Latest news with #LewisRobinson
Vancouver Sun
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Vancouver Sun
Hum: La Petite Primerose's constantly changing menu shows off 'hyper-seasonal' fare
60 rue Bégin, Gatineau (Hull sector), 819-815-8786, Open: for brunch/lunch Tuesday to Sunday 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., for dinner Wednesday to Sunday 5:30 to 10 p.m. Prices: brunch dishes $8 to $26, dinner items $6 to $48 Access: steps to front door Good news! In early June, I had a fantastic dinner at La Petite Primerose, a new restaurant in Gatineau's Hull sector that's easy for me to wholeheartedly recommend. The big caveat: by the time you read this, quite a few items that I had won't be on the menu. That's just how it works at a 'hyper-seasonal' restaurant, to use the language of its co-owners, chef Lewis Robinson and sommelier/manager Tristan Bragaglia-Murdock. Discover the best of B.C.'s recipes, restaurants and wine. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of West Coast Table will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. That plate of incredible, sweet, spot prawn crudo ($26), matched with but not overwhelmed by a vibrant buttermilk dill sauce? Already long gone. Ditto the dish of impeccably grilled white asparagus ($20) and the hazelnut cake topped with rhubarb ($13). We also loved a beef tartare ($25) seasoned with an earthy but not-so-spicy house-made salsa macha and topped with a house-made tortilla, and a small plate of bok choy ($21), in an umami-rich dressing and dotted with marinated mussels that popped with multiple flavours. But will you be able to run out and try them? I'm not sure. You will hopefully have better luck should you desire the incredibly indulgent tart of foie gras under a sea buckthorn canopy ($21), which has all the makings of a signature dish, or the refined guinea hen main course ($48) that involved stuffing the breast with a savoury farce and offsetting it with Chinese greens. Still, regardless of what's on the restaurant's dinner menu — it is open for brunches and lunches too — I'd be confident that Robinson and his kitchen team will keep pumping out delectable, well-considered plates that are fresh, direct and crave-able, above all based on what their producers deliver. Robinson, 34, opened La Petite Primerose this spring with some notable fine-dining experience under his apron. He has worked at Eleven Madison Park and Restaurant Daniel in New York, as well as at Canoe in Toronto, all large and lauded haute-cuisine destinations for both diners and cooks. He has done stints as the chef at the Ottawa restaurants Bar Lupulus and Fauna. At the latter restaurant in 2021, Robinson worked with Bragaglia-Murdock. They clicked, and plans to open a restaurant together were eventually hatched. They say they looked at more than 20 locations over the last year in Ottawa before they found their location in Gatineau. At Petite Primerose, I also had a close-up view of cooks in action during the dinner service, as I wound up being seated just steps from the restaurant's entrance, at the three-seat counter that overlooks the cold station of the open kitchen. I watched the assembly of tartare after tartare and crudo after crudo, and chatted amiably with Robinson and sous-chef Laura Nash, who doubtlessly knew that they were serving someone who would be writing later about his dinner. Who needs the Food Network when you can sit at the chef's counter? The restaurant seats 28 inside, which also includes a four-seat bar, as well as 19 more on its side patio. The dining room is attractive, with a dusty rose Venetian plaster wall. Bragaglia-Murdock's stash of bottles, which leans to lighter, natural wines, is visible. So too are jars of Robinson's house-made vinegars and ferments. While welcoming and cozy, the dining room can also grow loud, even when it's partially full. At the moment, the best seats if you want to converse with someone are probably at the cold-station counter. Although there have been significant renovations and woodworking done by Robinson and Bragaglia-Murdock, La Petite Primerose can't help but elicit memories of a previous and beloved eatery at its address, Edgar. Marysol Foucault, chef-owner of that jewel of an eatery, which was celebrated for years for its hits-you-where-you-live cooking and warm hospitality, closed Edgar in the summer of 2022, going out on a high but bittersweet note . Foucault, who competed in the 2014 Canadian Culinary Championship , remains the landlord for La Petite Primerose, and Robinson and Bragaglia-Murdock say that her support has been very helpful. Edgar was known above all for its brunches and lunches, which starred Foucault's legendary Dutch baby pancakes. While Robinson has said he wouldn't dare serve Dutch baby pancakes, which he has called ' an insane… reality TV show challenge ,' La Petite Primerose does serve brunch and lunch six days a week. Bragaglia-Murdock says brunch/lunch at his restaurant is quicker and more casual than the more sophisticated dinner service. I had a Sunday brunch at La Petite Primerose too, and I'd agree. I'm more partial to dinner there, although the brunch menu, which did include a few dishes from the dinner menu such as the foie gras tart and the rhubarb dessert, was not without significant satisfactions. Both menus are about a dozen items or so long, and have more small, shareable items than full-sized plates, which can be shared too. At brunch, we began with fine buttermilk biscuits (two for $8) with house-made, memorable jam and butter that made you nod in agreement. A pork patty ($11) with black garlic ketchup was dense, salty, fennel-y and sage-y and good. Potato pancakes ($15) with labneh did not disappoint, and I could see splitting a pork patty and potato pancakes on a return visit if I were in a meat-and-taters kind of mood. Nutty buckwheat blueberry pancakes ($18) were exceptional, light and sponge-y, and not overly syruped. My dining companion, who had been previously to Petite Primerose for brunch, was perfectly happy to eat them again. A bowl of braised spring beans ($23), served with asparagus in a kale sauce, was toothsome, fresh and vivid. Eggs Benedict ($26), which came with pulled beef and a small lake of Béarnaise sauce, was fine for heartier appetites. The ricotta toast ($23) with a poached egg ($3) didn't really hit the spot, compared to the other more stimulating dishes. Between the brownie ($4), which was sweet and chocolate-y but also a bit one-note, and the splendid rhubarb-topped hazelnut cake ($11) that was worth having again, there was no contest. Brunch was certainly enjoyable, and our favourite dishes were both flavourful and distinguished by fine details. Once again, the warning that the menu constantly changes — so much so that it's date-stamped — is to be heeded. While La Petite Primerose has been open for dinner only since late March, Robinson says it has regulars who come every few weeks. Maybe they're motivated by a fear of missing out. It is a neighbourhood restaurant, after all, and while the food relies on Robinson's fine-dining pedigree, it is not stratospherically expensive. All things considered, while the dishes that delighted me just a few weeks ago may be departing from La Petite Primerose's menu, that only means there will be different, distinctive and enticing offerings to appreciate going forward. phum@ For more smart picks and offbeat stories from around the city, subscribe to Out of Office , our weekly newsletter on local arts, food and things to do.
BBC News
02-06-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Football match to raise awareness of baby loss
This article contains details about baby loss and grief. For a range of organisations and charities offering advice and support, please access the BBC Action Line. A charity football match has been organised in a bid to raise awareness of baby loss. Lewis Robinson set up the match to raise money for organisations that supported him and his wife through the loss of their wife Shannon was 23 weeks pregnant when they found out their son Amor's heart had stopped before he was born at Nuneaton's George Eliot Hospital in February. "I wanted to do something to make him [Amor] proud but also to raise awareness and support other families," Mr Robinson, who works for Sky Blues in the Community (SBITC), said. Proceeds will go to baby loss charity SANDS and the SBITC MENtalk project which aims to support men's mental health. The couple, who had to go through childbirth and then arrange a funeral, were supported by the George Eliot bereavement team as well as Robinson said he found the focus of support was with the mum's journey and he wanted to encourage more men to talk about what they go through. With the help of Sands, the pair have organised a charity match between SBITC and Sands United, which will take place at President Kennedy School in Coventry on 7 June."It will be a great way to celebrate Amor's life while supporting other families," added Mr Robinson. Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
