Gold Medal Plates 2011

Gold medal plates is the big fundraiser held across Canada to raise funds for the olympic athletes. This year, Langdon Hall chef Jonathan Gushue was the winner.

Jason Bangerter, Luma

Confit of chicken liver terrine with liver parfait, shallots and port wine.

 Rob Gentile, Buca

Tortelli d'oca: goose offal and delicate porcini filled pasta with cured goose breast, hazelnut, crisp rosemary leaves and 13th Street merlot vincotto. A liquid butter/egg yolk and merlot reduction surrounded the pasta on which were scattered chopped nuts.

Jonathan Gushue, Langdon Hall (Winner)

Garden brussel sprouts, white salsify, black salsify chips, preserved oysters, duck's egg and smoked trout caviar. This was a remarkably satisfying dish: the brussel sprout leaves still had texture and a slight firmness to the bight; the salsify added and earthy taste; the oyster had a soft texture that matched the firmer texture of the other elements and the briny flavour enhanced the flavours of the sprouts and salsify.

Tom Brodi, Toca

Palacsinta wrapped veal cheek, braised cabbage and pickled Cinnamon Cape mushrooms.

Tony De Luca, De Luca's Wine Country Restaurant

Ice wine roasted Ontario venison tenderloin with chestnut tuile, blue cheese mousseline and celery root puree with vanilla.

 Ted Corrado, C5 Restaurant

Beef short rib, parsley root puree, toasted barley and roasted grape jus. This was a hearty satisfying dish.

Lorenzo Losetto, George

Veal blade, harvest vegetables, chestnut potato.

David Lee, Nota Bene

Roasted squab, David's tortiere ( pastry was filled with a mixture of ground moose, duck and black pig), black pudding sauce. The squab was perfectly cooked and the tortiere gamey and delicious.

Patrick McMurray, Starfish Oyster Bed and Grill and Ceili Cottage Restaurants

Organic chicken liver pate served with a fabulous organic cherry compote that had a bright tangy taste that went so well with the rich tasting chicken liver.

Weathervane scallops which had a wonderful sweetness which combined well with the rich taste of the roe.

Patrick McMurray presents his wonderfully fresh tasting sea urchins.

Peet smoked steel head trout and peet smoked salmon.

Cured steel head trout.

Jason Carter, Centro 

Bison cooked sous vide with fried moss and salsify. The cooking rendered this bison incredibly tender and juicy.

Michael Steh, Red's Bistro and Wine Bar

A play on "bacon and eggs"...... there was no bacon: scallop mousse in a piece of brioche topped with a duck's egg yolk and coffee cured, smoked (with Henry of Pellham oak), chewy duck breast; sided with sweet onion and cheddar soup topped with a thin slice of smoked crispy apple; accompanied by an egg shell filled with lavender and soy custard, diced northern kiwi, crunchy coconut "bacon" and riesling gelee. This was a complex and interesting dish, but the standout was the fabulous brioche "sandwich".

The brigade of the chefs enters the main hall, holding the bottle of wine that was served to match their dish.

Gold Medal Plates Food Event

At the VIP reception, former Gold Medal Plates Winner Chef David Lee greeted everyone with a reprise of his winning dish from last year, crispy chicken skin topped with soft cartilage and a small piece of mildy hot pepper, as an app and also a dish of beans and blood sausage with pigs trotter ragout de boulettes (meatballs).

Frank Dodd, chef of Hillebrand Winery Restaurant, presented soft unctuous pigs head terrine  terrine, plated with a crunchy bacon sugar crisp in a creamy ice-cold bacon ice cream ball and also hot pastry covered soup, a lovely broth with cubed squash, ham hock and white beans. A very interesting and palate provoking juxtaposition of elements. The pastry crust was the only weakness, not flaky enough.

Anne Yarmovitch, chef of the Art Gallery restaurant, Frank, presented melt in your mouth corned beef tongue with exceptionally tender braised beef cheek, all mounted on potato and parsnip pureee accompanied by zippy and tarte horseradish puree, beet and horseradish relish, pickled baby beet and a crisp horseradish chip. This was my favourite dish for intense flavours and texture.

Chef Anthony Walsh, of Canoe Restaurant, presented cumbrae farms turkey "a la king", pieces of pulled turkey with spaetzle, edamame and small chunks of lobster (would have preferred larger). Protein liquid from the lobster and turkey stock along with creme fraiche, was put through a creamer under pressure, to create  a very tasty foam that was placed on the top of the ingredients.

Chef Jonanthan Gushue of Langdon Hall Restaurant presented "pickerel under pressure". Pickerel was combined with butter and thyme and cooked sous vide (but not "under pressure") and plated with heartnut creme fraiche, thinly sliced black radish, celery hearts and black pepper honey. A delicate combination of subtly flavoured ingredients for the mild taste of the perfectly cooked fish.

Chef Lora Kirk of Ruby Watchco Restaurant presented delectable slow braised, extremely tender short ribs, mounted on a shallot puree and all topped topped with bone marrow and caviar. What a wonderful combination of flavours. My number 2 dish.

Chef Ted Corrado of C5 Restaurant  at the ROM presented Cumbrae Farms flavourful, tender lamb neck, cooked sous vide, with garlic peppercorns and thyme, anchovy, porcini confit and chanterelles, sprouts, charred onion sauce all topped with finely shaved white truffle.

Lorenzo Loseto of George Restaurant presented very tender Tamworth pork belly, ricotta cavatelli, artichokes, matsutake mushrooms, red pepper sauce with marsala jus and elderberry sauce. A very complementary presentation of flavours.

Chef Martin Koupre of Pangaea Restaurant presented perfectly cooked rare duck breast with wild mushrooms, pearl onions, shaved duck liver, lingonberry sauce and shaved yellow beet root. Another wonderful assembly of complementary flavours for a dish.

Chef Jamie Kennedy of the Gilead cafe presented a "celebration of poultry", a delicious terrine of hearts, gizzards, fois gras and confit combined with both a Hillier wine onion soubise and a mignonette sauce. I took a photo, but somehow, it was not stored. But, a lovely colourful presentation.



Chef Michael Steh of Red's Bistro and Wine Bar presented saddle of rabbit stuffed with Slovenian blood sausage, smoked rabbit kielbasa, crisp fried rabbit confit, verjus glazed baby veg (carrots, scallions and beets) and armagnac poached prunes. Sauce of chanterrelles and grainy mustard. There were perhaps too many flavours and textures happening together in this dish, but a very ambitious effort.

Gold Medal Plates Chef Competition

I am a bit late filing these observations, but have been away at a well known "fat farm" to lose all of the excess baggage I had put on after 2 months of non-stop travel. As everyone may be aware, chef David Lee won the Toronto Gold Medal Plates competition, qualifying to compete in the Canada wide chefs final competition, all in the interest of helping to raise funds in support of the Canadian olympic athletes. Chef Lee won with his well executed Feran Adria (chef at the world's #1 resto, El Bulli, in Spain) inspired crispy chicken skin topped with it's cartilage, flavoured with plum hoisin and sour apple compote. Having tasted the El Bulli version, I can say, that in some respects, his version was even better because how he brought new flavours to the dish to enhance the pure chicken experience. This was one of my top 4 favourite experiences of the night.

Chef Mark McEwan presented braised rabbit with apple caponata gnocchi and a roasted squash puree. Chef Donna Dooher of Mildred Temple Kitchen created one of my top 4 experiences of the night, a dish reflective of some of the new texture taste experiences I enjoyed in Spain, potted dungeness crab salad with chopped heirloom winter radishes, mache, jellied butter and Dijon ice cream. Chef Teddy Corrado of C-5 restaurant at the ROM presented an ambitious smoked mackerel and hokkaido scallop with barley, tatsoi, speckled trout roe from Prince Edward County, pickled gooseberry all topped with a sauce mornay. Chef Jason Bangerter of Auberge Du Pommier created a very flavourful roasted venison loin on golden nugget squash puree with port wine glazed onion tarte, braised chestnuts all topped with a vanilla game jus (one of my top 4 favourites). Chef Anne Yarmovitch of Frank Restaurant in the AGO presented roasted glazed pork belly with purple cabbage sauerkraut, brandied blue prune plums, plum cardamom and blue potato chips.

In all, a wonderful evening of great tastes for a worthy cause.

Gold Medal Plates Chef Competition

The chef of Lai Wah Heen created a varied presentation of several tastes on the plate, one of which was bbq beef.

Gold Medal Plates Chef Competition

Chef Jonathan Gushue of Langdon Hall presented a torchon of foie gras, black pig cheek with lentil de puy, lobster pudding, honey picked chanterelles, parsely root with Warsaw apple cider jus.

Gold Medal Plates Chef Competition

Chef Patrick Lin, last year's winner of the Gold Medal Plates competition created 4 outstanding small plates for the VIP reception: a wonderful creamy rich foie gras creme brulet  flavoured with chinese 5 spices; duck rillette with crab meat, topped with black truffle and espresso sauce; duck breast peking style with green onion, celery and home made hoisin sauce, all rolled up in a spring roll cone (this was one of my top 4 dishes of the night); an elegantly presented candied walnut rolled with foie gras, topped with orange flavoured lotus crisp (see below).