Moses McIntee, left, mixing a cocktail with liquid nitrogen (Image: Meaghan Binstock)
Sure, it might seem a tad inauspicious being the following act to the absurdly short-lived Bohemiam Gastropub and its similarly ill-fated predecessor Oh Boy Burger. But managing partner and mixologist Moses McIntee has high hopes for Lucid Cocktail and Kitchen, the latest business to grace 571 Queen Street West. The liquid nitrogen–loving bartender has served his elaborate concoctions all over the city, most notably at Paese, Ame and Toca, but this is his first stab at having full creative control. Lucid’s financial backers remain the same as those of Bohemian (and Böhmer, for that matter), but McIntee has handpicked a new front-of-house team that had better not be afraid to perform a few science experiments for their guests—because that’s exactly what his drinks require.
McIntee’s ambitious cocktail menu is starting with about 30 options for the restaurant’s early days but will shortly expand to upwards of 120 choices. Artisanal cocktails will cost $13 each, and each takes a lot of words to describe. The War of 1812 is an icy mixture of Bulleit bourbon, Bombay Sapphire gin, orange juice, orange bitters, citrus and Earl Grey–infused Cointreau. The Tandoori Spiced Pisco Sour is made from pisco, lime, tandoori spice syrup, egg white, chartreuse, rose petal dust and rosemary fire (rosemary essence–infused overproof rum, which is burned on top of the cocktail). The Mexico Without Borders is a tequila-based drink, naturally, with saffron-infused Cointreau and essence of coriander and ginger. If those aren’t enough to make your head spin (from the number of ingredients or the alcohol content), there are also cocktail “experiences,” which involve the service staff performing molecular feats tableside.
The cocktail menu might wander all over the map, but the kitchen’s taking a contrasting local and traditional approach, with chef de cuisine Robert Richardson (formerly of Paese) turning out a comfort-focused card with strictly Ontario ingredients. Venison tartare is topped with a green peppercorn dressing and quail’s egg ($14). There’s also fresh sorrentino pasta stuffed with pumpkin and goat cheese in ginger cream sauce ($18), tourtière with house sausage, chicken and chestnut velouté ($19) and a variety of flatbreads crisped in the fancy wood-burning oven. The main courses might keep it simple, but McIntee promises dessert will also be served with a side of molecular magic.
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- The front bar, a giant shrine to liquor
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- Back dining area with built-in fireplace
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- When we stopped by, the windows were still papered over
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- Wood-burning oven
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- Back dining area
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- The bartenders, shakin’ it
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- Moses McIntee, left, mixing a cocktail with liquid nitrogen
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- The War of 1812 ($13): an an icy mixture of Bulleit bourbon, Bombay Sapphire gin, orange juice, orange bitters, citrus and Earl Grey–infused Cointreau
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- Cooks at work in the open kitchen
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- Warm mushroom salad with potatoes and goat cheese ($10)
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- House-made sorrentini ($18): pumpkin- and goat cheese–stuffed pasta in ginger cream sauce
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- Venison tartare with green peppercorn dressing and quail egg ($14)
Lucid Cocktail and Kitchen, 571 Queen St. W., 416-361-6154, lucidck.com
pumpkin, goat cheese in ginger cream sauce? a chef, you say? why, oh why. ‘oh, i know…i’ll put tandoori spices in a pisco sour!’ “great idea boss, how clever!’ ‘let’s see, what else can i twist around?’
February 10, 2012 at 7:20 pm | by djnthere is no clarity whatsoever. just kids toying around (boh and foh).
what are you trying to get across? im sorry but this will fail. 100%. ten-twelve months.
it blows my mind that there is no-one that is honest enough with these folks and tells them that this theme/menu/cocktail list sucks. sorry…
…if you weren’t so busy smelling your own farts i wouldn’t be so pissed off but people figure that once they put liquid nitrogen into something, they are a professional and a mastermind. one year…
perfect for the area, overpriced trying to hard to be hip lameness
February 10, 2012 at 8:40 pm | by lolBRAVO TO BOTH COMMENTS!
February 11, 2012 at 9:22 am | by scottIf you don’t like it or don’t think highly of it than the answer is simple – don’t go. Don’t and try something outside of comfort zones. Don’t go and try to celebrate something VERY different than this city has to offer.
So seriously….why does there need to be so much negativity? If it fails, then fine it fails….at least they tried.
February 11, 2012 at 10:07 am | by Davidif by ‘very different’ you mean tandoori pisco sours then i guess you are right. i love to ‘celebrate something different’ when it comes around. it cannot be manufactured with gimmicks and it will not be believable without purpose.
February 11, 2012 at 9:19 pm | by djni don’t want to offer advice (for what its worth) because i despise what they are doing. everything has a twist…yawn. anyone on earth can ‘re-invent’. here goes- lamb with…cinammon/potato panna cotta and…. beet green fingers and… fenugreek smoke! wow, see that!
that is not a way to create a dish (or drink). a purpose, a story and a reason.
It doesn’t feel so novel when you realize every restaurant in the city is doing nitrogen infused cocktails. bottom line, stop trying to recreate colborne lane and maybe try something new?
February 12, 2012 at 2:35 pm | by taYou missed the point David. Anybody can come to the defence of these guys. djn an ta are the real meastros. I mean “busy smelling your own farts”! – the creativity, the poetry. These guys will go far. I mean they’ll be posting such esquisite skewerings of merely talented hospitality workers for 10-12 years to come I bet. Who needs to go and taste things to know they suck. I don’t even need to read anymore of their posts to know they’ll be brilliant. BRAVO. Just don’t ever leave your computer keyboard lest you loose your creative spark.
February 13, 2012 at 5:49 am | by 2Pintsthat location is totally cursed. I think it’s a difficult stretch of Queen to open anything remotely high-end on. They’d be much better off focusing their efforts on something west of Palmerston.
February 13, 2012 at 9:35 am | by Benif you cant see by reading these menu items and cocktails that there is ‘nothing to see here’, then you are either the chef, the owner or the liquid nitrogen supplier.
February 13, 2012 at 3:11 pm | by djnthere is a very strong (in fact, definitive) chance that if i ‘try this place’ (as 2pints has suggested) i will have betrayed my mother and father for teaching me right from wrong and putting me through school and being responsible for me landing on my feet and getting a good job and a lovely family. you see, now its my money and i don’t ‘give places a try’ that appear this amateurish and confused. people either get it or they don’t in this industry and this is place is bottom heavy in the latter column.
doesn’t this sound a lot like Bar Chef?
February 13, 2012 at 3:13 pm | by StephanieBrilliant work djn. A+! I love how you take an old classic and put a new twist on it. Really make it your own. The ‘right and wrong’ bit garnishes your comments nicely, while your pare things down by skipping upper case letters entirely. Very daring.
February 13, 2012 at 4:05 pm | by 2Pintsthe difference, mr.Pints, is that i am not asking you for any money to read these comments.
February 13, 2012 at 9:18 pm | by djnif farts and missing upper case letters is too distracting and low-brow for you i will endeavor to make these posts a bit more formal next time i come across an article about a restaurant opening involving owners that insult our collective intelligence with very stale gimmicks and dull as dishwater dishes. dig deep and blaze a trail. now therea a notion…
I see that reading these posts that there is ‘nothing to see here’, just a kid toying around. what are you trying to get across? it blows my mind that there is no-one that is honest enough with these djn and tells him that his latest post sucks. his latest post is amateurish and confused. it insults our collective intelligence with very stale gimmicks. that is not a way to create a post (or sentence). a purpose, a story and a reason. D+
February 14, 2012 at 12:36 pm | by 2PintsDo you think it’s right to malign a place that you’ve never even tried in person? I don’t.
February 15, 2012 at 1:47 pm | by MAI am neither the Chef nor the owner, however, I’m proud to call both of them friends. I also know almost everyone on staff from my various travels around the city, and the team on the floor is second to none.
Overpriced – NOT! $13 for any cocktail on the menu is excellent value.
djin, lol, scott: If you don’t like the place don’t go – stop posting offensive, uninformed comments. If you want to show how ill-informed and retarded you are, please do keep posting. You folks are a classic example of “It is better to be thought a fool for staying silent, than open your mouth and remove all doubt”.
Rest of you: think for yourself and try it. If you don’t like it, just don’t go.
That said, I believe that I shall have a Bourbon Manhattan at Lucid.
February 15, 2012 at 6:34 pm | by Jay