La Persaud Bistro

I was invited to come here by my good pal Doug (author of the blog foodmatterstome) and a couple other friends Siah and Cian. Doug had a $100 gift certificate which he graciously shared between the four of us. Cian had arrived first and he stated he stood up at the front awkwardly (since there is a lack of waiting area) without even being acknowledged for over 5 minutes despite us having a reservation.

Ice water and bread was promptly served as we took a look over the menus. The selection was quite limited with only a handfull of appetizer and entree options. We ended up ordering a Nicose salad and beef tartare to start. We were quickly greeted with an amuse bouche of potato veloute (pretentious word for cream based soup) and crustini. Free stuff is always pleasant and it had a nice seasoning to it.
 

The beef tartare was very average. I much prefer it from other locations in Edmonton such as The Marc. This one lacked any strong flavor and the pickle taste I like. The Nicoise salad was similar to the one I had in France consisting of seared tuna, sardines, egg, and greens - not a fan of the overal textures and flavors here (probably a personal bias).

For our entrees Cian had the duck confit with rolled onions and potato and the three of us ordered steak Béarnaise. The duck was presented nicely and had a good flavor and was tender and juicy. Served on a bed of I'm not even/can't remember though I remember it tasting bloody...

The steaks all came out all horribly overdone. We had ordered rare, med-rare, and med and what we got was med-well, well-done, and dryed out over done - mine unfortunately =[. The waitress did not ask if they were cooked right for over 10 minutes as we picked at our fries and salad. Finally when she came over she told us it was going to be a 45 minute wait for new steaks which after some grumbling we agreed to. Soon after the manager came over and again asked us if we were "sure" we wanted them recooked since the kitchen was backed up. Puzzled since she offered no real solution (other than eat these poorly cooked steaks) we looked at each other and still said yes. At this point I was quite frustrated, for a place that claims to be fine dining a over or under steak should result in a rapid refire and an apology at the very least, let alone a 45 minute wait in an empty restaurant to flash cook 8 minute steaks. At least be close to the correct temperature but these were just so far gone. Finally the food came and the waitress apologized about a grumpy kitchen. When it was cooked properly it was an average steak at best and the Béarnaise sauce just reminded me of Hollindaise sauce and I barely used it.

All and all the food was not terrible in itself but considering the price and laughable service I would not recommend La Persaud even with a $100 gift certificate. Each entree was $30 and the appetizers were about $15 each. Verdict: 65/100.