n the build-it-and-they-will-come vein, the Rosebud aims to be the Mini Cooper S of Toronto dining: it’s small (40 seats), cool (An Avenue bartender’s first resto), nimble (a French bistro in an abandoned Mr. Pong’s!) and it blows the doors off the average hulking Hummer restaurant. With less than a dozen tables plus a few stools at the bar area, it doesn’t have much room to prove its heady stuff, so what you get instead is a charming, wood-paneled bistro, churning out plates these parts haven’t seen since Coulliard abandoned Squirlies, eons ago.

Rosebud is an acquired secret; those who go - and those who wait patiently for reservations - know that there's not enough room inside for attitude. This collaboration between owner Jason Cameron (previously as bartender at Avenue) and Chef Rod Bowers (Matsura), could be Wallpaper* magazine’s platonic ideal of a French bistro, tailor-made for Queen Street’s hungry, trendy masses yearning for slick surroundings and quality cuisine.

For their venture together, Cameron and Bowers have done the unthinkable - bringing their bistro to the dead zone of Queen and Bathurst. Replacing Mr. Pong’s crispy egg rolls, we now have inventive starters like pâté de campagne with pickled vegetables and mustard, and house-cured salmon with potato rosti with crème fraiche. From the outside, with the lights shimmering through the retro glass, Rosebud looks quite beautiful. Inside, the room feels serene and subdued. The narrow front peers over Queen West scenery without letting the noise in or the romantic intimacy out; an amorous design and wood-paneled walls create a quietly voluptuous space.

As a night out for upper echelon diners, the restaurant might seem bantamweight. But Queen-Street-stoked expectations shouldn’t steer you clear from its true essence: Chef Rod Bowers and his team of tireless nudges have crafted a humble slice of bistro-eria, as the chef elevates bistro food to the hilt by adding smart, zingy touches: cilantro reduction to offset a hearty salmon, and sweet molasses and pork scrunchions make an unpretentious cod bucolic. A nice, pricey portion of Cornish game hen ($22) is a highly spiced hen served with large green Cerignola olives. All succeed with clean, fresh flavours but less rewarding are the overpriced, tepid pork ribs that lack mojo.