A big and POPULAR place – and with this goes all the usual – noisy, crowded and mixed service. A very happy crowd, though, and the plates are huge but mostly brown.  The seating is close enough that there is across the table talk with others glad to show off their plates and offer opinions but with so many people the service timing was way off and they would walk right by your empty glass with water pitcher in hand. All of the service personnel were so friendly though, it was hard to take offense.

The menu is meat and foie gras heavy but the night’s specials centered around their acquisition of a 300# tuna. We were there for their “known for” dishes” so compromised and had the tuna tartar.  It was cut in a  large dice that made it a nice chew rather than mush and was really fresh and lovely.  We followed with the foie gras poutine with seared foie gras and duck fat fries all covered with 2 types of gravy.  Not sure why they had light and dark gravy but I licked up every bite and finished mopping with their crusty doughy house bread. Major Yum!

Next was their Magret duck breast canned with cabbage and foie gras and sealed before warming in a sou vide and labeling to bring to the table.  It was a mushy mess. The duck picked up the liver taste of overcooked duck and there was no textural contrast to the dish, let alone color variation. I love all the ingredients but this one didn’t live up to my expectation.  However they redeemed themselves in a big was with dessert. Sugar pie is a local treat made with maple sugar. This was the best version ever. The crust was a crispy,buttery delight and the filling a loose sugary ooze that made you want more and more. If that wasn’t enough they served it with a double scoop of their delicious vanilla ice cream. Did I mention that portions are large here? However I don’t know if you could serve a too large portion of that sugar pie. It’ll be hard to ever find anything to live up to that memory!