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Finzi—Cucina Mediterranea
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20 Notre Name East (Old Montreal)
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Open Mon—Fri. from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m; (Thursday/Friday also open from 5 p.m.) Sat. from 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Sun. from 3 p.m. Licensed. Major credit cards (514) 398-0942
Finzi has been open about a year. They do a booming lunch trade with a small but well-designed menu featuring Italian dishes and a few bistro favourites based on steak, fish, and chicken. Prices are good for Old Montreal, with most meals between $15 and $25.
We checked out several restaurants before we came in here. Frankly, it had the feel of the kind of friendly local place that is common in Little Italy.
There was a jovial group of almost two dozen at a long table. Another couple off to the corner. The place looked great. Long leathery banquettes, tall chairs covered with silk and a faux brocade. Wood brass and mirrors. Finzi has a slightly dowdy fin-de-siecle feel to it. The place should have been very good. The staff was smiling and bustling. The menu interesting but not elaborate.
We ate simply: a good tomato salad covered with shredded mozzarella. But the mozza was from a packaged brick and uninspired. In retrospect, it alone revealed the rest of the meal. The bread, for example looked appetizing—crusty rolls, some olive bread—but they were cold. The olive bread desperately needed a little finessing warmth to bring out the flavour. Meanwhile platters of steaks and fries went by to the large party nearby. A couple of large salads also looked great.
We ordered ris de veau (calf sweetbreads or pancreas) and osso buco (marrow bones with plenty of meat.) The meat dishes were super, well cooked and meltingly flavourful. The sauces were quite good too. The side dishes, all on the same plate, were uninspired and inappropriate. Doughy tortellini in a bland tomato sauce, rice pilaf, and wintery veggies: turnips, carrots and broccoli. What are these doing on a restaurant plate when there is zucchini, eggplant, fresh corn and other delights at market? And why was there pasta and rice on the same dish? My wife muttered that it was so that the portions appeared huge and that those who ordered unusual but full-flavoured dishes like ris de veau could push this to the side and eat the much safer and blander pasta.
Worse was that one side of my dish (that with the meat) was hot while the rest was cold. Our waiter had made quite a show of bringing the plates to the table with his hands wrapped in a dish towel as he muttered “c’est chaud, chaud.” When I mentioned that the food was cold, cold, he said that this was because the veggies and rice had been prepared before and were standing by ready to receive the meat. But he never offered to get hot vegetables or even toss it all into a microwave.
Now the shame in this is that with a little imagination—and maybe a half-decent vegetable purveyor—Finzi could offer a very decent meal. The basics were fine or at least had potential; but it was as if no one really cared.
In passing, the crème brûlée for dessert was decent but the burnt sugar topping was much too thick. A light tap from a spoon should crack open these things. It shouldn’t require an ice pick. The tiramisu featured with the special had long been sold out (and isn’t even made in the restaurant). An espresso was good, but just that.
The wine list is small with a few bottles each from France, Italy and California . Prices range from $22 to $45 for most bottles and the house wine was Fontana Morella at $4.95 a glass.
I would recommend Finzi for lunches if the client isn’t that important and first and last dates, when they are the same. — Reviewed by Barry Lazar
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