The Common For Downtown Dining Week

I managed to get out once for Downtown Dining Week awhile ago and had dinner at The Common on 109 St, a couple of blocks south of Jasper Avenue.  They had a pretty good looking menu and I wanted to see if their "hipster" vibe lived up to the hype you read in some of the reviews.

When we arrived, there was not seating so we had a couple of beers at the bar while waiting for a table.  The atmosphere was nice.  Casual, the decor was nice, and you could tell the restaurant was full of the after work crowd at 6 PM still.  Everyone seemed to be having a good time and soon enough, our table was ready.

We had a booth at the back of the restaurant and a big white chandelier hanging there which I hit on the way out of the restaurant with my head.  It was pretty funky, but I needed to ducky.  We both chose a mushroom risotto to start, followed by the steak frittes, and a dessert of poached pear and lemon pound cake.  The risotto was nice and creamy with plenty of mushroom flavour, and the rice wasn't crunchy so it was a really good start to our meal.  The main course of steak frittes was a  crusted Quebec veal tenderloain with an arugula salad and some nice skinny fries.  The veal was nicely done at a juicy medium rare, and dipped into the bernaise sauce if you wanted for a nice creamy hit on top of that, and it went really well with the crispy fries.  Finally, there was the dessert of poached pear and lemon pound cake with a creme anglais.  This was a tasty dessert with many textures and sweetness.  The only thing you had to look out for were the decorative (and harmless) strands of baby corn husk which sure looked like white chocolate shavings in the dim light.

Risotto

Steak Frittes

Poached Pear and Lemon Pound Cake

All in all, this was a great dining experience and I'd go back there again!