Coconut Curry and a Wine Pairing

The Gastronaut is going to teach you how to make one of his favourites, coconut green curry. I have also added a little wine pairing in here for you too. Enjoy!

Part 1 – Coconut Green Curry

Part 2 – Coconut Green Curry and Wine pairing

Tequila: I’m Trying

I’ve been to Mexico. I’ve driven by those tequila plantations with those gigantic blue agave cactus sprouting out of the soil. I’ve done tequila shots at the bar, licking salt, shoot tequila, and sucking lemon. I’ve never enjoyed the flavour of it on its own or with the salt and lemon. The tequila finish is too much for me, it is NASTY, it’s like swallowing your own vomit. I can drink eau de vie, brandy, cognac, and whisky, but I can’t enjoy drinking tequila, it just tastes bad. I’ve tried this drink called a paloma, where they salt the glass and mix tequila with fresca or squirt. I could still taste that nasty finish, the one that makes me cringe whenever it passes my tongue on the way down my esophagus. Maybe that gross finish that I am explaining is just the flavour of the agave. Well, this must change if I want to be the all encompassing gastronaut that will eat everything and enjoy its complementing drink. How am I ever going to pass Mexico? I love Mexican food I just can’t get into the quintessential aperitif / digestif. So I’ve set my self up to do some tequila tasting. After my last math exam I decided to go to this awesome Mexican restaurant on Sherbrooke called Tequila Taco. I told my waiter I wanted to learn to enjoy tequila, but I just can’t get beyond that aftertaste. He recommended that I try Tequila Banderas. Yes, Like Antonio Banderas, the super sexy latino actor, maybe his name sake will make tequila a little sexier for my palate. In Spanish, banderas means flag. This was later explained to me by my waiter as he dropped three shot glasses in front of me. One was a shot glass full of lime juice, one was tequila, and the last was tomato juice. The three shot glasses symbolize the mexican flag, the red white and green. So I have a tequila banderas in front of me and I am supposed to take a sip of lime, then tequila, then tomato. This I thought was interesting, it will slow down the whole shock-and-awe that goes on in my mouth.  I think that the lime juice first primes my palate with acute acidity, the tequila, I believe it was Don Julio anejo, matched the acidity coupled with that aweful aftertaste and the burn (the burn is the only enjoyable part of tequila drinking in my opinion), the tomato juice calmed everything down from the agave flavour to the burn. The flavours produced a synergy in my mouth. There was a balance that was so enjoyable I wanted to do it again. Now this is a way I can bridge my hatred for the drink into limbo of whether I like it or hate it. One day I could perhaps make a decision to make tequila my new spirit of choice, at least while eating mexican food. I definitely need to work on developing my palate for tequila and tequila banderas is a useful way to bring myself to the table and try more. I am definitely going to keep you posted on my quest to enjoy tequila. Wish me luck.

Question: A two parter, what tequila do you enjoy and what should I be trying?

A Homage to Brisket

Dear Schwartz’s,

Yes, this is a love letter. No matter what I say will never encapsulate the  feelings, the memories, the history, and the love that is between your four walls. All that I know is that whenever I visit, I am never disappointed. Schwartz’s is clutch. It is knowing that every time you go, if you order a medium Montreal smoked meat sandwich, a pickle, and a Cott’s black cherry soda it will be the same, EVERY TIME. My best memories are when my friend Mike comes to visit. We always go, sometimes we go twice. We order the same thing, smoked meat plate, fat, pickle, Cott’s black cherry. The smoked meat plate is either for really hungry people, or people who still try to eat more than their friends do. Mike and I are in the later group. A Schwartz’s smoked meat plate is delectable. You need the pickle because it cuts some of the gluttonous terror that you have in front of you. If you’re barreling down on your last piece of rye bread and you still have five or six pieces of smoked meat in front of you, you’re in trouble. I’ve been in this scenario; you didn’t go the mile high route. You’ve run out of bread, maybe you’ve even run out of pickle, now you just have meat. Delicious. Seductive. Brisket! Now if you’ve already mowed down a  half pound of smoked meat you’re probably full, add half a loaf of  rye bread, a giant pickle and a soda, you’re feeling  REALLY full, but you still have meat. You look to your friend beside you, s/he’s still eating, the pressure’s on.  If you feel the need to finish the plate after eating all that food, one thing happens. Any guesses? Once you put that piece of meat in your mouth you get the “meat sweats”. I don’t know where the term was coined, but the first time I heard about it, I didn’t believe it. Not until you go to Schwartz. Order the plate, finish it, you will get the meat sweats. Meat Sweats occurs when you eat so much meat you just begin to sweat, it is uncomfortable, unhealthy, unattractive, and unbelievable. If you’re a self proclaimed gastronaut like I am, you do gluttonous things. You order ridiculously large plates of smoked meat and eat it, you mop up your bacon grease with bread, you order foie gras poutine, it comes with the title, it tastes good and by God, if I don’t die tomorrow from a coronary heart attack I am still winning. To say the least, if you go to Montreal, go to Schwartz’s. It will be the best 12$ you ever spend.

Question:

Pixie Dust and Wizardry

What do you do when you find out that it is the last night the chef is going to be cooking on the line? If you’re lucky enough to stop him when he’s doing his rounds in the dining room, you ask him one request, go crazy. Why? This meal will be a “last supper” of sorts and if I won’t be eating this food at this location again, I want his creative side to take over. He set up his menu to correspond to the structure of a play. An inventive medium to display his already creative dishes. If this structure develops through the rest of the meal, it will surely be one to remember. This meal will be far from just eating for sustenance, this meal will be an event, more like dinner theatre which should be analyzed aesthetically as an event of indulgence.

I started with, Disappearing Goat Cheese Spaghetti, Veyrat Style. It says it all in the name, an ode to Chef Watters’ mentor. Using the same techniques he learned under Veyrat’s wing, Chef Watters masterfully performs his wizardry and makes his goat cheese spaghetti disappear. At the table you’re presented a deep bowl with what looks to be one long strand of goat cheese spaghetti with pieces duck confit and orange rind. Then the show begins, the Chef comes by and pours a very hot white balsamic vinegar and lemon thyme vegetable broth over the goat cheese spaghetti, and before your eyes as you stick your spoon in the broth to take your first sip the spaghetti is disappearing. The goat cheese melts making the broth slightly creamy. There is an explosive orange flavour because of the rind on top of the duck confit, it brings instant memories of duck a l’orange. Delicious.

Based on what I know of what is coming, I know the chef will be playing mind games with me all night by tricking my taste buds and exploring new culinary avenues I have never crossed before.

Next we had a “Smoking Cold Soup”. Watching this soup come out of the kitchen is undeniably the definition of dinner theatre. Instead of seeing a burlesque show at Le Moulin Rouge, I have a smoking bowl being carried towards me. The menu and server insist it is cold, but the only thing I know that smokes and is cold is liquid nitrogen. The bowl is placed in front and the server says, “this is Chef Joseph’s smoking cold soup, she picked up the spoon from within the bowl and swirled it around in the bowl. She explained that it was a sweet Montmorency cherry soup with a nasturtium leaf and rose petals. Once she stopped stirring the soup it began to smoke profusely. She followed with, ” Be careful it is very cold, please wait for the smoke to disappear before you enjoy it.” The thoughts are racing through my mind, what is going on here? These are the mind games I thought the chef was going to play on me. Cold soup doesn’t smoke, hot soup does. How could a cold soup be so hot that it should smoke? He is playing with my expectations, like a flirtatious woman, you become intrigued and I want more. The soup itself was interesting, it was a sweet and sour cherry soup. It was similar to a cherry pie filling that wasn’t thickened. The nasturtium gave the soup a peppery bite. The rose petal looked to have been covered in sugar and as the liquid nitrogen “cooled down” the soup, the rose petal became a hardened sweet candy. Jaw dropping.

Sea, Earth & Above included sliced and ceviched scallops in yuzu with black italian truffles drizzled with foie gras oil. The sea was represented by the scallops the earth by the truffles, and above? That was where I looked for some sanity. The scallops were perfectly salted, the diced truffles gave the scallops the earthy edge to balance out their slippery texture. It was all accompanied by microgreens which adds a fresh crispness to the palate. There was a universal balance on this plate of epic proportions, a perfect dish for all to admire for the theory behind the dish, presentation, depth of flavour, and textures.

Muscovy Duck Foie Gras Rocher Torchon, a play on Ferrero Rocher, the tasty chocolate treat I would only get at Christmas in my stocking. The chef made a small loaf of foie gras, he hollowed out the centre and filled it with chocolate and he covered the outside with almond crumble. The foie gras was oh so buttery, the bitter chocolate inside made my Foie Gras Rocher seductively good, in that it complemented the richness of the foie. This is yet another example of the Chef’s creativity and ability to take you away from the table to another place and time, this is genius.

Now the wine, 2005 Malvoire Pinot Noir, great black cherry colour, earthy nose, cherry mid-pallate, white pepper finish, I think it is going to go quite nicely with squab.

We now have a honeydew mint sorbet topped with mint, raspberry, and a sugar tuile. It was so minty, it was better than brushing my teeth. This wasn’t that fake mint you get in chocolate mint candies, this was fresh, beautiful, this was the mint I could get used to. The mint in the sorbet was exclamated by the fresh mint strategically placed on top of the sorbet. My palate has been cleansed.

Squab Sous Vide, 59.5 C and 61.9 C. This squab was the definition of fall off the bone. Thanks to the chef’s choice of using the sous vide cooking method. It was so tender. Peaches, Hensall turtle beans, and walnuts, it was crunchy, soft, and tender, another great use of texture and presentation. There was a beautiful smokey star anise veal reduction dividing the plate between the legs and the breast of the squab allowing you to jump between the different pieces of the bird and the flavours on the plate. On the other side, accompanying the legs, there were beet tops with turtle beans and candied beets which created a healthy sweet mix to the game-y squab flavour. I was expecting the beet tops to be bitter but they were spinach like, again, unthinkable, foundation shaking, and it was delicious.

Sangria Sorbet, a clear ice cream bowl with a floating piece of meringue and peach dried jell-o. This illusion was held up with saran wrap that was perfectly wrapped around the top, no loose edges, air tight. Floating Jell-o, what? The server asked us to eat the peach and meringue together, tear off the saran wrap and eat the sangria sorbet. I first savoured the peach jell-o and meringue. You could feel there was the dried sweet with the chewy texture of the meringue. I then ripped off the saran like I would a TV dinner and shot back the sorbet. I tasted a sour raspberry, then you got that wine flavoured sorbet for the sangria, blueberries at the bottom, a hint of mint, star anise, and cinnamon. It was mystically presented with the invisible saran wrap holding the jell-o and meringue above the sorbet. The act was not sheer wizardry but a showcase of Chef’s ability to pair flavours, temperatures, and creativity together. A unique palate cleanser before dessert. God bless sangria, as if the wine wasn’t enough.

Stomach check: not grotesquely full, content, ready for more? Yes!

Dessert, Deconstructed Peach Crumble with cardamom ice cream? Really? Cardamom ice cream? This is something I ought to try. I was expecting something grainy, but it was exactly the opposite. The flavour was accurate, it was the smoothest creamiest ice cream with that strong cardamom flavour. Savoury ice cream, you’ve done it again Chef Watters. Fresh cherries and raspberry coulis, peaches, mint, flowers, pistachios and a cherry rolled in pork fat to hold the bacon bits on, but there was a surprise, the pit of the cherry was removed and in its place was a piece of 5 yr old cheddar. It had that sweet cherry taste, balanced by the sharpness of the cheddar and the bacon gave this savoury edge to the dessert. Who would have thought that bacon belonged in dessert. While eating the peaches, the smoke from the bacon is a wonderful match. There are so many distinct flavours moulding together to make this dish stand out. This just shows that bacon is truely the most versatile ingredient or Chef Watter’s is truely mad. I believe he is on to something, bacon deserves to be included in the dessert repertoire right beside chocolate. Again, the development of flavours in this dish was so well rounded , sweet, salt, savoury. Impressive, another perfect dish, bravo.

I left dumb founded. This is a meal I will never forget, the man has a way with food. I was right, this was an event. Let me explain, first, he outlines where his food is coming from. He names the farmer Mary Byler, who grows his miniature vegetables, the Coleman family who raises the beef, and Gerhard Metzger, the butcher who supplies his pork. The event is further ingrained in my head by his playful and creative ideas that he puts on the plate, things that I would have never thought of, displaying them on a beautiful canvases for his guests to enjoy. His mind games do not stop there, it is like he plays with your childhood, he throws you back into rugburns and scrapped knees as you dive into peach flavoured jell-o and foie gras rocher. The way he presents his soup as a brooding smoking bowl of soup that you must beware because its to cold to eat. His play on flavours and textures between peaches, bacon, bing cherries with aged cheddar, and cardamom flavoured ice cream. All of these combining factors lead me to believe that he is starting a revolution in his kitchen, a revolution against your preconceived notions of what you think food is about. It is not for everyone, but for those that are willing to have their taste buds challenged and their minds opened, this is not just food, it is an event that must be aesthetically critiqued, the presentation of the food, the flavours, and the combination and how they play together, as Chef Joseph puts it, “the play within the play”. I am glad I got to witness this “last supper”. I wish him luck on his next great menu because he has a tall order to meet and surpass this one.

Disappearing Goat Cheese Soup, Veyrat Style

Smoke'n Cold Soup

Sea Earth and Above

Sangria Sorbet

Deconstructed Peach Crumble

Chateau Musar

It has been a long time friends. I’m sorry I’ve neglected you, but I thought I would kick off my latest adventure with a wine write up. A couple of days ago I went into my dad’s wine cellar and he suggested I pick up a bottle of Chateau Musar. He had three bottles kicking down there from 1999. We’ve had them down there for about a year, it was 14 % alcohol and my father deemed the first one ready to drink. We opened the bottle, it had a vibrant cherry to red brick colour. There was manure, horse, and straw on the nose. The kind of horse smell you get after you remove the saddle. There was definitely a leather component. As I swirled the wine in my glass to aerate the wine a little more I realized its nice legs. As I took the first sip I realized there was a heavy mouth feel, it had the weight of olive oil, it coated your mouth with its beautiful flavours. For being ten years old now, the tannins were still strong. That makes me think that it could still stand for another five plus years of aging. Now that we have 2 more bottles we can definitely try that out. We decanted this wine for about an hour before we served it, but because of how intense this wine is, it could probably withstand 3 hours of decanting to open it up. It is always the case that the last sip is the most amazing, but after realizing that, next time, I am going to decant it for 3 hours. There were beautiful flavours of black pepper, black fruit, and a healthy amount of acidity to make this wine so well balanced. The most intriguing part about this wine was when I read where it was from. I read the label but not well enough obviously. It is from Lebanon! LEBANON? I could have sworn it was a Bordeaux. After trying this, I was convinced it was Bordeaux and I am sure it could easily fool any collector. They’re making a great wine. I recommend everyone to try this, it is off the hook. The best part is that it is coming from an interesting part of the world. Not that I think it is weird that they’re making it in Lebanon because they’ve been making wine there for thousands of years. I am shocked because of how good this wine actually is. I am definitely going to be buying more wine from Lebanon or any Middle Eastern country. Explore, get out of your comfort zone and buy this wine. If you like robust, big bordeaux’s with the complexity of “the farm” you will enjoy this. I bid you good drinking!

Here is their link: http://www.chateaumusar.com.lb/english/home.aspx

Let me know what you think.

1999 Chateau Musar

A Test

Before I left the wine conference, I was allowed to take half a bottle of the Napa Cabernet home. JACKPOT! I let it sit out over night to get more air into the sacred grape-y liquid. A day later with 15 or so hours of decanting it was ready to drink. I bought a beautiful t-bone steak and I pan fried it in butter with a little salt and pepper to taste. By 7pm the wine had transformed dramatically. OH MY, my first kiss from this wine had the aromas of fine leather shoes. It tasted like a freshly tared driveway that was pelted with a million ripe plumbs and flaked between layers of oak. The colour was beautiful, it almost had a red brick quality, thank you oxygen. Slurp wine, swallow wine, insert steak, chew steak, repeat. The steak was good, rare, just the way I like it. Back to the wine, my last sip was the most epic. The wine had brought back those dark cherry notes, it had a creamy mid palate with that hint of green pepper, it had a deep soil and dirt component and on the finish it was silky smooth. SO COMPLEX! The tannins had mellowed out and were pleasantly smooth, the dryness had developed into a layered wine adventure. To say the least, it was a beautiful transformation. The wine went perfectly with the steak, the pairing was just what I needed to celebrate a job well done. Not only did I get to torture my housemates by teasing them with my steak and red wine, but I took my own magic carpet ride through the transformation of an excellent wine.

A California Wine Fair

Last month, I was invited to represent the Silver Oak table at the California Wine Institute’s Wine Fair at The Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal. It was a dream come true. I’ve been wanting to work in the wine industry for months now and this is my shot, my first chance to wow them, to show the big leagues what I have to offer. I showed up, I opened my bottles to breathe and then before I knew it, it was lunch time.

 

Course One: tuna carpaccio with a green olive tapenade, a drizzle of olive oil and a big stemmed green olive in the centre of the plate. This course was a great start to the meal, it prepped my stomach, my mouth is salivating, and I am ready for more.

 

When you’re at a wine conference you have to taste everyone else’s wine. Who ever happens to be the wine representative at your table, he/she starts cracking open their bottles. My boss started opening some of the wine he is quite proud of. He represents four wineries at this show, Jordan, Cline, Jacuzzi, and Silver Oak. He opened a bottle of Jordan Chardonnay that in my opinion was a little over oaked, accompanying the oak was a lot of butter in that glass with a fain taste of smoke. It was pretty one dimensional, when I was sipping this wine it felt as though all of the other flavours were overwhelmed by the oak.

 

Course Two: lamb, with heirloom beets, extra thin beans done in butter, with a bean salad melody. The lamb was great, my boss accompanied the lamb with a big glass of Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine was beautiful, leathery, silky, fine tannins, and it definitely held up well to the lamb. Great Red.

 

Between courses my job was to run back to the conference room to set up ice buckets to chill down all of the white wine for the four wineries my boss represents. It wasn’t a big deal, I tend to inhale my food, so I am usually the first person done at my table anyways. I got the ice, everything was chillin’ and I made my way back downstairs for the cheese course.

 

Cheese: we were served three Quebec cheeses with all of the fixings: grapes, a walnut-y dark rye style bread, and nuts. Nuts, cheese, grapes, soft buttery cheese, and white wine, absolutely delectable. There was a big ole piece of stinky blue cheese on the plate that I tried first with a big gulp of my left over Cabernet, it was just the right pairing to bring me back to my childhood dining room. As a child, an over bearing french man accompanied by my father would teach me the finer details of pairing gorgonzola and premier grand cru Margaux. Now you all can see that from a young age I was trained to be a foodie and oenophile.

 

Dessert: a chocolate mousse cup with a kirsch dipped cherry. More Cabernet with the chocolate only because it just felt right, and I love Cabernet and chocolate.

 

Once the food was done we rushed back up stairs to man our stations so the sommeliers and restauranteurs could come, try the wine, ask questions, and hopefully buy some. All of the professionals would be out by 5pm, it was now 2pm. A second round of people were coming in at 7pm, the general public who are there to learn, mingle, try some appetizers, and of course, drink some wine.

 

I was serving up a 2004 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and a 2003 Napa Valley Cabernet. A majority of the people were perplexed by this situation. “Why are you serving the same wine twice?”, I was asked. I had to assure them that they are two totally different wines, from different areas, with different recipes. I had to share with the people the differences. The Alexander Valley Cabernet’s crop is found in Sonoma Country, it is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon as opposed to the Napa Cabernet which is more of a Bordeaux blend. The Napa Cabernet is 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Petit Verdot. The people tried both, and an alarming amount thought the wine I was serving was the best in show. I didn’t think much of the first sip of the Alexander Valley Cabernet. I double decanted each bottle and funneled the wine back into the bottle. After this process took place, I noticed a great difference, there is some merit to what those guys at Silver Oak are doing. My question is, can you not get the same value in a $50 bottle, dare I say in a $30 bottle? Do I really need to fork over $87 at the SAQ to get this sort of value in a wine? Most definitely not. Could I get the age ability and the depth of flavours somewhere else? Probably yes. Over priced, yes I think so, mind you it is a cult wine. Californians line up at the vineyard to buy these wines, they sell out every year. The high prices are more likely due to the sheer demand for their wine and Silver Oak’s policy to maintain small yields, therefore limiting supply and driving the price higher.

 

If the Alexander Valley Cabernet was showing a little weak due to the price point, what does this leave for the Napa Cabernet? Well, being double the price of the Alexander Valley, it sets a precedent. This is the big leagues and this wine is meant to be cellared for 15 or more years. My first encounter with this wine led me to believe that this wine really needs a steak. There is a typical cherry and cassis nose, there was a nutmeg and white pepper mid palate, and there was a green pepper, or vegetal finish. The finish was long. It seemed like it blissfully lingered in your mouth for minutes. This is a good wine. I heard from many people that it was the best in show, which is pretty damn good when Mondavi, Duckhorn, Hess, and Stags Leap are all there. Silver Oak is one of those wines that people like, and they like it a lot. Every 15 minutes someone would come up to me and say, “oh, I have 3 bottles of the ’97 left.”,or “oh, this is way better than the ’01 I have. ” These people love this wine and they know their stats. I had to baffle them with the bullshit I memorized from the Silver Oak website. Ooops, I guess the secrets out, but then again, that is one of those many talents I picked up at school.

 

I luckily had been to a majority of the wineries that were present at this conference. It was cool to see what was going on. I mingled, I networked, and sold three cases of wine, all in all it was a good day at the office.

 

There is a beautiful picture of the wine I was serving

 

Also, check out their link, it has quite an impressive collection of tasting notes and vintage reports for all of their wines:

 

http://www.silveroak.com/

Le Muscadin

Have you ever been to a place that feels so familiar that you’ve been there 1000 times before? It is kind of like that place you used to hang out at, you moved away, came back 10 years later, and it has never lost a beat. I just experienced that. I went to this restaurant called Le Muscadin. It used to be on St. Paul in Old Montreal. What an institution. In my opinion it was the landmark Italian restaurant in Montreal. Excellent food, great portions and it was a truly rustic Italian experience. Though they’ve changed location it has the same feel. It’s like walking in and feeling I’ve been here before, even though I haven’t. It was a great feeling. My family and I walked in, they took our coats, we sat down at a great table. In my opinion it was the Godfather table. We sat with our backs away from the door, we had a pure clean view of whoever was in the restaurant and who ever is coming into the restaurant. Reason being, so you can kill the dude coming in before they try and kill you. We haven’t eaten in this establishment in about ten years, we asked about said owner, he is still around but is on leave due to a hip surgery. It is all fine and dandy. We ordered a great bottle of Barolo. A 2003 Paolo Conterno. We sat, had the wine decanted and enjoyed an aperitif. I had a 1/2 and 1/2 white and red Cinzano with a twist. It was sweet, it was dry, it was perfectly layered so you could see the amber bottom of the red vermouth, the clear white vermouth top with the ice, and the knotted twist of lemon. Simple, classic and just the way I life it. I am ready to eat. A bowl of bread came. It was literally a circular loaf of bread, cut through the equator, and topped with a beautiful olive oil, tomato slices, salt, parsley, and oregano. It was light. When you bit into the bread, the cunchy warm crust cracks like snapping a stick over your leg, next comes the light airy middle, and finally the tomato, salt, parsley and oregano topping. I’m salivating. I can’t fill up on this bread … it’s so good … ok fine, I will have another slice. I salivate more. Oh thank God …

 

Course One: Escargots in a white wine cream sauce. Wowza, so rich, there must be a pint of cream in this. It was a nice way to start the meal. The escargots were al dente and the richness of the sauce was spot on to balance the chewiness of the escargots. These guys know what they’re doing. It was a creamy rich and chewy delight. I wanted more, I licked my plate clean. I was chomping at the bit, but it was time to try the wine … oooh, a distraction.

 

The Barolo, it had been decanting for 45 minutes now and you could smell the aromatics coming from the glass across the table. For some reason, just by catching the faint wiff from my place in front of me, I knew this was going to be a good one. Regardless of the name and the connotations that come with Barolo, just the scent I got from across the table, I knew the wine was off the chart. I brought the glass closer. It was opening up, I could get some black cherries. as I got my nose further into the glass in the hopes of getting more of the fumes into my narrow nasal passages I could get a dirty dust, it felt like I got stuck in a sandstorm. There was a sandstorm of dust and soil in my nose. I could smell the heat, the alcohol seeping from this wine. You could see it in the legs, big sultry legs hugging the glass, it was 14.5% alcohol. That’s a big wine. It’s like walking down the street and brushing shoulders with a football player and being nearly dropped to the floor in the process. This wine will knock your ass on the ground if you aren’t careful. Now a taste, ok now you taste those cherries, a little acidity in the mid palate with a sprinkle of freshly cracked black pepper, more of that dirty dust and a long tannic finish. This wine needs time, we opened it early. The tannins felt like someone was taking a metal ruler and scraping my tongue. I could feel the tannins all over the inside of my cheeks and back to my molars. All I could feel and think of was this astringently dry sensation. This dryness that has taken over my mouth was exciting. we let the wine sit until our food came.

 

Course Two: I had veal scaloppini flambed in cognac and cream with porcini mushrooms. Dare I say rich again? The wine went perfectly with the veal, the mushrooms, the cognac, it was beautiful. There were three stocks of asparagus on the plate that were nicely rolled in butter, and these neat cubes of butternut squash that were cubed, salted and sort of citrus-y. You couldn’t believe me if I told you, but it was citrus-y. These cubes were crunchy which was the awesome part. I had this beautiful veal that was a melt in your mouth, the mushrooms were al dente, we had crisp asparagus, crunchy butternut squash cubes, and the garlic mashed potatoes that were perfectly piped for your viewing pleasure. I think the balance of the textures on the plate were pretty good.

 

Dessert: I had this decent chocolate cake. Half was ganache, the rest was portioned between the actual cake part. You know, the normal cake-y stuff, but then there were layers of chocolate mousse. I had to have the chocolate because I had a little Barolo left. Red wine and chocolate, it makes me drool Homer Simpson style. I was stretching these last few drops in my glass. It was heaven.

 

Espresso: brewed to perfection, creamy head and hot as the dickens.

 

Grappa Time: Amazing and grappa have never really coincided before in my vocabulary. These high-test alcoholic experiences are usually like having rocket fuel being poured down your throat with that unforgettable burn that is only pleasurable for masochists and 151 proof rum aficionados. This grappa was not like that. This special production grappa called Poli Grappaioli. You could actually smell the grapes used to distill this drink. You could smell a hint of the warming alcohol but nothing that will burn your nose hairs off. When you sipped it and let your saliva mingle with the grappa it produced an oily texture and when you swallowed it, it was all warmth, no burn, and a white grape finish. It was pleasurable and the most amazing grappa / eau de vie experience of my life.

 

On the way out, our waiter gave my mom a red rose, and a hearty good bye from our Le Muscadin friends. It was an exciting, eventful, and educational evening out. Something that all good nights out should be about, learning, eventfulness, being satiated, and having fun with friends and family.

 

Here is a lovely picture of their wine cellar. I was lucky enough to get a tour by one of the owner’s and when I walked in, my jaw dropped. This my friends is an Italian wine smorgasbord

Au Pied de Cochon

I was thinking as I walk down Duluth, It’s been five years in the making … I’ve dreamed about eating at this restaurant for five long years. I’ve wanted to bask in all things foie gras and pork related. As I walk through the glass door I can hear the roar of the people. Its packed. “Allo”, the kind girl said, “ouais, reservation pour 1 … Russo”, I answered … “en ce moment svp”, she said. I waited … took off my coat. She waved me over and look-y here I am bar side with a prime view of the kitchen. As soon as I sat down after putting my coat on the hook someone was there to help me. “Something to drink?” … I pleaded, “I’m having a difficult decision of choosing something to go with the cassoulet or the duck in a can? … the waiter said, “we’re out of the cassoulet” decision made. “Ok, so pinot noir with the duck then?”, I asked. The waiter said, “I have a great gamay if you’d like to try?” I said, “bring it on.” He brought over this gamay … it was so tempting I couldn’t say no. I took a sniff … currant … swirl … sniff … ahhh cherries, hibiscus … vanilla … now a sip … acidic at the front of the pallet, black pepper in the middle and a smooth medium length finish. It was delightful. Very well balanced. He said the duck would be about twenty minutes … so what did I do? I sat back and watched the show. The kitchen entertainment was enough for me. It was a throw back to my dishwashing days at the Inn … it seemed that everyone was in the juice, going full tilt like a well oiled machine. Chef Picard was doing the diplomatic thing making sure everyone was satisfied with their meal … he walked around the restaurant like an endearing host. He even took a moment to say hi to a fan boy like myself.

 

Course 1 – amuse bouche … it was a foie gras cube that I had to wait till it cooled because of the molten foie gras centre. I waited a minute and popped that sucker back. I bit into the cube and foie exploded in my mouth almost shooting out to attack one of the line cooks in the face, but I saved myself from the embarrassment. It was good. I wish I had sauternes to go with it but whatever, it was good with the gamay. I finished my first glass before my duck came out but thankfully glass two came promptly.

 

Course 2 – Canard en Conserve, the presentation was genius. My server came by and served me this large plate with a piece of toast and a beautiful cheese on top. He brought with him this can emblazoned on it was the au pied do cochon logo. He brought a can opener, opened it in front of me and took the can over the toast and dumped it. The steaming duck, foie gras, and braised vegetables piled over the taost in this heavely display of dinner. I immediately dug in. The duck … perfectly medium rare. Quite an amazing feat considering they cooked the whole damn thing in the can. I scooped some of the duck, foie, veg, and toast on my fork, I piled it into my mouth and it was absolutely luxurious. Orgasmic comes to mind … the way the gamay, the duck, the sauce, and the foie worked together to attack my mouth was what dreams are made of. It was the most rustic, humble, genuine, and innovative duck i’ve ever had. There were sprigs of thyme throughout the sauce, but everything was just so tender and so flavourful that there was no way you couldn’t eat every last bite. The portions are generous … any farmer who is looking to get full, or even grotesquely full would be quite happy if you could even finish a 3 course meal here. I just had the duck and I was begging for mercy. Well, I knew I was filling up so I thought to myself … do as the Norman’s do … a shot of calvados. So I ordered their youngest Calvados by the glass, the 3yr old Roger Groult. AMAZING! Spiced apple with a creamy finish. I can literally feel why they call it a digestif … I suddenly feel capable of attacking dessert.

 

Course 3 – I ordered a baked apple pie. It was a piece of bread and on top was a cored and pealed apple with walnuts in the middle and it looked as though half of the peal was baked on top with browned butter. I’ve never seen anything like it before. Baked apple, and the calvados went together perfectly … dare I say another orgasmic experience? … Two in one night, how lucky can I get. I still feel that the apple pie was slightly over shadowed by the duck in a can. How often can you say you say that the best meal you’ve had in months came out of a can?

 

At the end of the meal Chef Picard came around to make sure everything was up to par. We talked shop and he suggested I stop writing what was going on around me and just love. Maybe there is a lesson to learn out of all of this. Food isn’t supposed to be that serious, its a gustatory pleasure, for me, beyond pleasure, Picard is right … its love. I should sit back and eat foie gras … there is nothing better. So lets enjoy it for what it is, pure delightful rich fatty duck liver in all its glory … so tender, so ooy gooy that you could spread it on your toast in the morning … now thats what I call breakfast! Foie gras is one of my guilty pleasures and I know from now on there is only one place I want to go to get my fix … au pied de cochon.

 

 

Here is a link to the beloved restaurant itself:

www.restaurantaupieddecochon.ca

 

Now, to see the spectacle table side, here is a link to view the opening of the can:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=llUGqul4TtQ