemonsieur (ham, emmental, mornay, sourdough) with a fried egg on top. Served with thin-cut fries. And for me: the ‘Turkey Club’ – a substantial portion of roast turkey, avocado, cheddar, bacon, arugula, tomato, and garlic aioli on a butter croissant. With a ‘Salade Maison’ (greens, montebello, spiced pumpkin seed, chive, chardonnay vinaigrette) on the side. While other lunch offerings include heartier fare – including ‘Trout Almondine’ (green bean, fingerling, tomato, almond, preserved lemon, brown sugar), ‘Ricotta Gnocchi’ (mushroom, truffle, parmesan, parsley, breadcrumb), ‘Steak-Frites’ (8oz flatiron, café de paris, garlic aioli), and more – I am here to tell you that no one should sleep on the sandwiches at The French. Fresh.
Full of taste. And sizeable too – enough so that we decide to eschew dessert for espressos and keep our day moving. After all, there’s more food and drink in our near future. But first: checking in to Galt’s iteration of The Laundry Rooms, where we’ll be staying for the night, before heading back out to a second Equal Parts-operated establishment for dinner later today.
Cai and I are no strangers to The Laundry Rooms’ unique concept: hotel-esque accommodations inside condominium towers. When we overnighted in Hamilton this past summer, we stayed at the original Laundry Rooms location where we enjoyed the perks of its business model: keyless entry, no front desk, no hassles. It’s the same here in Galt – plus an open and airy two-bed, two-bath corner unit directly overlooking Gaslight Square. With a massive balcony to boot. When I return next summer for a show at Gaslight, this is most certainly where I’ll be staying.
Cai and I spend the next couple hours in our spacious digs – catching up on work and then, after a while, getting ready for our evening meal. Our destination: LaLa Social House – a former two-storey private club that Equal Parts has just recently re-launched as an open- to-the-public bar and restaurant. In Uptown Waterloo. My childhood and undergrad stomping grounds. I’m excited for this.
A forty minute Über drive later Cai and I are seated at LaLa’s posh main floor Mini Bar, located inside HIP’s Circa 1877 condominium building (which, when I was an undergrad at Waterloo, was the old Brick Brewing Co brewhouse, now Waterloo Brewing). The Mini Bar, with its urban vibes in palettes of moss greens and dark greys, might be just as happily situated in Toronto’s financial district or somewhere equally affluent. This interior landscape of high ceilings, large windows, a wraparound bar, and a recessed round-arched back bar is punctuated with a staircase that beckons patrons upstairs to the main event – LaLa’s lounge and principal dining room. But first: drinks and snacks at the Mini Bar.
Our bartender, Ferdi, deftly crafts two signature cocktails for us: a ‘Negroni Royale’ (empress gin, amaro nonino, dry vermouth) for me, and a ‘House of Bamboo’ (havana club white rum, sailor jerry spiced rum, disaronno, butter ripple schnapps, oat milk, pineapple juice, coconut syrup) for Cai. We also order a couple of pre-app apps: ‘Tuna Tacos’ (avocado puree, sesame seeds, spicy aioli) and ‘Chicken Bites’ (jalapeno aioli, dill, coriander seed, chive, soy glaze). While we’re savouring our drinks and snacks, I can’t help but marvel at how Waterloo has progressed, in just a few decades, from a sleepy town where most of Uptown seemed to be an empty parking lot to a world-leading tech hub. And how LaLa is a perfect illustration of this metamorphosis: having evolved from a microbrewery (before craft was a thing) to a private club (where NHLers purportedly rubbed shoulders with tech wizards) to this elevated yet accessible bar and restaurant.
Once Cai and I are finished our cocktails and snacks, we are invited upstairs (to note: LaLa also has an elevator) to the lounge and dining room. And, to put it bluntly, the space is breathtaking. Twenty-ish-foot ceilings. Exposed brick walls. Massive windows framed by long crimson velvet curtains. A floor-to-ceiling
wine rack with rolling ladder. Teal button-tuck couches paired with modern leather chairs. Strategic recessed lighting. Framed prints of modern art. And this is just the lounge. When Cai and I had been eating lunch at The French in Galt just a few hours ago, Equal Parts’ co- founder Jason Cassis had promised that we’d be blown away with LaLa’s interior design. Word is bond.
While the lounge beckons for quality time with quality spirits, tonight our destiny resides in the dining room. And so we saunter through the lounge, past LaLa’s main bar, to our table for dinner. As we settle into a lovely green velvet curved banquette, I notice the dark wood floors, exotic floral print wallpaper, tall windows framed by more crimson velvet curtains, a long second-floor patio that must be fantastic during the warm season, modernist crystal chandeliers, brass table lamps. Real ‘White Lotus’ vibes. (All that’s missing is the theme song.) I’m in love.
Over the next couple of hours, Cai and I are wined and dined by LaLa’s wonderful staff, who take the best care of us. Chef John, who has traveled from The French in Galt to spend some time in the LaLa kitchen while we’re here for dinner, joins us at our table to share a bit about the concept that shaped the menu before food begins to roll out. ‘While The French is an established brand with a solid french-inspired menu,’ he tells us, ‘LaLa is a more youthful spot that allows for fun and whimsical menu items.’ Sounds good to me. He continues: ‘At LaLa, it’s all about constantly- changing menus and bold flavours.’ I can’t wait. As if on cue, our food begins to arrive – along with an Old Fashioned (for Cai) and Boulevardier (for me).
For starters: a ‘Shrimp Cocktail’ (iceberg, cocktail sauce, lemon), the ‘Smoked Beef Tartare’ (shallot, capers, gherkin, triple crunch mustard, smoked aioli, grilled bread), ‘Grilled Octopus’ (chorizo and potato salad, salsa verde, almond crumb), and a ‘Half Dozen Oysters’ (seasonal mignonette, hot sauce, lemon, horseradish). Classic dishes, maybe. But, as Chef mentioned, also chock full of adventurous flavours. While I enjoy them all, I’m most enraptured by the tartare: smoky, tangy, with wonderful mouthfeel. Our mains are next to arrive; ‘Braised Beef Short Ribs’ (mashed potato, summer succotash, pickled radish, beef jus) and ‘Duck Breast’ (smoked potato, maitake mushroom, black garlic, duck jus). Again, I’m dazzled by the flavours. Bold. Adventurous. Nothing subtle about them, yet nothing overwhelms. I’m especially enamored by the bed of smoked potato, mushrooms, and black garlic paired with the duck.
By the time we’ve polished our plates (because there’s no way I am leaving a morsel behind), it’s past nine o’clock. And while we would love to stay longer (to enjoy a couple espressos, a dessert or two, and that delicious lounge) we are eager to get back to The Gaslight District to make last call at The Underwing – the Equal Parts-operated cocktail lounge situated directly between The French and The Laundry Rooms. And so we make things right at LaLa before hopping in an Über and hitting the road back to Galt. Along the way, I am reminded of a statement attributed to the larger-than-life Pavarotti. ‘One of the very nicest things about life,’ he said, ‘is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.’ Indeed. I would add, after this grand tour of these two most marvelous additions to our regional culinary landscape, that one of the nicest things about life is the way people with imagination and drive are able to sustain their passion to create spectacular settings and textures and flavours we locals can embrace and enjoy.
THE FRENCH GALT
58 GRAND AVE S, CAMBRIDGE thefrench.ca