Unleash the Beast

Scott and Rachelle Vivian, a husband and wife duo, have taken over the quaint neighborhood space that was previously occupied by one of my prized secret gems - "amuse bouche", with a restaurant with a bold concept and a name to suit it- Beast.  With items like pig's head, duck feet, elk tenderloin, sweet breads and foie, this is definitely not a destination to take your vegetarian friends.  While the menu changes seasonally, it will always feature the main event - meat - (pork, beef, duck and elk, to name a few).


We opt for a few appetizers to start our dinner off - from the lamb ribs, salmon rillettes and foie gras of course.  Then we get the 'Beast' burger to share as we were sold that they came with home made tater tots!
Our lamb ribs came served with a creamy coldslaw and home made corn bread croutons.  The fatty crisp skinned ribs were painfully rich and had a vinegary taste which made the ribs not too sweet and sticky.  The salmon rillettes were chunky and came with something I've never tried before which was acorn squash which was delicious and unsuspecting and pork belly grits that were a similiar consistency to grits and very salty. 
The foie - which served as my main-  came with grilled pears, 'french toast' bioche with honey comb and a declious gooseberry jam - decadent and rich and very satisfying.
The beast burger came smiling at us with on an open faced English muffin literally with a lemon-mayo happy face which of course couldn't help but make you smile.  The burger cooked medium with peameal bacon, cheddar and a over easy egg! It was a burger mcMuffin! The mixture of it with the runny egg worked nicely however it was a huge bite.  This led us to talk about how dentists in Taiwan are reporting more people with dental injuries because of gourmet burger towers like this one causing a bit of lock jaw!  It also had a side of pickled cucumbers which worked well with the burger. 

And while the tater tots were tiny little crispy bites they were of course a nice treat to have!
We did choose 3 starters because we didn't find many of the mains appealing to our palettes and/or the price was a little hard to justify.  Also my dinner companion said that he had stomach issues afterwards and I figured it was due to the amount of 'protein' we consumed and sometimes when eating that much - it leads to a gurgling, bubbling stomach.  All in all, I may come back for brunch but it probably wouldn't be a repeat dinner destination. 
** 1/2 stars
Beast
96 Tecumseth St (north of King)

Toronto, ON M6J 2H1
(647) 352-6000 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              (647) 352-6000      end_of_the_skype_highlighting
http://www.thebeastrestaurant.com/
Open Wednesday through Saturday for brunch, happy hour and dinners.