By Kathryne Grisim (@foodmuser)
The Creole shrimp rice bowl at Bouchée Boucher. (KATHRYNE GRISIM PHOTO)
Bouchée Boucher, 101-300 Tache Avenue (KATHRYNE GRISIM PHOTO)
WINNIPEG — If you travel to major cities in Canada you may have noticed the new urban practice of creating spaces for multiple purposes. Winnipeg restaurants are catching on too as you may have noticed at Fools & Horses on Broadway, Thom Bargen on Sherbrook and now Bouchée Boucher (101-300 Tache Avenue). In the case of the latter, a butcher shop and a full-service restaurant share the space on the corner of Marion Street and Tache Avenue in St. Boniface.
I have had the pleasure of visiting for brunch and then lunch later that same week. With all the new and established places on my long list to check out, why did I do so? Bouchee Boucher is that good!
The day I met a work companion, we arrived early to ensure that we got a seat. We started by sharing a cucumber salad enhanced with green beans, edamame beans, radish, polenta chips and ricotta. The combination was both clean and crunchy with the ricotta adding a creamy texture.
(KATHRYNE GRISIM PHOTO)
For mains, my lunch date chose the Creole shrimp rice bowl. We traded tastes and I agreed with her exclamations of oohs and awws. There were layers of flavours and textures with Creole spice providing the smoky heat, cucumber and peppers adding crunch and fresh tastes, avocado contributing silkiness and arugula, basil and parsley supplying complexity.
Even though I was very tempted to order the crispy fried eggplant, tomato and mozzarella sandwich, I veered towards the butcher’s salad because it gave me the opportunity to sample some butcher shop offerings. I especially loved the ham. I can’t stand when ham is overly salty and wet. Their ham was anything but. The bowl was chocked full of other offerings and with plenty of freshly made green goddess dressing, it was all delectable.
Chef Alexander Svenne and Danielle Carignan Svenne, formerly of Bistro 7 1/4, are the butcher shop and café owners. Bouchee Boucher’s dinner and lunch menus change weekly and their brunch menu changes monthly. They are wheelchair accessible.
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