Another Sunday night post-9pm and I'm looking for dinner - the options are pretty thin. We were wandering aimlessly around town trying to think of someplace that would be open, that we hadn't previously reviewed, when suddenly an idea struck me -- Hugo's!

I've visited the bar side of Hugo's in late night drunken stupors, but had never checked out the restaurant.  

It's a little dark and the upholstery is not my style, but the restaurant design is interesting and the art and music isn't entirely thoughtless.

We were seated promptly and while the cocktail service could have been faster it wasn't a complete disaster. We weren't given a wine list, until I asked, but I was delighted to see it when it arrived. The print was too small and the photo copying crooked, but the content was strong. Lots of annotations and a number of interesting wines. A little heavy on the US wines for my taste and the price range was a little limited, but overall I liked it. It did make me think of  my recent trip to California, where I observed remarkably little local wine on restaurant menus. So I wonder, maybe Americans aren't all that interested in drinking US wine. Sure, it's always nice to see some familiar wine on the list, but if they don't want to drink it in California, why would they want to drink it here? I love California wine, but the duty is too high and it's infrequently good value. That said, I picked out a pretty good bargain from Napa - a 2001 Beaulieu Cab for $45 - not bad.

We were a little hard pressed to pick out appetizers - the selection was weak. I ultimately went for the carpaccio  ($9) and Patty had the escargot phyllo bundles ($7). The carpaccio was nice, but overly seared on the exterior (more aesthetic, than taste) and the accompaniment a little boring - I liked the caper berries, but the grainy mustard was little light on effort and imagination. Patty's escargot were tasty and an interesting variation from regular garlic butter variety, but the sauce seemed like an afterthought. The appy's were ok, but not exceptional - luckily they were pretty cheap.

The mains were waaay better. Patty had the halibut ($22), wrapped in proscuitto with a red pepper sauce. It was nice and rich and the halibut cooked perfectly. He was happy. I had the lamb sirloin with polenta and ratatouille ($23). The lamb was cooked perfectly again and the presentation good. The flavours were strong, but I would have liked more ratatouille.

The service was well timed and friendly. I was especially pleased that the sommelier served the wine. It's not essential that the sommelier perform the wine service, but if they're in the restaurant and it's not busy - why not? It's just a nice touch. We did note, under quite a lot of giggling, that the sommelier held a striking resemblance to David Carradine and spoke with the same philosophical tone. To make matters worse, while he was serving us, they were playing some sort remixed western music. 

Overwhelmingly, it felt like a good value. Sure, there was room for improvement, but the prices were reasonable, so I felt a lot more understanding of a few shortcomings. My observation was the skill of the kitchen was higher than the complexity of the menu and that given something more interesting to work with they could probably execute it nicely.

Value of Food 76/100

Quality of Food 74/100

Wine and beverage 76/100

Service 82/100

Ambiance 74/100

Average 76/100

Reviewed July 9, 2006