Monday, November 17, 2014

Pub Du Parvis

I wanted to give this post a witty title - Burgasm, Burgalicious, Burgtastic - but then I thought, why mess with a good thing? We walked to this unassuming pub from our hotel because it was a) cold, b) rainy and c) although, I really wanted to, I couldn't endure another typical French, coat-your-ribs, belly-busting meal. So, I opted for a burger, naturally. As soon as "Les Trois Gibiers" caught my eye, my heart skipped a beat. Deer, wild boar and elk - how can you go wrong? Answer: you can't.


Yes, this is probably the worst photo ever but you have to take my word for it - this is everything your mouth wants. Everyone who knows me knows that I eat my burger first, fries last. After one bite of this burger, I  took a moment and then stuffed those fries in my mouth like a fat kid on cake (or rather me on cake!). I needed to have some alone time with my love - without any distractions. Wow, just wow. The apple chutney and brie lightened the "gaminess" of the meal and the Dijon added some much-needed tang. When people talk about balance in the world, this is where my mind retreats to and I know all is right in the world. Pub Du Parvis, I salute you.



Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Bonjour Quebec City

For some reason, I've never associated Quebec City with good food. Montreal, no doubt about it but never its neighbour up north. This trip changed everything.

Our first day there, we heard about this bistro/wine bar called Le Moine Echanson in Rue Saint-Jean so off we went.



The menu/wine list is on a blackboard covering one wall but when you sit down, they bring a mini-menu board to you! How cute! We ordered the house terrine, which came with huge crusty pieces of bread (yum!), mustard and pickles. Decadent, luxurious, delicious.



Coming from Toronto, I was dying for some good seafood so when I saw the Beignets de morue (aka cod fritters), I had to have them. Sitting on creamy onion mayonnaise, these were surprisingly light and tangy but, unfortunately, I've had better in Portugal. Good try though. Oh one thing I should definitely mention is that these guys are known for their wine. Ours were recommended. Mine tasted like horse and Al's was uninspiring. That is all.



Moving on to mains, we ordered the pork cheek cassoulet and the lamb meatballs. I'm such a meatball fan and this did not disappoint; soaked in tomato sauce, it was hearty and light at the same time - is that possible? Guess, it is now. Also, we got plenty of bread so we mopped all that sauce up. The pork cheek cassoulet was alright - a bit bland for my taste. But look at those awesome mini cast iron pans!



I will say that as this place got packed through the night, it was VERY hard to get the wait staff's attention so perhaps go early or don't make plans to go anywhere after!

One thing I noticed in Quebec City is that their patisseries are not very inviting, which is weird. Either they are dingy takeways, don't have much seating and are just boring looking. Except, for Paillard in the old city. It's a bright, cheerful little place with absolutely tempting pastries and sandwiches/soups. If I were 2 feet shorter, I would definitely be the one pressing my face against the glass display. We cozied up with a chocolate croissant and a brioche with a hint of vanilla. The chocolate croissant was perfectly flaky with with the right amount of dark chocolate. The brioche was so soft and delicate that it just melted in my mouth.


Another foodie go-to was the Marche du Vieux-Port (farmers market). Think St. Lawrence market, only on a smaller scale with Quebecois cuisine - tourtieres, salmon quiches and lamb and duck confit rolls (see photo below). They also have a few wineries selling their wares, chocolates and frozen goods.


I would be remiss not to mention J.A. Moisan: the oldest grocery store in North America - founded in 1871. Stepping into the store is like stepping back in time - chockablock with wine, pre-made goods, oils, breads and the kitchen sink. Seriously, this store has everything. 



If you plan on going to the Chateau Frontenac, the high tea is a must. You not only get to a) EAT, you also have b) a great view in c) a gorgeous space. We've had high tea at the Fairmont in Toronto and I must say that this was so much better. The scones were unbelievable, served alongside Devonshire cream, blueberry jam and an orange marmalade. Sadly only two scones were served...again TWO. I mean c'mon, throw us at least one more to fight over. The sandwiches were open faced and were a sight for sore eyes; the desserts were primarily maple focused and were a good mix of heavy and lighter offerings. The Battenburg cake was nothing short of delightful.





Next up, the best burger I've had to date and the most unassumingly awesome restaurant in Quebec City.



Monday, September 22, 2014

Open House

I've always liked the idea of a housewarming open house - people dropping by throughout the day to check out your new digs while enjoying some food and drink; sounds great, right? It's also a fantastic opportunity to catch up with people you haven't seen in a while and, since people usually drop by for a short time, you don't need to tell that one annoying friend to scram....I'm kidding, I would never do that...okay I would politely do that. But open houses avoid that awkwardness altogether! Hurray! For some reason I've never thrown an open house until now - my 3rd condo move. First off, it's A LOT of prep work and, since people drop in throughout the day, you are constantly entertaining. But, it's also fun and you have leftovers! Here are some of the dishes we put out: first up, guacamole. We threw in some feta and peppers for texture and an extra bite, and it's also a great vegetarian option.


Another one for the veggie lovers are gougeres. These little cheese puffs are great for kids as well and are surprisingly easy to make (see recipe below). Sticking with the vegetarian theme, we also made some pimiento tarts. The hardest part was broiling the red peppers! Since these were mini tarts, we only used 2 red peppers although the recipe called for 4.

Gougeres recipe:

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup milk
4 oz butter
Salt
1 cup flour
4 eggs
1 cup of shredded Gruyere cheese, plus extra for sprinkling
1/2 tsp ground pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a saucepan, combine water, milk, butter and salt and bring to a boil. Add flour and stir until a dough forms. Keep stirring till the dough pulls away from the saucepan.

Let the dough cool for 2 minutes and beat eggs in (one at a time). Let 1 egg incorporate fully before adding the next one. Add the cheese and pepper.

Transfer the dough into a pastry bag with a round tip. Pipe tablespoon-size mounds, sprinkle with cheese and bake for 22 min until golden brown.




Now, on to some meat! We found this awesome cut of lamb at the grocery store so we made some open-faced lamb sandwiches with grainy mustard and arugula topped with a sour cream aioli.


For beef lovers, we made a veal/beef kebab with a spicy chilli dipping sauce and a sour cream dip.


To balance the savoury, we also put out an apple pie made with Ontario Paula Red apples and a lemon curd cheesecake. I wouldn't use Paula Red's in my pie again since they got a bit mushy and applesaucy but the flavour was certainly there. The lemon curd cheesecake was fresh and refreshing, especially after all the meat dishes. One note here is that you have to keep pulling the cheesecakes in and out the fridge but it's not a big deal if your fridge and dining room are in the same area, as ours are.



Finally, make sure you have an assortment of drinks. We had some orange juice for the early arrivers, wine (red and white), beer and water. You can also keep pulling out different items at different times of the day - we didn't pull out our lasagna till the afternoon. Finally, here's a morning shot of our table. Hope this gives you some inspiration for your open houses. Happy Housewarming!


Tuesday, July 29, 2014

I Don't Get It...

I've been waiting to try Bar Isabel for months...no really, it was a 2-month wait! You can probably imagine how delighted I was when the day finally arrived. First impression: the decor reminded me a lot of Enoteca Sociale - dark, old school, tavern like with a very lively atmosphere. So we had brought our own wine, which was sitting prominently on the table, but alas neither the hostess nor the server noticed the bottle until we mentioned it. Pay attention people...it goes a long way. Anyhoo, minor hiccup aside, we ordered the pan con jamon iberico de bellota, which is cured ham from a special breed of pig, the black Iberian pig found in the south of Spain. Verdict: it was no prosciutto. It didn't have the melt-in-your-mouth feel that I expected and the bread was way too hard. Sigh. I hate not loving cured meat.


We then tucked into the spicy fried squid, crispy tongue and kale. Sweet mother of god - this was so extremely delicious that I wanted to cry when it was done. Probably, the best squid I've had - great combo of crispiness, spice and batter.



As with most Spanish restaurants, I always try the patatas bravas - this was ok. For someone who loves potatoes, I could walk away from this. Too much focus on the garnishes and not enough love for the potatoes. What a waste!


Same with the smoked sweetbreads, raw tuna, spicy pickled green tomato and brown butter. I had amazing sweetbreads at Niagara Street Cafe (now Edulis) so this wasn't my introduction to the dish, but it was just bland and boring. I have nothing nice to say about this...oh wait, it's a nice plate.


At this point, it can only get better right? So, I brace myself for the steak. Really well cooked, but the garnishes were unnecessary because they didn't enhance the dish at all. It was just a good cut of meat.


We got two desserts to end the night because we figured both of them couldn't bomb right? Right! The leche frita with dulce de leche was delish. Fried food so far has never let me down. The second was an absolute fail: the basque cake with sherry cream. There was so much bloody sherry that I couldn't even taste the cake; also the sherry had a weird unpleasant flavour to it. Maybe, get better sherry? Just a thought.




I just don't understand how Bar Isabel is in the top 5 on many blogs and restaurant lists - it wasn't particularly innovative, flavours didn't go together, more misses than hits. Pure. Utter. Disappointment.

Monday, July 28, 2014

Taste of Toronto

Wow, I've been MIA from blogging for a while! Time sure flies! We moved homes recently and then summer happened - patios, street festivals, fishing - you get the gist. But the eating never stopped so I'll try to catch you up on all my eating adventures in the next few blog posts. The most recent being Taste of Toronto - the 1st ever of its kind in the city - a melange of celebrity chefs, noted restos with some up and comers, wines/spirits and artisan producers. With an entrance fee of $30 and about $6-$10 tapas-style dishes, it's definitely not for the cash-strapped food aficionado, which is why I was delighted to win entrance tickets from Grey County Tourism and Nespresso. THANK YOU! 

I was super excited to try Barque Smokehouse so we had one of everything they offered - because that's how we do. First up, smoked duck tacos with pickled radish, carrots, crispy fried chicken skin
and a hoisin BBQ sauce. A bit too sweet for my liking and not enough smokiness. Also, for $6, two of them would have been nice, but a sad lonely fellow sat on the plate. Their second offering was smoked dry rub chicken wings ($8). Again, where is my smoke, fellas? It was just average. 



Lastly, we had the baby back ribs served with a potato, corn and candied smoked bacon salad and finished with pickled vegetable ($10). This was better than the first two but again, too sweet. People, barbeque does not mean sweet!!! ARGH.



After a disappointing start, we made our way to El Caballito/Los Colibris to try their pollo con mole: 
cemita bread, mole poblano, pulled chicken, white onion, avocado. Delicioso! Nice juicy chicken, bold flavours and great texture from the chips. Also good portion size for a $6 tapas - take note Barque.


On to The Harbord Room/THR & Co for their crab & prawn roll, pickled cucumber, avocado, crispy 
bacon & chips ($10). Although a bit messy, it was quite refreshing and tangy. I didn't quite get the chip combination - it didn't seem to go together because the chips overpowered the delicate seafood but meh, I love chips.


At this point, we were parched so we ducked in for a quick wine tasting. The theme: wines of California. We tasted two whites and two reds. a) Barefoot Chardonnay - shitty wine; b) Ghost Pines Chardonnay - mediocre; c) Louis Martini cabernet sauvignon from Sonoma - light and one dimensional and d) Louis Martini cabernet sauvignon from Napa - bolder, heavier with an awesome mouth feel. 


Now that we felt better about life, we made a beeline toward McEwan only to find the longest lineup ever. Not to worry, right beside the epic lineup, we saw a dude roll up cheese in what seemed to be, gasp, maple syrup! We had to try it. Three kinds of cheeses - cheddar, blue and gouda; I tried the gouda. OH-MY-GOD! Why haven't I tried this before? It was smoky, cheesy, sweet, gooey....one of the best things I tried that night. 


Apart from the paid food, there was quite a lot of free stuff - some of which were even better than the paid stuff! For example, the breadfruit cracker topped with a fish ceviche and mango salsa from the Barbados crew and the braised bison in a sesame seed cone.



After some freebies, I was really curious to try JaBistro's oshizushi: blowtorched and pressed sushi with shrimp, mackerel and salmon. It was perfect: didn't need any soy, wasabi...nothing. This is how it's done.


Another Asian dish we tried was Guu's takoyari: deep fried octopus balls with tonkatsu sauce & karashi mayo. I've never had it before so I have nothing to measure it against but I thought it was quite good. Then again, anything deep fried is a-okay with me.


The last thing we sampled was the pistachio and olive oil cake with strawberries, strawberry 
ice cream & crumbled meringue. Alas, the pistachio flavour wasn't strong enough but the warm cake with the cold fruit and ice cream was wonderful. No pic since it was too dark. All in all, a pretty decent night with awesome company thanks to free tickets!

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Aria Kidding Me?

When restaurants are pretentious but serve up delicious food, I can look past it; however, when you serve me crap on a plate, I will have something to say about it. I'll let you guess which one Aria is. Walking in, I could already feel the pompousness in the air with the hostess' cold "welcome" and the half-assed handling of our coats. But the space is absolutely stunning and I've been wanting to eat here for a while, so I brush it off. The antipasti/fritti section has the usual suspects (burrata, house-cured meats, octopus, etc.), but the olive ascolane (lightly breaded and fried green olives stuffed with meat) caught my eye. I really wish it hadn't. With zero salt and meat that definitely needing marinating, I was appalled they were serving this. I was equally appalled when we asked our server about it and he confirmed that the meat wasn't marinated because the dish didn't need it. Um, server man, have you tasted this "dish"? We would be eating meat right off the cows if they didn't need seasoning. Thank god for wine.



After scouring through the extensive menu, we finally settle on the fiorentina for two, only to be told that they ran out. Shouldn't we have been told that when we received our menus or went through the specials? Server man then suggested the ribeye, so we asked what the difference was from the fiorentina with regard to preparation. He then proceeded to tell us what the difference was between a ribeye and a porterhouse! What an a-hole! In case you want to know, any steak can be prepared in the florentine style since it is grilled over a wood/charcoal fire and seasoned with salt and olive oil after the meat is cooked. What sets it apart is that the bistecca alla fiorentina meat is sourced from either the Chianina or Maremmana breed of cattle. And, no, the server didn't give us this information, Google did. After much back and forth, we got the paccheri di gragnano and the ribeye prepared in the florentine style accompanied with potato gratin and rapini.




The pasta had a good balance of basil, chillies, tomato and the fish ragu, but oh boy was it undercooked. I think that's a first for me! It also needed to be served with a bib since the sauce was so thin it was dripping everywhere. The ribeye, albeit cooked well, needed some sort of sauce or sides that were saucier. The rainbow chard wasn't anything special but the potato gratin with guanciale and thyme was quite good. All in all, meh. Off to desserts...



I always love me some panna cotta, but the texture of this panna cotta went horribly wrong. Tasteless and rubbery; even the roasted plums and pecan cake couldn't save it. We had never tried a bonet piedmontese before and my best description is that it is a cross between a panna cotta (we all know how that turned out) and a chocolate pudding. It was just okay; the dish as a whole was a bit disjointed and flat. I would normally never say this, but if you still really want to try Aria, wait until Summerlicious/Winterlicious. You'll probably still get subpar food but for much less. Also, there's a McDonald's down the street....just saying.




Monday, March 17, 2014

Monogrammed Sugar Cookies

I love making cookies - chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, shortbread...you name it, I've made it. However, sugar cookies are at the bottom of my list - I just haven't cozied up to them. I just find them too bland and you almost always have to ice them, which I have always sucked at. When my mom asked me to make some monogrammed sugar cookies for my cousin's kid's baptism, I died inside. I pictured monstrous-looking cookies with clumsy icing that a 4-year-old had made, but decided to give them a shot anyway. I made two kinds: regular vanilla sugar cookies and chocolate sugar cookies. The vanilla cookie I got courtesy of allrecipes.com and the chocolate cookies were from my go-to website joyofbaking.com

Vanilla sugar cookies

1 1/2 cups butter (room temp)
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
5 cups flour
2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp salt

In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until smooth and slowly beat in the eggs and vanilla. In another bowl, add the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients slowly. The dough will be VERY sticky but just cover and chill the dough for 2-3 hours. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Since my dough was still a bit sticky, I rolled it out between two pieces of parchment paper. Cut your shapes with a cookie cutter and stick it back into the fridge for 10 min so the cookies hold their shape. Bake for about 8 minutes and cool. Makes about 5 dozen cookies.


Chocolate sugar cookies

2 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cups cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup butter
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsps vanilla

In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs slowly and finally the vanilla extract. In another bowl, add flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients slowly. Refrigerate the dough for 2-3 hours. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Since my dough was again a bit sticky, I rolled it out between two pieces of parchment paper. Cut your shapes with a cookie cutter and stick it back into the fridge for 10 min so the cookies hold their shape. Bake for about 8 minutes and cool. Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

I cut shapes out of a Wilton store-bought fondant, made some royal icing and voila! I wouldn't bother with the vanilla next time because the chocolate was so delicious, but not bad for my first try, eh? 









Sunday, March 16, 2014

Italian 101

Gusto is a gorgeous space built out of an old garage, sporting exposed brick, industrial lighting and vintage license plates. Immediately as I walk in, I think okay, modern-Italian cuisine - bring it. We started off with some vino and the Aracini balls, stuffed with arborio rice, wild mushrooms and fontina. I can never say no to Aracini balls but I've had some pretty bad ones in my day, so I sit praying that these would be above average. Verdict: They were mad delicious and held their form very well. Great start!


For some reason, I was feeling like a meatless main (GASP!) so I ordered the Fettuccine ai Funghi (portobello, porcini and oyster mushrooms) in a light cream sauce with truffle paste. This was comfort food at its finest - although quite heavy, I wasn't reaching down to unbutton my pants. So that's good right?



The other main I tried was the Spaghetti al Nero di Seppia, a medley of manila clams, shrimp, calamari, mussels, baby scallops and peperoncino....that was a mouthful! Compared to my mushroom pasta, this wasn't even close. The flavours were too light for my palate and I thought it needed something to bring it together. Also, where the hell was the rest of the dish? Portion size was an issue here. Two people at our table ordered the same dish - one got a regular size, the other got a midget size (no offense to midgets).




I couldn't eat dessert since I gave it up for lent so I watched (in agony) as others did. The one thing that did stand out from the menu was the Cioccolato, which was a chocolate quinoa cake. Intriguing no? I asked how it was. This is what was said: "It was okay, not memorable at all. I'm trying to forget it". Ouch. I thought I was mean.


As much as I tried to love Gusto, I didn't. I didn't find anything modern about the food, except for the quinoa cake, but we all know how that turned out. It was beginner-level Italian at best, nothing was particularly exceptional, it was just passable. It has a nice private room though....stick with the Aracini balls and wine and you'll be fine.






Thursday, February 6, 2014

Italian Done Right

Uninspiring, drab and conflicted - that's the decor of Enoteca Sociale; the food is pure heaven. We came to eat on a snowy Saturday night and eat we did. Let's get to it; first up: the salumi platter. Yes yes, I know, I always get the charcuterie plate but I can't help it, meat makes me happy. Enoteca's meat made me really happy. Also, pickled cauliflower = total winner.


Our next endeavour was the pork and polenta. OMG. I could have eaten two plates of this sausage ragu, polenta, wild mushroom magic and then ordered two more plates to go. It was creamy with a little heat and delicately earthy. It was official - I was having a good time.


Next to grace us with their presence were the rigatoni con brasato di manzo (braised beef, mushrooms and pecorino pepato) and the bucatini all'Amatriciana (guanciale, tomato and chili). Both pastas were perfectly al dente and brought their own flavours to the table. The braised beef pasta was pure comfort food and the cheese sprinkled on top was unbelievable, while the guanciale had more of a bite and was much lighter. If I had a gun to my head, the guanciale would win. Sorry beef, pork is where my heart is.



One bottle of wine later and more than half way through the meal, I don't feel a bit tipsy or have to squirm in my pants...what's going on? There's no such thing as light pasta, or is there? We scan the menu for dessert and settle on tiramisu (no surprises there) and sticky toffee pudding (not what you thought, was it?). The tiramisu was so-so - everything blended together so you couldn't taste the individual elements. Such a shame really but I wasn't too phased by it because I was just flabbergasted that I tasted the best sticky toffee pudding I've ever had...at an Italian restaurant! Normally, sticky toffee pudding is either overly sweet or just really stodgy. This was what it should be. Respect Enoteca....respect.