#Lapinouloves Monthly Digest

As we bound into this last stretch of winter, we have a little spring in our step. Perhaps it’s the irresistible soundtrack of vintage Paris jazz that fills our minds and our souls as we amble to work on a Friday morning. This month we launched Lapinou Sessions, live jazz every Thursday night with Toronto-based collective Viper’s Cloud featuring Michael Louis Johnson, famously known as the singing bartender from the Communist Daughter. Or perhaps it’s the upcoming calendar of events we have up our sleeves for March. (If Irish-founded Châteaus of Bordeaux and a Nicholas Pearce Wines Pop-Up pique your interest, read on for the full scoop.) Whatever the reason, we hope you join us in this exciting time – naturally, we guarantee the wine and food will be stellar, too. À bientôt.  

Lapinou Sessions: Live Jazz Every Thursday

8.00pm – 11.30pm, Thursdays

Our wine bar is bringing the sweet sounds of 1930s Paris jazz to King Street West with Lapinou Sessions every Thursday featuring our resident four-piece band, Viper's Cloud and Michael Louis Johnson.

Prix Fixe Sundays

Off the back of the roaring enthusiasm we’ve received for our prix fixe brunch menu, we’re rolling out our prix fixe offering into dinner. The new $49 three-course dinner includes a choice of appetizer, entrée and dessert washed down with our indulgent half-price bottle list. Sundays are the new Saturday, perhaps?

Check out the menu here.

Night of the Wine Geese 

Tuesday March 17th 

On St Patrick’s Day, we will pay homage to Ireland’s profound influence on the development of the Bordeaux wine industry with ‘Night of the Wine Geese.’ The festive affair will honour the intertwined history between France and Ireland, and those who fled Ireland for Bordeaux in the 16th through 18th centuries due to political and economic turmoil. Our ‘Night of the Wine Geese’ will offer a premier list of Châteaux founded by Irish families, including powerhouses Lynches-Bages and Boyd-Cantenac, alongside a selection of Bordeaux-inspired dishes.

Nicholas Pearce Wines Pop-Up at Lapinou

Friday March 27th – Sunday March 29th

We’re teaming up with premier Ontario wine merchant Nicholas Pearce Wines to host a full weekend of wine appreciation. On Friday March 27th and Saturday March 28th from 12pm -5pm, the Nicholas Pearce Wines team will be popping up in our bar for a full wine tasting takeover with a vast selection of lesser known and interesting wines available by the sample, glass and to order by the case. Bar snacks and charcuterie will be available to event-goers on the day. Then signing off the weekend, we’re hosting a Nicholas Pearce Wines takeover of our half-price bottle list during Sunday brunch and dinner.

Dining Diaries

After a wildly memorable experience at the original Angler in San Francisco, our culinary exploration took us to the second outpost from Chef Joshua Skenes and Saison Hospitality when we visited LA. The menu was just as unique with surprising flavours that kept us asking the extremely friendly staff there “but what’s that other flavour?” (or “how do they do this?”) time and time again. The small spoons, toothpicks with sea creatures, and little pots of garnishes carefully selected and presented to the table for a specific dish added an extra element of delight. We couldn’t decide which location was better. Our vote? Both are a masterpiece.

Featured below: radicchio salad and radicchio XO - possibly the best salad we’ve ever eaten.

Wine of the Month

Wine of the Month: Guy Breton Morgon, Beaujolais

The Breton family has cultivated small vineyard holdings in Beaujolais since the 1930s, however it was not until Guy Breton took over from his grandfather in 1986 that the domaine started producing their own wine. Like most of the region, the Breton family were selling their grapes to large co-ops for Beaujolais Nouveau production. Guy Breton, along with several other likeminded vignerons (Lapierre, Foillard, Thévenet) have been at the forefront of the movement propelling Beaujolais into its ‘Cru’ status that we know and love today. His Morgon is natural by craft, ethereal by nose, and absolutely delightful to taste!

FIVE #LAPINOULOVES TO TRY THIS MONTH

READ The Reinventionist Mindset: Learning To Love Change, And The Human How Of Doing It Brilliantly by Joe Jackman.

WATCH Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar winning best picture, Parasite.

EAT It’s the season for sunchokes, otherwise known as Jerusalem artichoke, sunroot and earth apple. This root vegetable flourishes from late fall to early spring, and right now, they are a staple on our menu. The savoury-sweet flavour profile lends itself to a host of applications, like the sunchoke chips and purée with our duck breast, or our side of roasted sunchoke with bay leaf emulsion, pickled onion and roasted garlic.  

BOOK your tickets to Curious Minds Festival // Sam Sifton & Melissa Clark: Making Life More Delicious on Sunday March 8.

SEE Australian comedian Hannah Gadsby’s stand-up show at Roy Thomson Hall from February 27-29.