WILL TRAVEL FOR FOOD

april 3, 2012

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 17:15:23 -0400

april 3, 2012

My blog has a new home!

Sun, 27 Mar 2011 20:34:34 -0400

Hello,

I’m so happy to announce that my blog now has a new home! Please check out:

www.willtravelforfood.com

I’ll be waiting for you on the other side!

Japanese brunch at Café Falco

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 12:27:00 -0400

Last Saturday I discovered the amazing universe of Café Falco. I had heard about this place from David Nathan, a journalist friend of mine and have been wanting to visit but they only serve their Japanese brunch on Saturdays. I finally had the chance to visit this week-end and I absolutely loved it! The food is simple yet good but it was the atmosphere I fell in love with. It reminded me a bit of De farine et d’eau fraîche in the sense that I felt as if I was entering a unique universe.

Café Falco is an industrial looking space filled with unique objects, some new, some recycled. The vintage sewing machine tables, complete with intact vintage sewing machines, make a perfect backdrop under shades with original illustrations. You can take a seat on the leather couch, on a drafting stool along the communal table or you can stand in front of the open counter like I did and watch (with fascination) as your siphon coffee is made. The process is absolutely fascinating and the counter crowded with glass siphons looks like some crazy science lab resulting in a great cup of joe that tastes stronger than a filter coffee but milder than en espresso.

Frederik Froument and Yuko Toda are the owners of this gem and Yuko’s Japanese origins the inspiration behind the menu at Café Falco. The Japanese brunch consists of a bowl of miso soup, a salad and a stir fry with your choice of chicken, pork or tofu. It is accompanied by tea or coffee and orange juice and ends with a mini matcha and chocolate chip cupcake. I also couldn’t resist having one of the pain au chocolat from Boulangerie Guillaume on sale there.

If you’re ever in the area, I strongly suggest you stop by for lunch, brunch or simply one fascinating cup of siphon coffee and just linger…

Café Falco
5605 de Gaspé
514 272 7766

Tuesday-Friday 9am-5pm
Saturday 10am-4pm

La Cabane (Old Montreal sugar shack)

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 22:02:00 -0400

When I heard that the team from Les 400 coups, one of my favourite restaurants in town was behind the menu of La Cabane this year, I couldn’t contain my excitement! La Cabane is an urban sugar shack set up in Old Montreal for the second year now. I was looking forward to going since I hadn’t had the chance to go last year. I was also looking forward to trying the menu created by Marc-André Jetté and Patrice Demers and seeing how they would reinterpret the traditional sugar shack fare. For those of you who don’t live in Quebec, sugar shacking takes place in the spring during maple harvesting season. Traditional sugar shack serve an all-you-can-eat cornucopia of maple drowned dishes usually involving a lot of fat in a very rustic decor. This “urban” sugar shack however is more like my cup of tea. The decor, a creation by komotion with works from Monde Ruelle artists is absolutely amazing and full of rustic reminders of a “real” cabane à sucre.

I leave you now with a few images of that evening. If you’re planning on going, hurry up because it’s only on until April 15. Don’t forget to book your table, all the info is below. Oh and grab me one of those maple financiers, they were fantastic! :)

Wapiti terrine with maple-marinated beets, chicken liver mousse with maple, mimosa eggs with maple flakes

Butternut squash soup, salmon confit in duck fat, cipollinis onions marinated in maple

Maple turkey cooked sous-vide, braise leg stew, coco beans, carrots and pork rinds (a very traditional sugar shack fare)

Chocolate, maple and Maldon salt pot de crème, maple ice cream sandwiches, maple financiers

Maple meringues cooked in liquid nitrogen

La Cabane

From March 10 to April 15 2011

Price per person: $55 (+ taxes and tip)
Kids under 12: $15 (+ taxes and tip)

By reservation only
info@lacabane.ca
514 444 4383

Scena, the Jacques Cartier Pavilion, Old Montreal
Wednesday-Saturday 6pm
Sunday 11:30am

Les Carnivores Infidèles (The Unfaithful Carnivores)

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 08:53:00 -0500

Photo by Albert Elbilia © Éditions Cardinal

Look mom, I’ve been published! Well not exactly but I do have one recipe published in this great new book coming out on March 14! It’s called Les Carnivores Infidèles (The Unfaithful Carnivores) and contains 60 vegetarian recipes designed for carnivores who would like to lower their meat consumption. The recipes are beautiful, delicious and easy to make. My friend Catherine Lefebvre, who is a nutritionist and a blogger, is the author of this magnificent book. She meticulously tested and adjusted all the recipes in the book and supervised the whole process. The result is a gorgeous volume filled with 60 recipes and nutritional information presented in a fun and humourous way.

No-meat burger, General Tao tofu and fake fish n’chips - Photo by Albert Elbilia © Éditions Cardinal

Ali Baba and the 40 fruits - Photo by Albert Elbilia © Éditions Cardinal

I just received my copy of Les Carnivores Infidèles and I absolutely love everything about this book! The photos were taken by Albert Elbilia and they are beautiful, as you can see in this post. I am so proud to be part of this project! The book will be available in bookstores on March 14 and will soon be available on Amazon. Unfortunately, it is only available in French for now so all of you non-french speaking people, you must find a french speaking neighbour/friend/family member asap and ask them to translate!

My recipe of Lebanese moussaka - Photo by Albert Elbilia © Éditions Cardinal

You will find my recipe for moussaka, a Lebanese eggplant and tomato dish very different from the better known Greek moussaka on page 112. As a special treat though, I am publishing it here today! :)

Ingredients:

2 eggplants, cut in 1/2” slices
3 Tbsp olive oil
2 onions, sliced thin
4 garlic cloves,
1x540ml can of chickpeas, drained and rinced
6 tomatoes, diced
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, nutmeg and coriander (freshly ground is better)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350˚F (180˚C)
Place the eggplant slices on a cookie sheet, brush with olive oil and cook for 30 minutes (or until done)
In the meantime, sauté the onion and garlic in a pan. Add the spices and mix. Take off the heat and add the tomatoes. Reserve.
When the eggplant is done, place the slices in a pan, cover with the rest of the ingredients and place in the oven for another 30 minutes.
Serve with whole wheat pita bread. This dish can be eaten at room temperature or cold. Enjoy!

If you do try it, let me know how it turns out! I like making this recipe at the end of summer when tomatoes and eggplants are at their best but you can make it any time of the year.

You can check out the Les Carnivores Infidèles’s website and blog here.
You can also follow the cheating adventures of Les Carnivores Infidèles on Twitter (@lescarnivores) and on Facebook.

Offal Good: Chef Chris Cosentino at DNA

Sun, 27 Feb 2011 16:23:00 -0500

“Did you prefer the brain or the testicle?”

“I like the texture of the lung better than that of the liver.”

“The recipe has the word “blood” in it and they just gave us a spoon… I’m scared!”

These are the sorts of conversation overheard at the Chris Cosentino dinner at DNA this past Friday night. I admit that I had been (very) worried about this dinner. I am not a fan of offal but I knew this was not a dinner I wanted to miss. If I were going to taste offal at any point in my life, I was sure Chris Cosentino was the man I wanted cooking my meal. So I showed up ready for the “experience”. I wasn’t the only one since the restaurant was filled with chefs, bloggers and food critics. Anyone who had anything to do with food was at DNA that night..

I come from a culture where we eat offal but the “we” here doesn’t include me. It’s not the sort of thing I’ve ever liked, except for the occasional chicken liver and hearts sandwich drowned in lemon and garlic. The menu that was set on our table seemed pretty inoffensive for the most part: turf n’ surf, lamb pluck fra diavolo, chicken candy bowl, chocolate n’duja cones… but when our plates arrived, it was a completely different story. The dishes became increasingly difficult to swallow, literally.

Horse leg and heart tartare mixed with Lambertini oyster, fries cooked in horse fat, hay aioli, brioche

The first dish was the easiest, even though it was hard to wrap my mind around the fact I was eating raw horse heart. It tasted like a very tender beef tartare. The fries were super crispy and yummy. We made a sandwich out of all the elements, as recommended by our waiter and everything put together tasted much better than all the elements separately.

Apple-wood smoked eel, piglet blood mousse, peasant “pappa” (bread polenta), 2-hour chicken egg topped with piment de St Béatrice with smoked wild boar butter

The smoked eel, egg (cooked slowly for 2 hours) and bread polenta in the second dish were all good. I tried the blood mousse but couldn’t bring myself to eat it. Maybe if I didn’t know it was blood mousse, it would’ve gone down easier. In fact, the whole meal was a mind game, trying to get past the tricks your mind plays on you. You keep asking yourself, if I didn’t know what it was, would I eat it? Thinking back on it now, maybe we should’ve told the waiter to refrain from describing the dish until we were done eating it…

Lamb kidneys, liver, lung and heart with a Fresno chili rub with jalapeño & cayenne, celery root ashes with olive oil, mint purée

Some morsels in the 3rd dish were more palatable than others (I really don’t like the texture of liver) but I didn’t finish my plate because it all tasted a little gamey to me. A diner who had gone through the whole dinner already passed by our table on his way out of the restaurant and let out an evil laugh while telling us that the “best” was yet to come. Suffice it to say that I was a little worried, especially since the brief description of the dish was “Big brain, little brain”.

Half a veal brain seared in brown butter with preserved Meyer lemon, veal testicle with brainnaise (mayo made with brain), watercress, radish & shallot salad

You have to hand it to the chefs, they did have a wicked sense of humour. I personally preferred the “big brain” over the “little brain” but most of us only had a bite of each. The salad was delicious though, in case you were wondering ;)

Candy-coated cock’s comb, jelly bean coated duck testicle, vanilla ice cream with n’duja (roasted red pepper salami), chocolate ganache

Through the whole dinner I was telling myself that at least the dessert will be offal-free, it had to be right? How can you make dessert with offal? That was until Hugo (aka FoodCzar) stopped by our table and said “bonne chance avec le dessert!” What?? And as you can see from the picture and description above, this was no ordinary dessert. Duck testicle jellybean anyone? Candied cock’s comb? Hard. To. Swallow. But again, if I didn’t know it was a cock’s comb, I probably would’ve thought it was a fruit roll and maybe I would’ve eaten it but I couldn’t get away from the image in my mind of a wobbling, jiggly red cock’s comb.

By the end of dinner I felt like I needed a shot of vodka (or rubbing alcohol as Dustin said) to sterilize my insides. I am very happy I had this experience and I really do believe in the nose to tail philosophy but now I know that eating offal is really not my thing. However, if you would like to have some great offal in town, take heart (pun intended) because DNA’s chef Derek Dammann is the man for you. Enjoy!

DNA Restaurant
355 Marguerite D’Youville
514 287 3362

Restaurant:
Tue - Fri: 11:30am-2:30pm
Tue - Sat: 6pm-10:30pm

Lounge:
Tue - Fri starting at 11:30am
Saturdays starting at 6pm

Le Filet: a new fish restaurant in Montreal

Sun, 20 Feb 2011 19:36:03 -0500

I have a confession to make: I’ve never been to Club Chasse et Pêche! Yes, I know, it’s one of the best restaurants in the city and I still haven’t been, shame on me! It’s on my list though and I will hopefully get there soon but in the meantime, when I heard that Le Filet - CCP’s little brother - was opening soon, I got there asap, on the 4th day after they opened to be more exact.

Le Filet is discreetly (read: hard to find) situated on a stretch of Mont-Royal Avenue one doesn’t normally think of when searching for good eats. It is across the street from Jeanne Mance Park which will be nice in the summer when their terrasse opens. The decor is contemporary with an open kitchen in the back and a built-in aquarium in one of the walls yet the wood chairs and vermilion coloured table cloths lend a touch of old-world charm to the restaurant. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable, which is why we put our fate in the hands of our waiter Alex and let him decide on our meal that night. It would’ve been impossible for me to pick only a few items from the menu because everything sounded absolutely delicious! The menu is divided into a few sections: Small Plates, Oysters, Broths & Shellfishes, Mont-Royal Salads, Raw, Warm Tide, Home Made Pasta, Amphibians and For Two People. With the exception of the “For Two People” section, all plates are made small and can be shared “tapas” style.

The plates started coming and kept coming until we decided we’d had enough. In all, we ended up sharing 11 dishes including 2 desserts. I wanted to share my favourites with you but I found myself listing everything we ate so I will refrain and let you drool over the pictures instead (thanks to Nabil for all the photos!)

Mackerel rillette, lemon oil, toast

Beets, crème fraîche and marjoram

Lamb, goat cheese and couscous

Voted one of the best dishes that night: Fluke, Japanese plum, wasabi, cucumber

American Wagyu tataki, ginger, sesame

Grilled octopus, marrow, tomato

Snail tart, mushrooms, bacon, fluffy garlic cream

Half lobster, hollandaise, urchin

Chocolate and cranberry cake

Lemon tart with soft mascarpone cream and meringue

This was an absolutely great meal but I do have a point to raise: it is very hard in Montreal to find a restaurant where the desserts are as good as the rest of the meal. Although the desserts at Le Filet were good, they just weren’t at the same level of perfection as all the other dishes. I am a dessert lover and I find myself often disappointed when the end of the meal approaches. With the exception of Les 400 coups and one or two other restaurants I feel like the dessert menu is always an afterthought. Is it because most restaurants don’t have pastry chefs in their kitchens? I’d love to hear your thoughts on that.

Le Filet
216 Mont Royal East
514 360 6060

Tuesday-Saturday 5:30pm-11:30pm

Truffles and chocolate

Sun, 13 Feb 2011 21:31:00 -0500

Truffle dinner at Restaurant Julien

This past Tuesday, I was invited to Restaurant Julien for a dinner that centered around the Perigord truffle. It was a media dinner and I was invited because I am now writing for zurbaines, in case you didn’t know that already :) The dinner was fabulous, a preview to what is to come at the Julien as part of the Montreal Highlights Festival. The invited chef, Gaëlle Benoiste‐Pilloire created a 6-courses dinner using truffles. She will be at Restaurant Julien for 3 sold-out nights during the festival, but the truffle dishes will be available à la carte for the duration of the Festival, February 17th to 27th. If you are a truffle lover, hurry up and make some reservations, some of these dishes are well worth it, especially the quail egg with truffle oil accompanied by a fresh truffle and salted butter bite, so simple yet so decadent!

Quail egg with truffle oil accompanied by a fresh truffle and salted butter bite

White bean soup with black truffle

Scallop carpaccio with black truffle oil

Veal blanquette with black truffle

Tarte tatin with vanilla and tryffle ice cream

Chocolate indulgence dishcrawl

6-course of chocolate desserts, need I say more? Saturday afternoon I joined a few other chocolate addicts to indulge in a 6-course chocolate dishcrawl at Le Maître Chocolatier. The desserts were prepared by Nada, owner of Le Maître Chocolatier and pastry chef Jami Liverman. I never thought I would see the day when I would say enough to chocolate but that day came this past Saturday when I had to take the last “course” home. Jamie’s pastries – including his amazingly fudgey brownies – will be available at Le Maître Chocolatier. If you didn’t have the chance to attend this dishcrawl, don’t fret, you can join any of the monthly dishcrawls coming up. I now leave you with some pictures that might induce severe chocolate cravings, you’ve been warned!

1st course: Chocolate fudge with fleur de sel

2nd course: Triple chocolate caramelized brownie - a Jami Liverman specialty

3rd course: Chocolate financier with malted mascarpone filling, vanilla crème anglaise and salted caramel

4th course: Chocolate pot de crème with vanilla ice cream

5th course: Chocolate shooters! Pure origin 72% dark chocolate from Venezuela and milk chocolate from Madagascar

6th course: Chocolate heart with fleur de sel and 72% dark chocolate truffle

Restaurant Julien
1191 Union Avenue
514 871 8819

Le Maître Chocolatier
1612 Sherbrooke West
514 544 9475

For more information on Dishcrawl, check out their website here. And for more info on the Montreal Highlights Festival, click here.

Fine pastry shop De farine & d’eau fraîche

Mon, 07 Feb 2011 10:22:00 -0500

It was about a week ago that I discovered the magical universe that is De farine & d’eau fraîche and fell in love with it. I went in to take a look and ended up spending a couple of hours there chatting with the owner while munching on the very tasty pastries.

Marilu Gunji, owner and pastry maker extraordinaire, in her ultra modern kitchen

The first thing you notice when you walk in is the display of amazingly intricate miniature wedding cakes. As the lovely and charming owner Marilu Gunji pointed out though, you don’t have to get married to get one! Marilu is half Japanese and half Guatemalan; she attended culinary school for 3 years in Japan before moving to Toronto at the young age of 18 to learn English. After a spell at the Cordon Bleu in Ottawa led her to focus her energy on pastry making, she moved to Montreal where she worked in some of the city’s top restaurants, including the now defunct Anise on Laurier, before deciding to finally pursue her dream of owning her own pastry shop.

Everything in her shop, from the decor to the furniture details to the pastries, is meticulously thought out and constructed but always with a whimsical touch. Her husband - who is a cabinet-maker - has built all the dark wood tables and branded them with the store’s logo, a heart containing the initials DF + EF (De farine & d’eau fraîche). Marilu “makes” her own cake stands by finding antique candle holders or wine glasses and pairing them with English porcelain plates. All these little touches add so much to the whole atmosphere of the place that it makes you want to linger there for a few hours.

The excellent organic coffee served there is another reason to linger. There is also a great array of organic teas and juices. Marilu uses organic products whenever possible while making her pastries, including the chocolate used to make the chocolate syrup for the mochas and hot chocolates.

I was so enchanted with with the whole atmosphere that I had to try almost every pastry contained in the display case that day. There were a few savoury ones like the bacon and corn bread and the ham and cheese bread and a few savoury sweet ones like the corn and cheddar muffin. And of course, there were the sweet ones, my favourites, especially the chocolate ball filled with custard that is the house specialty. The display case also contained an array of cookies, home made Pocky, truffles, flavoured caramels and cute little cakes, including a heart-shaped tea and rose one that caught my eye.

There’s a saying in french that the pastry shop’s name is based on and it is that one could live on love and fresh water alone, d’amour et d’eau fraîche. If I lived closer to this fine pastry shop, I wouldn’t need anything but “flour and fresh water”… or those chocolate custard-filled pastries.

Note: De farine & d’eau fraîche just started serving lunch. On the menu this week: soup, organic salad and 3 types of panini (jambon bernois, brie, honey and Asian pear is just one example). Stop by for a delicious bite and say hi to Marilu from me!

De farine & d’eau fraîche
1701 rue Amherst, Montreal
514 522 2777

Monday-Friday 7:30am-6pm
Saturday 9am-5pm
Closed on Sundays

All pastries tasted were between $2.75 to $3.25

Telegraphe Taste Test: Financiers edition

Sun, 30 Jan 2011 19:19:00 -0500

Last Thursday was the 2nd edition of the Telegraphe Taste Tests. We had done our first taste test back in September where we voted for the best canelés in the city. This time the challenge was to vote for the best financiers. Financiers are small French cakes traditionally made in rectangular molds resembling gold bars and contain (among other things) brown butter, almond flour and egg whites. These days however, financiers can be found in all kinds of shapes and flavours, including different spices, fruit or nuts. I started baking financiers a couple of years ago and I fell in love with them the first time I bit into one. They are crunchy on the outside and soft and buttery on the inside. The brown butter gives them a slightly nutty taste which I absolutely adore. They are also very easy to make and you can get as creative as you’d like with the flavours! So when this taste test came up, I went nuts with so many flavour trials: there were some lavender and pear ones, orange and cardamom, orange blossom water and hazelnuts, etc. but the one recipe that stood out for me and that I absolutely wanted to make was one I had made several times before: Cannelle et Vanille’s candied kumquats and pistachios.

Jérôme Ferrer’s pistachio and raspberry financiers and Sarah’s sun-dried tomatoes and parmesan financiers

My candied kumquats and pistachios financiers and Pâtisserie Rhubarbe’s olive oil and vanilla financiers

The contestants for this taste test included 3 professional bakers/pastry shops and 6 amateurs.

The contestants: Andrea (who baked 2 flavours), Caroline (with 2 flavours as well), Sarah, Clément, Charlotte, Jérôme Ferrer (on sale at the Boutique Europea ), Pâtisserie G&G, Pâtisserie Rhubarbe and me! :)

The mission: Find the best financiers in the city!

The prize: Bragging rights and a few glory tweets from every foodie in Montreal about how good your goods taste!

Everyone at Telegraphe was so excited about this taste test! You see, not only were we going to be tasting some amazing pastries but we were secretly planning on unveiling our the new Telegraphe website to the many food and fashion bloggers invited!

The evening started with some wonderful savoury bites by Chef Nabil El-Khayal who delighted us with his bright fuchsia beet dip (you’ll find the recipe at the end of this post), chorizo-stuffed mushrooms and crunchy falafels. It was then time to start the blind taste testing and voting. The financiers were accompanied by my favourite ice cider Cryo, that provided the perfect accompaniment to the sweet cakes.

It seemed like everyone was taking this part of the event rather seriously, some even methodically tasting and taking notes. After everyone had voted, the votes were counted and…

1st place: Andrea with her orange and cardamom financiers with candied ginger

2nd place: Me!! with my candied kumquats and pistachio financiers

3rd place: Sarah with her savoury take of sun-dried tomatoes, parmesan, dried fig, cumin and anis seed financiers

Andrea, the Grand Prize winner, walked away with a fabulous Bosch Tassimo home brewing system which I hope is being put to good use.

The winners!

Unfortunately, you won’t find financiers in many Montreal pastry shops. I do hope they will become more trendy and more readily available because they are wonderful. In the meantime, you can always contact one of us to bake you a batch. After all, we were voted the best ;)

These Telegraphe Taste Tests will be happening often so if you have an idea of what you’d like to put to the challenge next or if you’d like to participate to the next taste test, leave me a comment below and I will contact you as soon as we’re ready for the next one!

Beet dip recipe

Ingredients:

3 medium sized beets (whole and unpeeled)
125ml labneh (strained yogurt, found in most supermarkets these days)
50ml lemon juice (zest optional)
2 garlic cloves
15ml olive oil
Salt and pepper

Method:

Preheat the oven to 375°F
Clean the beets. Place them on a cookie sheet on bed of coarse salt or wrap them up in aluminum foil. Cook in the oven for 30 to 45 minutes or until they become fork tender. Once cooled, peeled the beets by rubbing them with a linen or paper towel then cut them into pieces.
Place all ingredients in a food mixer and reduce them to a purée. Season to taste with salt and pepper then refrigerate.

Notes from the chef:

You can also cook your beets whole and unpeeled in a pot of salted boiling water.
If no one is allergic to nuts, you can add 30ml of tahini (sesame paste) to the mix for extra flavour.

I want to thank all bakers for participating, Nabil for his wonderful bites and Jérôme Ferrer, Pâtisserie G&G and Cidrerie Cryo for their amazing generosity.

Pâtisserie G&G
1846 Mont Royal East
514 439 3854

Birks Café
1240 Square Phillips
514 397 2468

Cidrerie Cryo
85 Rang des Étangs
Mont St-Hilaire, Québec
514 831 1258

And of course, do check out the new Telegraphe website! It is awesome, if we do say so ourselves! :)

Inside executive chef Michele Forgione's new menu for Montreal's Koko Restaurant

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 09:45:00 -0500

I’m sure your mom has told you at one point or another in your life that it is not polite to eavesdrop or interrupt a conversation that doesn’t include you. I am here to tell you that it sometimes pays to stick your nose where it doesn’t belong. It’s very hard not to eavesdrop when you’re unwillingly following everyone else’s conversation on Twitter. I was witnessing such a conversation between Dustin (aka @FoodGuyMtl) and new executive chef of Koko Restaurant Michele Forgione when I butted in and invited myself (and Marcella!) to a private dinner to try the new menu created by Chef Forgione for Koko. The modern market-style menu was completely redone by Chef Forgione and was just put into place. I am so glad I butted in because that was one of the best meals I’ve had in this city!

Listed below are the 10 (!) dishes we sampled that night, all of them cooked to perfection and all of them absolutely divine!

Grilled octopus with Jerusalem artichokes and mâche salad, Meyer lemon vinaigrette

Seared scallops, shaved cauliflower, chickpea panelle, capers, brown butter sauce

Spanish mackerel, creamed eggplant, pickled vegetables, watercress

Porchetta di testa (head cheese) from St Canut farm marinated in herbs, chicory salad, beets, pickled red onions & dandelion salad

Quail with vincotto (red wine must) reduction, shaved Brussels sprouts coleslaw and cippolini onions, pangrattato

Homemade ricotta gnocchi with braised beef short rib ragout and ricotta salata

Sea bass with winter panzanella salad, green sauce

Capocollo and porchetta belly from St. Canut farm, quince mostarda and caramelized romanesco

Seared Quebec duck breast, firm polenta, turnips, chestnut and mascarpone mousse

The pastry chef was off that night but Chef Forgione managed to finish off that amazing meal with this brownie mille feuilles!

Michele Forgione is an amazingly talented chef, sourcing his meats and vegetables as close to home as possible. Him and his team dished out a delicious array of Italian flavours with a contemporary twist. If you ask me to pick my favourite dish of the night, I would have a very hard time choosing just one but I will say that the gnocchi are sure to knock your socks off!

Chef Michele Forgione and his team: Takeshi Horinoue and Paulo Posada

Koko might not be the kind of restaurant one might think of when looking for an outstanding Italian meal but I am here to tell you that it’s definitely worth the visit! Go on a quiet weeknight when the chef can really take care of you. Buon appetito!

Koko Restaurant
8 Sherbrooke West, Montreal
514 657 5656

Open Daily 5pm-3am

You can follow Chef Forgione’s culinary adventures on Twitter at: @MicheleForgione

La Pineta

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 09:14:01 -0500

What is your favourite restaurant in the whole wide world? Let me rephrase that, what’s the best dining experience you’ve ever had? I have a few on that list, among them are Eleven Madison Park and Le Bernardin in New York City and The Paul in beautiful Copenhagen. However, one of my absolute favourite dining experiences in the whole world is this little place on the beach in a small town called Marina di Bibbona in Tuscany. I know, that’s a long way to go for Italian food, especially when you live in the heart of Little Italy like I do! This divine place is called La Pineta and the food there is phenomenal. However, it is not just the food and the impeccable service that makes it one of my favourite restaurants in the world, it’s the story of how I got there, it is the perfectness of that particular day, the mood, the way the sun lit up the water, the way the sand felt under my feet, the feeling as if I was discovering a great big secret…

I visited Italy for the first time about a year and a half ago. On the last day of a week-long drive through Tuscany, we left Elba and started heading back home (close to Rome) but had reservations at La Pineta for lunch. It was an hour in the opposite direction so when we got off the ferry from Elba, we debated whether or not we should just forget about it and start on the 4-hour drive back home. I am so glad we decided to go ahead with our original plan! When we arrived in Marina di Bibbona guided by our trusty GPS (not!) we asked around and were pointed in the direction of a dirt road towards what seemed to be camping grounds. At this point I was very much doubting whatever website had made us believe that this was worth the trip. I was tired, hungry and cranky (those usually go hand in hand for me) and just wanted to eat and go home. I kept driving on this unpaved road knowing that I was driving parallel to the sea but not being able to see it because of the dense pine forest hiding it. I finally made a sharp left turn and halleluiah I could see the water. The only visible restaurant on this stretch of typical Italian beach was a pizza shack! I couldn’t believe we had gone out of our way and driven all this time for a pizza shack! I parked the red Fiat 500 while my friend went to inquire. I was getting really desperate until I saw B. waving his hands at me indicating that we should park and go join him and so we did. To my surprise, through the pizza shack and just behind it was hiding one very classy white-linen, silver cutlery, crystal-clad restaurant. This little hidden gem with its feet in the sand and an amazing view of the sea instantly charmed me. All my frustrations vanished instantly and I couldn’t believe that such a place could exist on this beach. My friends decided to go with the tasting menu while I decided to pick à la carte. One little side note here, La Pineta is a family-run restaurant and the owner is a former fisherman who still gets his daily catch from his family’s fishing boats every dawn. The daily menu is then composed according to the catch. Yes, it was that kind of place…

So I started with a plate of crudo, including two types of raw shrimp, so sweet and tasty, with specific instructions to eat it in a certain order and which ended with bites of smoked mackerel with mascarpone and caramel. Who would’ve thought that I would like something that tasted like smoked fish candy! But all the elements in those little bites worked perfectly together.

My primi piatti was a spaghetti with pulpo (octopus): as you can see, I had eaten half the plate before I remembered to take a picture and that is simply because it was the best pasta in the world! Remember that scene in When Harry Met Sally? That was me eating this dish, people turned around and stared (and ordered the same thing I was having) when I took my first bite, it was just that good. I am not the biggest pasta person, but that pasta I can eat everyday for the rest of my life!

My secundi piatti was fish (I can’t remember the variety) with capers, olives, cherry tomatoes and rosemary that was so very tasty and fresh… but not as impressive looking as my friends’ soup. Yes that’s fish and seafood soup, or more precisely caicciuccohe, a Livornese specialty that he’s famous for. Impressive no?

I always have room for dessert so yes, I had dessert after all that even if the waiter called me a what sounded suspiciously like “pig” in Italian! - and then had a good laugh about it! I ordered the only chocolate thing on the dessert menu (typical), a molten chocolate cake, which was good but obviously not as phenomenal as that pasta dish! My friends had the spiced pear and the mille-feuilles.

Some meals, like some people, form a permanent imprint on your mind and in your heart. I have a terrible memory but I still remember everything about that meal - and that magical day - as if it were yesterday. Needless to say that we ended up spending a couple of hours on that beach that afternoon wanting to prolong this magical day before we had to head back to reality.

If you ever find yourself in Tuscany, I guarantee you that La Pineta is certainly worth going out of your way for…

La Pineta
27 Via dei Cavalleggeri Nord
Marina di Bibbona , Italy
39-0586-600-016

2010 dessert roundup: my favourites

Tue, 28 Dec 2010 18:18:00 -0500

It seems only fitting that my last post of 2010 should be about my favourite desserts this year. I have had an amazing year of good eats all over the world, from London to Copenhagen and from Beirut to New York and of course my hometown of Montreal, where we are spoiled when it comes to amazing restaurants. In case you didn’t know by now, I have a very sweet tooth and I always leave room for dessert, no matter how full I am. So here is my roundup of 10 of the best desserts I’ve had in 2010, whether made at home or eaten in a restaurant. Please note that it was too hard for me to list them by order of deliciousness so they are listed in no particular order.

Patrice Demers’s “green” dessert:

2010 was the year I discovered the genius of Patrice Demers, first with his chocolate “pot-de-crème” at Newtown and then with this green dessert at Les 400 coups. I have since made it several times, mainly because I had a craving for it. The first picture is of the green dessert at Les 400 coups and the second one is my take on it at my 3rd annual dessert party.

Momofuku’s apple pie cake truffles:

My mistake was buying only one bag of these, I should’ve bought 10 because I should know by now that anything that comes out of Christina Tosi’s (pastry chef at Momofuku) kitchen is genius!

Beignets with a salted-butter caramel dipping sauce at Le St-Urbain:

Fried dough with salted-butter caramel, nothing more to say here…

Thomas Keller’s chocolate bouchons:

Very similar to his chocolate brownies, these are just as luscious and so chocolatey. If you’re a chocolate lover, then these are a must! They are from Thomas Keller’s Bouchon book but you can also find the recipe here.

Christophe Michalak’s chocolate moelleux with cappuccino mousse:

(Photo: Andrea D. Donida, my dessert-loving friend)

I tasted these at Michalak’s book launch in Montreal this past November. Michalak is one of the best pastry chefs in the world. There was a huge buffet of delicious desserts at his book launch but these stood out as my favourites. Even though I had already had way too much sugar that night, I just had to have seconds of this one.

Choux pralinés and éclairs from Pâtisserie de la gare:

Definitely the best éclairs I’ve ever had! I’ve tasted the chocolate, espresso and caramel/raspberry versions and they are all out of this world! So good that I decided they would be the ones to make the desserts for the Dishcrawl event I helped organize. The picture of the praline choux à la crème was taken at the Michalak event but was (and is) made by Pâtisserie de la gare, whose pastry chef worked with Michalak in Paris for 5 years.

François Payard’s verrine du japonais:

From their description: “Layers of hazelnut dacquoise, milk chocolate mousse, yuzu citrus crémeux, milk chocolate chantilly and dark chocolate glaze”. I had my first one of these back in April and had to go back and have another one on my recent trip to New York. One of the best desserts I’ve ever had!

My Kugelhopf’s tahini date shortbread:

Voted “best cookies in the world” first by me, then by my dessert party guests. Easy to make and seriously addictive, I have made these a few times since reading Kerrin’s post in October. I am still awed by how good they taste every time I bake a new batch (and almost burn my tongue with that first cookie because I’m too impatient to let it cool)

Cannelle et Vanille candied kumquats and pistachio financiers:

2010 will also be the year when I came to the conclusion that financiers are my favourite things to bake. They are easy to make, the combination of flavours are endless and they are absolutely delicious. My favourite combination so far has been the candied kumquats and pistachio one from Cannelle et Vanille.

Homemade panettone:

(Photo: Andrea D. Donida)

This is a once-a-year event only (around the holidays) and I was lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time: the 19th anniversary dinner of Buonanotte. Every single food blogger in Montreal was talking about this panettone for days after we tasted it. This is a world away from the panettones you can purchase at your local supermarket. My wish for 2011 is that they decide to start selling it!

Bonus number 11: My birthday dessert at Eleven Madison Park:

This dessert concluded an unforgettable birthday lunch at EMP this past November. Chocolate composition with variations (dehydrated chocolate mousse, chocolate honeycomb, etc.) with milk - absolutely delicious!

This year is also the year I started to blog. The response has been great and I have met so many amazing people who are just as passionate about food as I am. I want to thank you all for reading, tweeting, sharing, commenting, etc. Have a very sweet 2011!

My 3rd annual dessert party, or how to bake 11 desserts in 2 days

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 09:05:45 -0500

Kreavie chestnut bites, mini canellés and lavender/pear mini financiers

This past Sunday was my 3^rd annual dessert party. It all started 3 years ago when I decided to throw a party sometime between my birthday in November and the Christmas holidays. It has since become a tradition… I ended up making so many desserts that first year that everyone took a tupperware home. So the year after, I made a lot on purpose and prepared some nice gift boxes that my guests filled up and took home with a nice card as their Christmas gifts. I did the same this year as well. I love the idea of giving sweet treats as a holiday gift and this for me, is the perfect occasion to do so…

Key lime squares

“Green” dessert

All year long I go through hundreds of food and baking posts and I come across so many recipes I’d love to make but don’t always have time for. I bookmark them all and they come in handy when it’s time to pick a menu. I also often include some of my favourite recipes from that year. To be able to pull off a multi-dessert party, you must be very well organized so here below are some tips I’ve gathered with experience :)

Honey and pine nut tartelettes and Tahini date shortbread cookies

Pick your recipes – I spend weeks doing this, mostly because I can’t decide on what to make and also because this is my favorite thing to do! Look through those cookbooks or favorite blogs and pick the recipes you want to make. When choosing, try and pick various recipes in terms of types of desserts (pies, cakes, mousses, cookies, verrines, etc.) and flavours (chocolate, fruit, spices, etc). Prep time is also crucial when picking recipes, you have to have some recipes that are ok if done a couple of days ahead because you absolutely cannot make everything the same day! You may also want to include some true and tested recipes in there if you are not too confident about baking something for the very first time. In my 11 desserts, I only had 3 that I had made before; the rest were all new recipes. I always try new recipes when throwing a party, which might not always be the wisest choice!

Calculate your quantities – Once your recipes are chosen, print them out. Then go through the ingredients list of each carefully. Add up the most popular ingredients (flour, eggs, sugar, butter) to come up with a total needed then list the least common ones (dates, nuts, fruits, etc). Check your list twice, you don’t want to run out of sugar when in the middle of a recipe!

Go shopping – Do this a few days ahead so that you’ll have everything handy when you’re ready to start. I shopped for everything on the Wednesday before the party then came home and got everything organized .

Make a schedule – Decide what dessert you will be making when. Start with a couple of days before the party since you really can’t do a lot much earlier than that (unless you’re making things like ice cream, macarons or truffles, which can be made a few days ahead). Don’t forget to include preparation in your schedule, for example, you can pre-chop all the chocolate needed for your recipes, toast and chop any nuts needed, confit fruit since that can be done a few days ahead, etc. These steps will help you save some valuable time.

Start baking! – I started prepping on Friday night and made 2 desserts that night (the cookies and the chocolate/yogurt cream for the “green”) then made a few more on Saturday and prepared some things for Sunday. On Sunday, I baked the cannelés and financiers dough (which needed to rest in the fridge for 24 hours) and made a few more things, but was done early enough to tidy up and decorate the apartment before everyone showed up. I assembled some desserts at the last minute (assembling the “green” verrines, icing the cupcakes, dusting the cake with cocoa and plating it, etc.) and when everyone got here, everything was on the table and I was ready to party!

Be flexible – If you find yourself short on time (or just plain tired), then eliminate something. You’re probably making too many anyway so one less dessert won’t be missed by anyone (don’t tell anyone, but I decided to eliminate one at the last minute!) You can also supplement your homemade desserts with store bought ones. I bought some chestnut bites from Kreavie because they are absolutely delicious and I wanted to share them with everyone!

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is how you prepare 11 desserts in 2 days, and have fun doing it!

Chocolate & chestnut truffle torte

Orange and olive oil cake

This was my menu for this year’s party. All the recipes just happened to be from my favourite baking blogs, except for the green, which is from genius Montreal pastry chef Patrice Demers and one of the best desserts I’ve had this year. Click on the titles to get to the recipes.

Tahini date shortbread cookies – Best. Cookies. Ever. Period. (My Kugelhopf)

Tortine alla nutella – Nutella cupcakes, need I say more? (Bell’Alimento)

Key lime squares

Cannelés – I had a little trouble with the baking temperature and time but the last batch was awesome! (Christelle is Flabbergasting)

Orange and olive oil cake - One of the party’s favourites! (Christelle is Flabbergasting)

Chocolate & chestnut truffle torte – Dense, chocolatey and amazing! (Goodfood)

Honey and pine nut tart – These were a great hit! (Tartelette)

Milk chocolate peanut bars – In his words: “Peanuts, chocolate AND bananas” and you get to brûlé the bananas! (Zen Can Cook)

Sticky toffee pudding – Sticky, sweet, full of butter and so good! (Donna Hay)

Green – One of my favourite desserts these days! (Patrice Demers)

Lavender/apricots financiers – I love financiers and this was my first time baking with lavender, a success! Since it’s not apricot season, I replaced them with pear and it was great! (Tartelette)

Happy holidays everyone! I wish you lots of good foods and sweet treats in the new year. May your plate always be full and your table always be surrounded with loved ones….

Nuevo Latino brunch at Madre

Wed, 08 Dec 2010 11:40:00 -0500

Last night I was supposed to spend the evening at Raza, one of Mario Navarrete Jr’s restaurants, to taste and to learn how to make some of his delicate Nuevo Latino dishes. The event was canceled due to the many inches of snow we got for the last couple of days so instead, I decided to share my brunch experience at Madre, one of his other restaurants.

It is no secret that Nuevo Latino cuisine is one I particularly like and that Madre is one of my favourite restaurants in Montreal. I have had some amazing culinary experiences there, especially when it comes to the ceviche and sweet potato bread pudding. I had been wanting to try their brunches and so on a beautiful winter Sunday a few days ago, I drove to the other side of town for a different kind of breakfast. I wasn’t disappointed!

The meal started with some of the warm homemade sweet potato bread that I love so much and that has become a signature at Mario’s restaurants. I then ordered the poached eggs & chorizo bubbles with caramelized onions on toasted bread. I must admit that there were what I thought as too many chorizo “bubbles” on my plate (and how do they stay “bubbly” for so long?). It was hard to see the food underneath but once I dug in, everything was excellent! The eggs were cooked to perfection and the chorizo slices were some of the best I’ve ever tasted.

Poached eggs & chorizo bubbles with caramelized onions on toasted bread

My brunch companion went for the corn cakes with pork shoulder, sunny side up egg, patatas bravas and tomato salsa, a beautiful and very generous plate of food that he had a hard time finishing.

Corn cakes with pork shoulder, sunny side up egg, patatas bravas and tomato salsa

After our plates were cleared, there was a little dilemma at our table. We started debating whether or not we should order the sweet potato french toast with caramelized bananas and dark chocolate that had caught my eye on the menu. It was pure gluttony at this point since we were already full but really, was there ever a doubt? It was just too good to pass up! The french toast was soft and sweet and the bananas caramelized and drenched in sweet syrup. The dark chocolate and the fresh fruit added a nice contrast to the sweetness of the dish. Absolutely delicious!

Sweet potato french toast with caramelized bananas and dark chocolate

If Madre wasn’t so far away from where I live, I know that I would be there at least once or twice a week. And I know exactly what I would have too: ceviche, homemade corn bread and sweet potato bread pudding. Every time. The brunch was delicious and different from anything else you get in the city but the dish that will definitely keep me going back there is the ceviche, always.

Madre
2931 Masson, Montreal
514 315 7932

Dinner
Tuesday-Saturday: 5:30pm-10pm

Brunch
Sundays: 10am-2pm

Read my review of Mario Navarrete Jr’s À Table restaurant here.

Eleven Madison Park, now officially my favorite restaurant in New York

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 22:43:00 -0500

The grandiose Art Deco space

Although I spent my birthday at Le Bernardin, one of the most acclaimed restaurants in New York City (and maybe the world), that wasn’t my favorite dining experience on my trip to NYC. This was. I had been to Eleven Madison Park once before, a couple of years ago and had been wanting to go back ever since. Danny Meyer, the great New York City restaurateur, opened EMP in 1998. In 2006, the restaurant was changed from a French bistro to a fine dining establishment to better fit the grandiose Art Deco space it’s located in. When the first review from the New York Observer stated the restaurant needed “more Miles Davis”, a little research on what that meant concluded with a series of words most often used to describe the great jazz legend that now hang on the entrance to the kitchen and act as words of inspiration to the whole staff:

Inspirational words

2006 was also the year Daniel Humm (voted Best Chef New York City, 2010 by the James Beard Foundation) took over the EMP kitchen. Lunch at EMP was the last meal of a 4-day orgy of memorable dining experiences in NYC, and what a meal it was! I love the new “minimalist grid” menu which lets you chose the main ingredient of each one of your courses then lets the kitchen work its magic around that ingredient. We went for the 4 course menu, which - as you will see in the pictures below - ended being more like a 10-course magical meal.

“Minimalist grid” menu

Cheese gougères and “Onze” - an Eleven Madison Park Cabernet-Sauvignon

PRE-APPETIZERS

The meal started off with 3 appetizers before we even got to the bread service and our meal. I could have eaten 10 times the amount of each one of these appetizers. In fact, I could have made a whole meal out of each and every one of the dishes served that day.

Absolutely divine and perfectly seasoned chicken velouté with black truffle brioche - I will take a bathtub full of this, thank you very much!

Smoked sturgeon sabayon with chive oil - yes, that’s a real egg shell!

Truffled eggs topped with white truffle zabaglione - can anything be more perfect than this dish?

BREAD SERVICE

The bread service is an absolutely fascinating ritual at Eleven Madison Park. I watched it at our table and then again at a few tables around us and it was just as mesmerizing every time. The goat butter is divine and the home-made bread delicious.

Goat’s milk butter (left) and cow’s milk butter with olive bread and baguette baked on the premises

FIRST COURSE

Fennel braised with cara cara oranges, mojama and bulgur wheat

Scallops marinated with radish, persimmon and yuzu

SECOND COURSE

John Dory slow cooked with daikon radish, dried citrus, edamame and avocado oil

Butter poached Nova Scotia lobster with matsutake mushrooms and spinach

THIRD COURSE

Pork loin and belly roasted with sauerkraut pear and morcilla

Squab roasted with apples and cabbage

PRE-DESSERT

Kir Royal sabayon with cassis sorbet and lemon meringue - it really did taste like a Kir Royal!

DESSERTS

Happy birthday to me! Chocolate composition with variations (dehydrated chocolate mousse, chocolate honeycomb, etc.) with milk

Coconut vacherin with passion fruit and mango

POST DESSERT MIGNARDISES

Just in case we haven’t had enough food and were still hungry…

Sesame tuiles, truffles made with white chocolate and white Alba truffles (very peculiar taste, not my favorite) and banana sorbet lollipops dipped in chocolate and peanuts

BEHIND THE SCENES

Dining at EMP is not just about the food, it’s about the whole dining experience. Every single member of the staff is lovely, friendly, polite, knowledgeable, attentive and is there to make your dining experience memorable. I’d like to think that they were extra attentive with our table because it was my birthday and also because I was so enthusiastic about being there! The lovely birthday wish on my dessert plate was a great surprise, and so was an invitation to take a tour of the kitchen! We started in the service area, which was built this past fall with the purpose of eliminating the service stations in the restaurant thus reducing the noise level. The service area is where the bread trays and different kinds of coffees are prepared and where all the silverware and Limoges dinnerware are stored.

Service area before entering the kitchen

From there we moved into the kitchen, which was busy with 20 or more people all working their stations in preparation for that night’s dinner service. Chef Daniel Humm was away that day but on the kitchen walls was that Miles Davis poster among other words of wisdom and inspiration.

This is where all the magic happens: the kitchen staff busy prepping for the dinner crowd

… and they do make it very nice!

Another surprise awaited us in the kitchen… Mark (the pastry sous-chef, aka the alchemist) made us a frozen Hemingway daiquiri right before our eyes using liquid nitrogen while we watched the kitchen action. The frozen concoction included some grapefruit foam and pop rocks at the bottom of the glass for an added surprise!

Mark the alchemist!

Frozen Hemingway daiquiri (with a pop rock surprise at the bottom of the glass!)

That frozen daiquiri was the cherry on top of the amazing sundae that was that lunch. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a delightful dining experience. Eleven Madison Park now has a permanent place on my New York restaurant list, in fact it probably has the top spot on my list of all-time favorite restaurants. I am already planning my next trip to the big apple because I can’t wait to go back!

Eleven Madison Park
11 Madison Avenue
New York, NY
212 889 0905

Lunch
Monday–Friday noon – 2:00pm

Dinner
Monday–Saturday 5:30pm – 10:00pm

A birthday celebration at Le Bernardin

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 22:00:00 -0500

Women in business suits and running shoes, school kids in uniforms wheeling around heavy school bags, doormen in uniforms opening doors, nannies pushing fancy strollers… this is my New York, the upper east side of Manhattan that was my home for 3 years when I was 17 and the place I go back to every 6 months. I love waking up to the view towards downtown from the 29th floor apartment that I call home here. I may roam in the posh upper east side neighborhood but I love everything about this city. I love its gritty subways, the smell of food everywhere, the sense of urgency in the air as if everyone has somewhere important they need to be and how small one feels among the over-sized architecture. My feet get an extra spring in them when I walk down the streets there, and my face automatically lights up into a smile. New York fills my heart with excitement and my mind with inspiration; the possibilities are endless there and the opportunities infinite.

Photo: le-bernardin.com

That is true of the food opportunities as well. It is torture for a foodie to only have 4 days in the city and have to decide on where to eat! So many restaurants, so little time, even if you fill out every hour of every day with a food-related rendez-vous, which I did! It is even more impossible to decide on where to go when you have something to celebrate. I had a birthday to celebrate last Friday and it took me weeks to finally decide on Le Bernardin following Eve’s suggestion on twitter (thank you Eve!). I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of it before really. I met executive chef Eric Ripert when I was at the Food & Wine Festival in South Beach last year and thought he was the nicest, most generous man. I had told myself that I should try and visit Le Bernardin next time I was in New York and I had completely forgotten! So glad Eve reminded me. It is not often that I eat at a restaurant that’s been awarded 3-stars by the Michelin Guide and 4 by the New York Times. The experience now ranks in the top 10 dining experiences I’ve ever had.

We started with a cocktail and an amuse bouche of poached shrimp on a bed of sweet potato purée with a sambal emulsion. If this was any indication of how the rest of the meal was going to go, I couldn’t wait to dig in because this first dish was just delicious! We opted for the Chef’s tasting menu ($185 per person, $325 with wine pairing) and the food started coming. I’m sorry to say that in my haste to start eating, I forgot to take a picture of the first dish, which was a smoked yellowfin tuna “prosciutto” with Japanese pickled vegetables and crispy kombu. I apologize about that! Now, let the food parade commence!

Seared langoustine, mâche and wild mushroom salad, shaved foie gras

Osetra caviar nestled in tagliolini warm sea urchin sauce

Baked lobster, pickled golden beets, fennel and citrus “à la nage”

Bread crusted red snapper, ink-tapioca “caviar”, smoked sweet paprika sauce

Poached turbot, wild mushroom and black truffle custard, spiced squab jus

And the desserts:

Parsnip crème brulée, roasted hazelnut, browned milk solids, vanilla salt

Maralumi milk chocolate parfait, liquid pear, gingersnap

My special birthday dessert, what an amazing surprise! Passion fruit parfait, ginger caramel, peach-lemongrass sorbet

Mignardises: pistachio and cherry financier, chocolate and caramel, pâte à choux with hazelnut cream and apple and Concord grape pâte de fruits on white chocolate

Coming from Montreal, what always impresses me the most about these high-end Michelin-star restaurants is the level of service you get. We have amazing food in Montreal but none of the restaurants in the city have that level of service. While at Le Bernardin, I looked up from my plate at one point and all I saw was what seemed like a perfectly choreographed ballet of waiters, weaving in and out between tables without ever letting their presence be felt. Plates are changed, glasses refilled, cutlery replaced constantly and it never gets in the way of a conversation or the intimacy you share with your dining companions. The waiters are courteous, knowledgeable, polite, and the restaurant is elegant without being stuffy. By the time we asked, chef Ripert had already left the restaurant. I would’ve loved to have him autograph the complimentary menu and Zagat guide book we got on our way out and to tell him how I truly enjoyed spending my birthday there.

“Fish is the star of the plate, not the chef” - states the last page of the menu in big letters. I tend to agree with that statement because the fish (all sustainable) on the plate is absolutely phenomenal, but then again, where would that fish be without the talent of the chef and his whole team?

Le Bernardin
155 West 51^st Street
New York City
212 554 1515

Lunch
Monday–Friday noon – 2:30pm

Dinner
Monday–Thursday, 5:15pm – 10:30pm
Friday & Saturday 5:15pm - 11pm

Best dessert in Montreal at Les 400 Coups restaurant

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 09:47:00 -0400

To do the 400 “coups” - to get into all kinds of mischief

I had been anticipating the opening of Les 400 coups for a few weeks now. I was especially anticipating tasting some of pastry chef Patrice Demers’s desserts. I couldn’t get there soon enough so I made reservations for their second day of opening this past Tuesday night.

The restaurant is located on Notre-Dame street in Old Montreal where the old Resident used to be. The space is airy with very high ceiling, a bar on one side and an open kitchen in the back. A huge painting of Nicolas Ruel covers one whole wall of the restaurant. We were greeted by sommelière Marie-Josée Beaudoin - who is one of the 3 owners - seated by the window and of course offered a nice glass of Sauternes. Chef/owner Marc-André Jetté’s menu seemed very interesting and creative but I couldn’t make up my mind and asked the waiter for an omakase-style (up to the chef) appetizer and main meal. A tasting menu is available but we weren’t hungry enough for a 5-course meal.

Jerusalem artichoke soup with buttermilk mousse and bottarga shavings

The first course we got was a Jerusalem artichoke soup with buttermilk mousse and bottarga shavings delivered by Demers himself. This meal was boding well because the soup was absolutely spectacular!

Yellow beetroot salad with crispy beef marrow, radish, yogurt and yuzu

Beef tartare with mustard ice cream

It was followed by our 2 appetizers: a yellow beetroot salad with crispy beef marrow, radish, yogurt and yuzu and a beef tartare with mustard ice cream. The beetroot salad was so fresh and who knew I would enjoy deep fried beef marrow so much? The tartare could very well be the best beef tartare I’ve ever had! And the mustard ice cream? Absolute genius!

Mackerel with Peking duck raviolis, parsnip purée and brussels sprouts

Black cod with dashi, rock shrimp, oyster mushrooms & green apple/wasabi condiment

Not knowing what to expect adds so much to the dining experience. The element of surprise is like receiving a gift from the kitchen. From where I was sitting I could see Jetté and Demers hard at work in the kitchen and I couldn’t wait to see what they were going to be sending our way. We got the mackerel with Peking duck raviolis, parsnip purée and brussels sprouts and the black cod with dashi, rock shrimp, oyster mushrooms and a green apple/wasabi condiment. Both fishes were cooked to perfection, tender and moist and absolutely scrumptious.

Green: apple, pistachio, olive oil, coriander and creamy white chocolate yogurt

Araguani chocolate mousse

The time had come for my very favourite course of any meal but especially this one, since I was so looking forward to Demers’s desserts. We picked the desserts ourselves and I went for the chef’s signature Green dessert, a mix of apple, pistachio, olive oil, coriander and creamy white chocolate yogurt, absolutely divine! We also tried the Araguani chocolate mousse with pear sorbet, caramelized nuts and sapote which was amazing as well.

One would think that for a chocoholic like me, the choice would be obvious - and it usually is - but I walked out of Les 400 coups seeing the world though green-tinted glasses! I wanted to take a green home but was told it wouldn’t make it. I guess that just means I’m going to have to go back soon.

Les 400 coups
400 Notre Dame East
514 985 0400

Brunch at Birks Café: All about the details

Sun, 24 Oct 2010 17:23:53 -0400

Does having breakfast in a jewelry store that sells jewels in little blue boxes ring any bells? Well, let’s just say that I’m no Audrey Hepburn but the ambiance at Birks does make you feel like a princess, if only for a few hours… And for me, it was all about the ambiance and the attention to detail because honestly, even though the food was good, it was not mind-blowing.

When you arrive at Birks for brunch, the table is already set with beautiful cutlery and china, a basketful of mini croissants and pains au chocolat, a home-made brioche and some home-made jam. The brunch menu is a fixed $39.50 menu which includes everything that’s on the table plus a “teaser” (amuse-bouche), 2 courses, a dessert and as many coffees, teas and/or mimosas as you can handle. I ordered a latté which arrived in a tiny little cup (think big espresso cup). I did notice later on that the “regular”coffee that’s included in the brunch menu is actually a french press one so will be ordering that if I do go back since I really didn’t get nearly enough caffeine with my tiny cup of latte.

The “teaser” that day was a bacon-wrapped prune. In my opinion, it could’ve definitely benefited from a bit more cooking so that the bacon crisps up a bit… However, without dwelling too much on that little detail, we moved on to the next course which was my favourite of the savory ones: a ricotta-shiitake ravioli with a porcini emulsion, topped with a poached egg, pine nuts, black truffle shaving and truffle oil, outstanding! A beautiful dish where every component was cooked to perfection. I would gladly give up on the other courses just to have more of this one!

The third course was a smoked salmon tartare, topped with Abitibi caviar and surrounded by a zucchini “lasagne”. I thought that the zucchini was not seasoned enough and even though the tartare was very fresh and good, I personally did not find it to be amazing.

I could see all the chocolates, macarons and financiers lining up the front of the restaurants in their jewelery cases… The pistachio financiers had left an impression on me during the opening night of the Café and I was looking forward to the sweet part of the meal. The desserts did not disappoint at all. I had a verrine of praline mousse with a tiny little meringue filled with chestnut bits and topped with an almond brittle and Marcella had a verrine of vanilla and coffee panna cotta with a white chocolate shell filled with salted butter caramel. All the dessert verrines sounded outstanding and we had a hard time picking just one.

I hear that Birks Café has a really good tea service and I look forward to trying it out. I saw some of the tea platters pass by and I am intrigued. I mean, what girl wouldn’t want to spend the afternoon in a jewelery store sipping on a Mariage Frères tea and munching on cute miniature food?

Birks Café by Europea
1240 du Square Phillips
514 397 2468

Kazu, a traditional Japanese izakaya in the heart of Montreal

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 10:48:00 -0400

This past Sunday evening, after a long day of eating my way through downtown Montreal with Marcella, we ended up at Kazu’s door at around 5pm for some more eating! I had been wanting to try out this tiny Japanese izakaya retaurant for a while now and had been disappointed to find it closed the last two times I tried to go… This time around, we were the first ones in an increasingly long line-up and ended up getting the prized window table when the doors finally opened after a half hour wait!

The restaurant is shockingly tiny, with 3 tables down one side of the space and 8 seats at the bar. The small kitchen behind the bar is where you’ll find chef (and owner) Kazuo Akutsu whipping up his magical dishes. There is a rudimentary menu consisting of a few torn pages bound together by a ring on each table with red dots next to the items that aren’t available that night but the real menu is made up of all the daily specials written on coloured paper and taped up to the wall of the restaurant. The papers come off the wall when they run out of a dish, which seemed to happen a couple of times while we were there.

Fresh home-made tofu

We were lucky to be there on a Sunday, the only day Kazu makes fresh home-made tofu. I’m not a big fan of tofu, unless it’s fried which doesn’t really count, but this tofu was silky and smooth, and was marinating in an outstanding light soy sauce and spice mix. Absolutely heavenly!

“48 hour pork” rice bowl

The dishes are perfectly timed by the very efficient waitresses at Kazu. It takes the organizational skills of an army general to run the place efficiently since the line-up outside the door never lets up. The next dish to arrive at our table was the “48 hour pork” rice bowl. The pork is marinated for 48 hours and the dish is the perfect balance of flavours with little tangy and salty surprises every time you bite into a bright pink piece of pickled ginger: perfection!

Tuna and salmon bowl

Barbecue pork necks

Both fishes in the bowl of tuna and salmon to arrive soon after were incredibly fresh but we were eying the bowls full of meat that were on the other tables. These people seemed to be regulars and knew what to order so of course, we had to get an order of that! The barbecue pork necks turned out to be an incredibly good but very messy choice. There’s really no way to eat these gracefully, you just have to roll up your sleeves and go at it, even if people stare at you through the window! And yes, licking the sauce off your fingers is perfectly acceptable behaviour at Kazu :)

Dessert consisted of a bowl of vanilla ice-cream topped with matcha powder. Let’s just say that next time- and there will definitely be a next time- I’ll be skipping the dessert to leave room for more savoury dishes. There are so many to try!

There must be hundreds of sushi places in Montreal but Japanese izakayas are still a rarity. I fell in love with Bistro Izakaya on Parc not long ago and couldn’t wait to dig into what Kazu had to offer. Turns out, despite the line-up, claustrophobic space and smoke-filled room (or maybe because of those things), I am eager to go back as soon as possible to sample all the other delights whipped up by the extremely talented chef. Who’s with me?

Kazu
1862 Ste-Catherine West
514 937 2333