We talked about Bestellen before, when the buzz was building leading up to opening night. All the city’s foodies were amped up for Top Chef Canada contender Rob Rossi’s new joint with Ryan Sarfeld – whose past experience, like Rossi, also includes Mercatto. We waited a little while before going, after hearing murmurs of long wait times for a table (we don’t wait in line). But Saturday night we headed over, empty in stomach but full in expectation.
When you walk into Bestellen, the first thing you’ll likely realize is the size. Unlike the wave of small and eccentric restaurants that have been popping up around the city, Bestellen is spacious and warm at once. The reclaimed red drop-seat chairs, the church pews as benches along the walls, the rustic woods, the butcher’s dream mural, the open kitchen…all queues that Rossi and Sarfeld had a vision of contemporary casual fine dining.
The menu is small yet ample. We started with the chorizo stuffed squid with braised white beans – the squid stuffed solid with the smoky paprika flavour of the sausage meat – and the steak tartare with the soft-boiled and crispy coated quail’s egg. It’s one of those apps where you have to try your best to combine all parts of the dish to reach that pinnacle of perfect-bite, but once you do, it’s simplistic mastery.
We had to wait near 40 minutes between setting down our cutlery from our starters until our mains came out, which would normally have us curt-faced and irritable. But after another mug of Wolfgang Dunkel (ordered because the name made us giggle), the beautiful tenderloin and quail egg raviolo with brown butter sauce arrived, and all was forgiven. The tenderloin was the height of perfection, expertly seared with a gorgeous vibrant red hue – so often you’ll order rare and get medium rare, but at Bestellen it’s simply done right – and the raviolo was velvety, rich and just slightly herbed.
Before we knew it the two-hour timeslot we nabbed had ended and we had to haul out so the next set of noshers could bask in the glory of the controlled kitchen. We’ve heard Rossi plans to add to the menu once the kitchen runs without kinks, and Sarfeld has done a fantastic job with the service-staff, a mix of attentive and slightly sarcastic. (Or maybe we just bring that out in people…?)
Call and queue in for a meal, it’s a notable spot so far as we’re concerned…