Gusto 101 Restaurant, Toronto

One of the kitchen elements that make the food at this resto potentially more interesting, is their Tuscan wood fired grill.


Fried calamari, somewhat crispy (could have been crispier) but a bit oily, were served with cucumber giardineria (pickled cucumber), jalapenos and roasted garlic aioli.

Bruschetta of Pingue prociutto on smoked eggplant (alla romana) all on grilled Tuscan bread. This was a very good starter, perhaps the best.

I only take photos of french fries I like and these were crispy and tasty.

Octopus cooked over the wood fired grill. Tender, with a nice mild smokey flavour, accompanied by an olive tapenade, orange and green beans.

Braised pork belly on oven roasted tomato, on toast, with shaved parsnip chips.

"Da Dee" pizza topped with sweet potatoes, black kale (cavallo nero), fior di latte cheese, caramelized Spanish onions, pecorino and rosemary. A thin, crispy crusted pizza with delicious toppings and flavours that complemented each other.

Spaghetto chitarra alla vongole, manilla clams, white wine, roasted tomatoes and toasted bread crumbs made for a very good pasta dish.

Bronzino, grilled over the Tuscan wood fired grill, and perfectly cooked, with white and green marinated and grilled asparagus, faro, eggplant, olives and feta cheese.

Desserts were not that interesting, a mundane tiramisu on the right and a pleasant lemon air on the left, made with limoncello, lemon juice and candied celery.

Cafe Polonez, Toronto

This Polish resto has been around for YEARS, but, I have not been for YEARS, so revisited.

How to begin!

Very good beef tripe soup.

Polish sausage topped with fried onions and served with crispy crunch fries dusted with bread crumbs, grainy mustards and garnishes.

Pork schnitzel with a wonderful horseradish laced beet root salad, good sauerkraut, dilled potatoes and cole slaw

Potato dumplings (made with raw potatoes) filled with pork, topped with goulash sauce and sided with carrots. This serving was made for one but serves 3!!

Lou Dawgs BBQ, Toronto

This branch, on Gerrard Street, is an offshoot of the original King Street location.

The brisket sandwich with house made baked beans. Unfortunately the taste of the brisket was overwhelmed by the sauce. I should have requested the brisket without sauce and added my own. The brisket had a pleasant smoky flavour but, because of all of the sauce, it was hard to tell and may have been a touch on the dry side. The bun was slightly crispy from toasting and was perfect for the sandwich. The mildly smokey beans were laden with chunks of the bbq brisket meat. The accompanying sauce had been nicely reduced into a thick consistently. I could return just for the beans!

The pulled pork sandwich was good. There was a good porky flavour to the meat with a soft smoky taste. The sauce did not overwhelm the meat.

The ribs were the only disappointment. They were too dry and fell off the bone in an unpleasant way. I did not enjoy the rub and if the meat had been better I would have added the sauce.

Friday Lunch from Banh Mi Boys

At long last, success.  It has been a few months since we tried to have a lunch from Banh Mi Boys.  The first time, Girl Courier went all the way down there only to find the shop closed for renovations. Then there were rumored re-openings followed by phone calls that went unanswered.  Coincidental trips to Queen Street West always revealed paper still over the windows.  Finally, our lunch became a reality.

Beef Cheek Banh Mi

Duck confit, beef cheeks, pulled pork, pork belly, we had to try them all in one form or another.  We had the duck confit  and beef cheek banh mis. Both had  signature lightly pickled carrots and cucumber  along with a generous sprinkle of coriander.  From the duck confit we got a hint of anise while the beef had a hit of chile. With a shiny but not hard crust, the bread had a fluffy interior with enough body to contain the filling.

Duck Confit Banh Mi

Kalbi Beef Taco

The taco was flaky and a little waxy as though not quite cooked enough; it was barely able to support the filling.  The Kalbi beef was pleasantly chewy without descending into actual toughness.  Red cabbage joined the carrot and cucumber for extra crunch.

Pork Belly Bao

We loved the billowy steamed  wrappers containing pulled pork and pork belly.  For novelty, we find slices of pickled golden radish.

Pulled Pork Bao

As a palate cleanser, we finished with jicama and papaya salad.   Very refreshing, we found slivers of jicama, carrots, and cucumber but nothing we could identify, either visually or by taste,as papaya.

Jicama and Papaya Salad

This is not the place to order everything on the menu at once;  it all became sort of a jumble in the mind and on the tongue.  But we will be back for one or two things at a time.

Price:  For two banh mi, two bao, a taco, and a salad:  $31.01

Location:  392 Queen Street West

Phone:  (416)363-0588

BOOK REVIEW: Au Pied de Cochon Sugar Shack Cookbook by Martin Picard

                Martin Picard is a madman. But you knew that already, didn’t you? Foie gras poutine, whole roasted pig head gilded with gold leaf, used for no other reason than to appease the Midas-like affections of the genius behind Montreal’s Au Pied de Cochon, and the even wackier and excessive Cabane a Sucre in St. Benoit. In 2008, Picard released his first cookbook, dedicated to the rich, foie gras-laden cuisine of Au Pied de Cochon to huge acclaim. Civilians and cooks hovered over every page, salivating at the premise of what appeared before them, all the while speculating whether the gears that worked the mind of its author were perhaps well-oiled with foie gras and fueled by a furnace whose inferno ran on duck fat. It was a gastronomic anomaly that both frightened and intrigued at the same time. While conventional belief condones banality and lethargic nature as accompaniment to age, 4 years after his first cookbook, Martin Picard exhibits his trademark combination of maniacal brilliance with the release of The Sugar Shack Cookbook, upon which maple syrup spotlights a delicious narrative.

                Not content to simply provide recipes from the restaurant, Picard delivers a package of art, literature and cuisine co-ordinated to capture the essence and ideal of what maple sugaring is all about. Marc Seguin, the Quebecois artist behind the illustrations in Picard’s first book, returns to ink the humorous yet often morbid cartoons that fill these pages and perfectly mirror Picard’s evil-culinary-genius image. Short stories are interspersed throughout; one portrays a dystopia in which the world has suffered a diabetes pandemic and the last woman on Earth is set to finish out by way of gluttony in a sugar shack in the Quebec bush. The story follows her nostalgia, hunger and sexual frustrations with agony and desire as she gathers the materials and mise-en-place for her last supper. It reads like I Am Legend meets Babette’s Feast in a whirlwind of culinary rapture and bleak loneliness.

               

                Perhaps out of concern for the laissez-faire attitude many people hold towards maple syrup and the amount of work and precision that goes into the golden elixir that they casually slosh over pancakes, Picard details the process of harvesting maple water in an intensive chapter. Charts are supplied as a reference for compensating atmospheric pressure when boiling the syrup and Picard even refers to the Brix readings of the finished syrup when judging the finished product. While many may very well skip over this academic portion of the book in lieu of the recipes that follow, the information provided primes one’s appreciation of the feature product and inevitably fosters a greater understanding of the syrup’s tendencies during cooking. To further flesh out the experience at “Le Cabane”, a piece titled “Diary of a Sugar Shack” follows a year at the Cabane a Sucre personified through the eyes of the Cabane itself. The author, Rafaele Germain, impeccably captures the day-to-day activity of Picard’s crew and lends an original and remarkable voice to his protagonist. One shares in the solitude of the shack as the season ends and the lights are extinguished for the last time, leaving the Cabane in a sudden void of emptiness and longing.

                Recipes are food porn in only the way Picard can deliver. Excess and magnificence are never quite excessive nor magnificent enough as each recipe seems to one-up the other. A decadent breakfast sandwich floods the mind with thoughts of salty, fatty and sweet while a maple mille-feuille offers promise of silken cream and shattering leaves of flaky pastry. Due to the maple-centric nature of the book, one is advised to invest in a candy thermometer. Several recipes require the use of maple sugar in place of granulated and the process of creating maple sugar (boiling maple syrup and then breaking it to foster crystallization) is made far more consistent and less precarious with the use of a thermometer. It is also suggested to prepare large batches of maple sugar, as it keeps for several months and offers a plethora of uses.

                Sugar Shack is more than a cookbook; it represents a significant piece of Canadiana and an enthusiast’s ode to an object of devotion. A complete and entertaining exposé of the age-old traditions of maple sugaring capped off in delicious fashion. In Martin Picard was fashioned the perfect vessel to share such wealth and knowledge; passionate, fanatical and effusive. Artistic design ties a pretty bow on a comprehensive and inspirational piece of literature ripe with nostalgia and dripping in sweet, sweet maple syrup.

Review by Kevin Jeung
Sugar Shack Cookbook by Martin Picard
$69.99

Ursa Restaurant, Toronto.

Chef/co-owner, Jacob Sharkey Pierce, has a way with bright, clean flavours and lovely, appealing presentations on the plate. His unique healthy food perspective is brought to bear on a cuisine that well represents both contemporary rustic and modern evolutions in restaurant food. His insight and techniques make him stand out in this regard.

Mushroom broth with mildly smoked and grilled wild mushrooms, delicate chestnut agnolotti, all in a complex tasting kambucha-sherry broth.

White tail deer tartar with 2 slabs of a firm, but creamy textured, blueberry cured fois gras, scattered micro-greens and Icelandic moss. This is good tartar, clean tasting with interesting and complimentary flavours.

Hamachi tartar: sliced yellowtail, house made miso, preserved lemon, shiso leaf and kumquats.

Winter roots: raw, dried, preserved, all dressed with a walnut vinaigrette and house made kefir below on the plate. An incredible range of beautifully presented ingredients in a dish based on flowers, herbs, leaves and veg such as pickled radish, carrots celery hearts, candy cane beets, fennel fronds, jerusalem artichokes and misc. leaves. Very "healthy" selection.

Wild, line caught Haida Gwai halibut with a puree of northern white beans, crispy cauliflower and almonds. Leaves of new baby ramps add a delightlful, sharp counterpoint to the ingredients on the plate.

Niagara pork loin, whey brined 27 hours, cooked sous vide 8hrs, then pan sauteed with apple cider glazed pork belly, lentils, kale, jerusalem artichoke puree and bulberry mustard. The delicious favour of the beautifully pink loin are truly well appreciated considering the lovely tenderness of the meat.

Deconstructed lemon meringue pie and cookies. Yuzu lemon curd, blueberry preserve, meringue, spruce caramel and duck fat sable cookies.

“Milk and honey” with pomegranate, dehydrated grapes. House made sweet ricotta, which I really enjoyed, mini bottles of "milk" which contain whey (don't know what this added to the dish, except a sense of humour and a touch of "health"), rosewood honeycomb, fragrant leatherwood honey, bee pollen, pear and spelt rye. 

Raw dark chocolate as rich tasting mousse-like cake, with pumpkin kefir puree, pumpkin and hibiscus liquid. I really enjoyed the pairing of dark chocolate and pumpkin.

White basmati rice tuile with tart anuka pickled root veg accompanied by powdered rice bran, alfalfa and brown sugar for dipping.

You might feel healthy afterwards. You will certainly be satisfied. Worth a journey not only for the good food but to experience this chef’s perspective on how healthy cuisine fits in with contemporary cooking.

New York Restos, Spring 2012: Tertulia, Old Homestead, Del Posto, North End Grill, Cafe Sabarsky, Ai Fiori, Il Buca Alimentaria and Vineria

Ahhhh!! New York in the spring!

Tertulia

A very casual, Spanish influenced, pub-like resto, with comfortable bar seats (where I chose to eat). Recently awarded 2** by the NY Times. Also, Chef Seamus Mullin just received Time Out  Magazine, New York award, New York Chef of the Year for 2102.

Pan con tomate. This is a daily favourite of mine (when good). When I am in northern Spain I enjoy toasted bread rubbed with tomato. Here you can enjoy wonderful bread with an exceptional crust, rubbed with very good, rich tasting fresh tomato. A simple dish, here, done so well, but often not so well by many restos that make it. The pan con tomate was accompanied by tortilla, a traditional Spanish rendition of egg, potato, onion and olive oil. The texture of the tortilla was too dense and was lacking in flavour compared to my gold standard experiences in Spain.

“Cojonudo revisited”. Two bites of smoked pig cheek, quail egg and roast pepper, a rich, earthy taste.

Fried shisito peppers with "lots of sea salt". And although the peppers had a perfect texture and were roasted properly, I felt they were too salty. 

Salt cod brandade, baked egg, roasted peppers. A good solid comfort food dish, with their usual great toast. Just not enough to wow.

Crispy potatoes, pimenton de la vera, garlic all I oli. Addictively crispy, crunchy potatoes dusted with the punchy taste of the pimenton and drizzled all over with wonderful garlicky all I oli, that balances the spice of the pimenton . The potatoes are first boiled, then fried at low temp then fried a second time at a higher temp. This was a great dish and should not be missed 

Sun chokes (Jerusalem artichokes) are smoked and fried. The smokey aspect enhances the flavour of the chokes. A good dish.

Calasparra rice, snails, wild mushrooms, celery, fennel, draped with thin slices of Iberico ham. A promising dish that did not quite meet my expectations. The rice had the right texture but there was no wow with all of the flavours. 

Smoked and slow roasted young chicken accompanied by polenta with hens egg and braised winter greens. The chicken was moist and flavourful. The highly reduced stock was an exceptional, rich tasting, thick rendition. The polenta was a rich, eggy tasting accompanyment. But, where were the greens?

The accompanying dish, polenta with a poached egg. The egg was chopped up and mixed into the polenta in front of you by the waiter.

Myer lemon cake and lemon ice cream with thyme, and lemon zest powder. The cake had a very nice lemony flavour as did the icing and ice cream. However, the texture of the cake was a bit too dry.

The Old Homestead Restaurant

The Old Homestead resto, in the Meat Packing district, is a place that people typically go for steak. It is one of the oldest restaurants in New York. I went there for their lunch special, the Diamond Special (NB-not listed on the regular menu): 3 slider style burgers, requested med rare to rare; one wagyu with kobe bacon, truffle, caramelized onion sauce, one made of prime filet mignon with a horseradish sauceand one made of prime sirloin with cheese on top which I specially ordered without the cheese (as I do not like the combo of cheese and meat, as most of you may know). The burgers were presented with "tater tots", crispy chunks of mashed potato that were pretty good. All burgers arrived with the correct amount of doneness. 

My faves in order of preference, the hand chopped filet, the prime sirloin and then the wagyu burger. I ran this taste test again with a good friend with a good palate, and this time, the tasting was "blind". The results for my friend were the same as mine.

The wagyu. Notice the nature of the texture in the middle:

The prime filet:

The sirloin:

Creamed spinach arrived perfectly cooked and perfectly prepared (no photo).

Del Posto

Yes, another Mario Battali outpost. But, chef Mario does a rather outstanding job with every resto he has opened. He has a very good staff and a very good business partner. Del Posto is his high end opus.

Overall, the experience at Del Posto made for quite a memorable evening. I rarely speak about service because one can not eat it, but this experience, for me, was noteworthy. Service was highly knowledgeable, professional and sensitively attentive. Perhaps the best service overall that I have enjoyed since Le Gavroche in London in the days when it was just awarded 3*.

Chick peas, black truffles. Intense black truffle flavour in crispy shell. Soup broth made with "120" hens, spinach, polenta. Very rich, highly reduced chicken broth. Sweet pea, baccala and mascarpone in a rice-like arancini, but better. Nice flavours. Rice is perfectly cooked, served warm.

Vitello tonnato with olive crostone, caper shoots, parsley stems and finger lime cells.

Beef and black truffle carpaccio with jersalem artichoke puree, sage grissini (with beef fat and sage) and sunflowers.

Spaghetti with dungeness crab, sliced jalapeno and minced scallion with toasted bread crumbs.

Scungilli (a marine snail) due, with black garlic, black pepper, lemon and parsley stems.

Orcchiette with lamb neck ragu, orange carrots (pre-cooked with tangerine agrumato), rye crumbs and toasted sage. This is a dish that was a good as the menu description sounded. The sweetness of the carrots added a special flavour dimension to this dish.

Burnt beef with potato torta. The beef, cooked to the proper doneness I rated 6\3\5 (out of 10 for taste, texture and juicyness). Not a great steak experience.

A side of Calabrian, spicy tongue stew. If you like beef tongue, you would very much enjoy this dish.

Chocolate ricotta tortino, toasted Sicilian pistachios and olive oil gelato. I loved how the flavours worked in this dish. The olive oil gelato combined well with the chocolate and pistachio, lengthening the finish of these complementary flavours.

Chocolate tree, made of different types of chocolate. This was an amazing chocolate lover's delight!

La grattuggia, bomboloni, polenta crostata, with rhubarb, candied grapefruit, spicy hazelnuts.

North End Grill

Chef floyd Cardoz, former chef at Danny Meyer's Tabla, now closed, is the resident kitchen leader.

Cod throats meuniere, brown butter sauce and Australian finger lime. Cod throats are the main ingredient in a renown Basque dish favourite of mine, where they are poached in olive oil with garlic. This version, although very pleasant, does not show the cod flavour and texture in it's prime.

Soft scrambled eggs with hen of the woods mushrooms on grilled bread. A great breakfast or brunch treat perfectly done. A nice app too.

Hashed brussel sprouts with lentils. The texture and flavour of this salad was a very good accompaniment to the dishes that we enjoyed.

Thrice fried, spiced fries. Really tasty, crunchy fries.

Marrow bones with trout roe accompanied by trotter on toast and cress. i just love marrow bones. The trotter on grilled country bread was a lovely, stick to the ribs rendition.

Brown butter cheese cake with pear confit and buttermilk sherbet. A very good cheese cake and much enhanced by the pear confit and sherbet. 

Chocolate pecan layer cake with pecan choc chip ice cream. Just a chocolate lovers delight.

Cafe Sabarsky

With all of my indulgences over the past 2 weeks, in Italy and NY, and considering my parallel and gradual weight gains, I avoided one of the great reasons for just eating here: the sweets. Cakes and tarts here are of Vienna quality at its best: sacher torte, klimttorte, rehrucken, etc.

But the Cafe has savouries as well, also quite reminiscent of Vienna.

Wiesswurst, bavarian sausage with Handelmaier's mustard (the dark spot), a mildly sweet, grainy, wine flavoured mustard. A little sparse on the plate, but tasted good.

Roasted pork sausage with riesling sauerkraut, roasted potatoes and Dijon mustard.

Ai Fiori

This Restaurant is one of the very few in New York offering a very sophistcated take on Italian cuisine. The highly regarded chef is Michael White.

Garlic soup with ricotta gnudi and brioche. A rich, very creamy soup redolent of the sweetness of slow roasted garlic.

Raw razor clams, chorizo, fennel, lemon. The slighly smoky flavour from the chorizo, was a lovely counterpoint for the briny razor clams and the fennel.

Ligurian crustacean ragu, with sepia pasta, scallops, spiced mollica (bread crumbs). Pasta with a perfectly delicate, springy texture combined with the subtle briny flavours and crispy crumb contrast of the mollica, made this dish sing.

Pansotti. Braised escargot with garlic cream, a parsley veal jus and celery root puree. The pasta purses were topped with thin parmesan crisps.

Agnolotti braised veal parcels with caramelized onions, ramp pesto, pine nuts and a touch of roasted garlic, made for a seductive range of complex flavours.

Bouillabaise. Saffron broth, langostine, scallops bouchet and mussels, with rouillle. The broth was perfectly flavoured although slightly less thick rendition of my gold standard memories of the best bouillabaisse. I would have liked some extra rouille on the side for the crispy toasts provided. Surprisingly, the langostine was overcooked.

Hen of the woods mushrooms with green garlic ricotta salata and pecorino shavings.

Pommes dauphines. Crispy crusted potato fritters with rosemary aioli. The aioli flavoured with rosemary was a very good match with the mashed potato fritters.

Budino di limone. Hazelnut praline with toasted meringue and espresso gelee, cinnamon gelee and a center of lemon curd and fior di latte ice cream on top. This dessert, although "ok", was less than hoped for from the description and just did not sing.

Tartaletta. Dark chocolate tart with jellied grapefruit cubes, hazelnuts, anise and hazelnut gelatto. My fave dessert.

Il Buca Alimentaria et Vineria

This resto just won Time Out NY magazine's Food and Drink "Instant Classic Award".

Bread baked on premises with organic whole grains and long fermentation. The breads are wonderful here: crisp thin crusts with fluffy, light interiors of great flavour and texture. Unfortunately, they are accompanied by a small dish of very modest olive oil.

Grilled (house made) sausage, umbrian lentils, pickled cippolini onions and sage. Perfect textured, subtly coarse and beautifully flavoured sausage, with highly aromatic coriander and fennel and a bit of a bite from pepper. 

Roasted lamb ribs, romesco sauce and smoked salt. Slow cooked, fall off the bone, tender, succulent ribs were grilled on one surface to a slightly crispy finish on that one side.

House made ravioli, ricotta, nettles, a bit of spinach, hazelnuts and parmesan, all dressed with a drizzle of balsamic. (House filled pasta). Perfectly delicate pasta purses. Hazelnuts, ricotta and parmesan are a wonderful marriage of flavours and textures.

Porchetta alla romana, shaved fennel, blood orange, mustard greens, crackling, fennel pollen, oregano and garlic. Very tender, juicy pork, the pork flavour wonderfully enhanced by the acidity of the blood orange and sweet fennel. More sophisticated than rustic and I might have preferred rustic.

Organic umbrian beans, chicken stock, soffrito, a thin strip of lardo on top. This flavours and textures of this bean dish were exemplary. 

Meyer lemon and salted caramel gelati and granny smith apple sorbet. Burnt caramel good underlying flavour and creamy texture but much too salty. The apple flavoured sorbeto was pleasant with just enough apple flavour obvious. The meyer lemon gelato was just a perfect lemony, creamy delight.