Romance at la Maquette

Romance makes you feel dreamy, moonstruck, sentimental, sweet, loving, tender, affectionate, passionate, and glamorous, it makes you feel happy and special. Romance is found in things you do, things you say and places you go to. La Maquette is one of these places. The night we went I had no idea where we were going. I must say, I was more then pleasantly surprised when we got there. I had noticed their solarium on many occasions while walking on Queen street, always remarked on how pretty it was, wishing I could go inside. Reality was even better then my imagination.

The maitre d’‘s greeting was warm and welcoming, treating us as if we were the most important VIP (well let’s face it we were ... well in my dreams sometimes I am). He led us directly to the solarium where we had direct view on the snow covered courtyard. The room itself was lit with soft candlelight. It was a perfect beginning. And then I diverted my attention the menu and kept smiling.

I was a bit disappointed when I saw that the winterlicious menu only offered salad as appetizer. Don’t get me wrong the Romaine Heart tossed in a Classic Caesar Dressing served with Cheese Crostini was delicious. The dressing tasted rich, creamy and homemade, the romaine heart was crisp. It was a nice salad, but I was hoping for something a little more special, something that would have shown the potential of the place a little better.

The entrée though was worth mentioning and remembering. I chose Roast Veal Strip loin in a Creamy Dijon Mustard Sauce served with Vegetable Florettes and mini Roast Potatoes. The veal was tender and juicy and the sauce was a nice match. I think the best part though were the potatoes. I don’t know what they did to them, how they were cooked, but they were wondrous. I usually have no problem sharing my meal, offering bites, but it was truly heroic of me to split in half the last one that was on my plate. I don’t like to think of myself as greedy, gluttonous sure, but greedy? Well when it comes to those potatoes, I am and I am not ashamed to admit it, as I am sure most people would find themselves in the same predicament.

Chocolate Truffle Cake with Crème Anglaise, doesn’t it sound heavenly? Of course it does, the word chocolate is included. The taste although good wasn’t as great as the name implied. I am not saying I didn’t enjoy, Oh I enjoyed it! I am just saying that it didn’t have much to set it apart from all the other chocolate truffle cake, which in itself can’t be bad, it’s chocolate truffle after all, but it could have been better.

My recommendation is definetley go. This place is definitely worth it, especially if you are going with or taking someone special.

La Maquette, Toronto

Wrapping up our winterlicious tour, I decided to take my lovely lady to La Maquette as we've been wanting to go and the menu sounded very good. For those who don't know the restaurant, it's the kind of place you walk by and it makes you feel romantic just for having looked at it.

We were greeted at the door by an immaculately dressed gentleman and I immediately felt welcome and important even though we "just" having the winterlicious menu. To me this is was a great plus for the restaurant. A place that doesn't make you feel cheap or poor but welcomes you as if you were the most important guest at the restaurant. I felt this to a lesser extent at Bymark and Auberge even though they were both quite pleasant. La Maquette topped them both in terms of a welcome.

The feeling of welcomeness continued when we were greeted by our friendly waiter. Someone who looked like he was happy to serve us and make our night wonderful. And when our sommelier arrived we were greeting with not a trace of snobbishness or reluctance. He happily gave us reccommendations for our meal and explained thoroughly what we should expect when we drink it.

His recommendation for us for the meal ahead was a Moulin de la Dame 2001 which is a blend of syrah, mourvèdre and counoise grapes. The wine tasted of dark berries and the character of syrah was certainly apparent although the blending of the other grapes lent it a mellowness. It probably could have used a little more age but it was quite drinkable and matched beautifully with the meal.

The first course I had was spinach baby greens in a leek and corn dressing with reggiano shavings. The regiano was freshly shaving and had a fantastic bite to it, complimenting the dressing perfectly. The spinach was fresh and had a refreshing bitterness to it and was a good foil to the slightly sweet dressing.

For the main course I had a roast veal striploin in a creamy dijon mustard sauce served with vegetable florettes and mini roast potatoes. The veal was cooked to perfection, seared on the outside and rare on the inside. The taste just by itself was wonderul and the sauce added a completely other dimension. The wine also worked well with the sauce and veal. A great recommendation by our sommelier to be certain.

Finally, for dessert I had chocolate truffle cake with crème Anglaise. This was one of the best truffle cakes I've ever had. The texture of the cake was dense but not too dense. Chocolately but not so much that you were drowning in it.

All in all I found my experience at La Maquette to be wonderful and it was probably one of the best winterlicious destinations I've been to because of the quality of the food, the top-notch service, the wonderful ambience, and the overall impression left by the restaurant. Highly recommended.

Food philosophy

When I was little, I used to read a comic book called "Astérix" and my favorite character in it was named "Obélix". One of his saying was "Quand l'appétit va, tout va!" (When you're stomach is happy then everything is all right!) After eating at Auberge du Pommier, I could have danced my stomach was so happy. Come to think of it, it was dancing but probably more because I ate too much. There are two different philosophies people can base their lives on. Eat to live or live to eat. Most of the time, people adhere to one or the other, personally I chose both. It is no secret by now that I love to eat, but sometimes I also eat just because it's right in front of me and I'm too lazy to get anything else and well I do need to eat, otherwise I would die (well it makes sense to me). Luckily at Auberge, the food placed in front of me was wonderful, not the best I have ever had (my mother's cooking is still the best) but good enough to make me want to go back, regardless of whether it is winterlicious or full price.

It is rare to walk into a restaurant and feel completely comfortable and at ease. The Auberge du Pommier was very homey and inviting but still retained a classy atmosphere; a place where you can take your children, your business associates, your friends, or your lover(s).

The soup was my favorite part of the meal. I chose Purée of Celeriac and Onion soup with chive Chantilly and Parfumé du truffle. Yes, so that soup was already reviewed, but it does deserve a second mention, and a third for that matter. In case you don't quite know, celeriac is also called turnip rooted celery or knob celery and if you can’t still picture it, it's globular and has a taste similar to celery, sophisticated brownish rounder celery. But the important thing is whether it's good, and it is, so I guess that's all I need to say about it. Now, Chantilly sounds difficult and nose in the air French (I'm allowed to say that since I am French, non-French people should abstain from agreeing with me ) but all it really is, is sweetened whipped cream, it's good but not quite as complicated as it sounds. Parfumé is flavoured, so the soup didn't exactly contain underground fungus (another way of saying truffle) but it did have a hint of the distinctive fragrance in it. All those good things put together made for a wonderful soup, one that I would have again, let's say, right now.

My entrée was Medallions of Venison with braised Savoy cabbage, caramelized chestnuts and cranberry Port wine jus. The meat was melt in the mouth tender and when my sister asked me if it was good, all I could say was it tasted wild. I don't know it the description appeals to you, but it sure did to me. What more could you want when tasting your food then picture it running in the forest happy and...hmmm ok I get your point, it's a little strange and disturbing but think about it, it's also fresh and young and when dipped in the jus bursting with flavours. The thing I wasn't so happy with was the Savoy cabbage. I don't know how to describe the taste, somewhat bitter, a bit mushy yet crunchy and not very tasty. By choice, I would not eat this again but since cabbage had died for me and it was in my plate I had to finish it. So I did. As for the chestnut, I am afraid to say they must have ran away from my plate or were eaten by the deer because no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't find them.

Dessert was Gâteau aux fruit de la Passion moist passion fruit cake with marinated pineapple and crème fraîche sorbet. I think I had a love hate relationship with that one. First I was confused as the cake was NOT fruitcake; it was white cake with fruit on top, it should have been called fruit on cake, or cake with fruit on top but not fruitcake, but eh what do I know. I just know I didn't finish the cake, (that's pretty much unheard of), the love part was the sorbet (that one, I finished and was looking around hoping to find a plate somewhere with some left on it. Do you think I could have returned the cake and asked for more sorbet?) All I can say is; it was wondrous, fresh, cool, and just perfect.

Nothing is perfect in this world, this meal is no exception. But the fact that life is imperfect doesn't change the fact that it's still worth living, the same can be said for this meal and this restaurant. Give it a chance, and then go back for more.

Auberge du Pommier

Visited Auberge du Pommier during or ongoing tour of winterlicious restaurants. I had high hope for Auberge, along with Bymark, to deliver phenomenal food and I don't think I was dissapointed at all.

I started with the puree of celeriac and onion soup with chive chantilly and parfume du truffe. The description alone had me salivating and I could already imagine the taste of the savory celeriac and onions and could smell the truffles wafting in the air. The actual dish lived up to my expectations with its smooth and rich texture and wonderful aromas. It is dishes like this that I love to eat at restaurants; dishes that I couldn't imagine creating myself at home. Dishes so wonderful they exceed expectations.

Next up was the blanquette de fruits de mer which was a seafood and vegetable stew with fresh herbs and puff pastry vol-au-vent. The dish was presented wonderfully with deep fried stems lanced through the pastry sitting atop a sea of creamy white stew flecked with dazzling hues of green and orange. The taste itself was rather simple though. This was not a detriment though as the flavours, although simple, were not plain. Every vegetable tasted fresh and was not overcooked. The creamy stew fluffy and light and filled with flavour but not dense at all. And the puff pastries lived up to their name. Light and flaky like buttery clouds.

The finale to the evening was their warm winter tarte tatin which was described as an upside down apple tart with cinnamon anglaise and vanilla glace. Although this was a fantastic dessert in its own right, it didn't stand out from the rest of the meal. As great as it was I don't think it is any better than the cake you might find at Sen5es or Dufflet.

All in all it was a great evening and I would certainly go to Auberge again soon. I would also recommend it to anyone else who is looking for a fine french inspired meal.

Jackson-Triggs Proprietors' Reserve 2002 Cabernet Franc / Cabernet Sauvignon

The wine we chose to drink at Sage was the Proprietors' Reserve 2002 Cabernet Franc / Cabernet Sauvignon from Jackson-Triggs winery. The wine is a blend of 60% cabernet franc and 40% cabernet sauvignon. The taste of the wine obviously reflects this blend resulting in something that is both bold and yet rounded at the same time. Highly recommended. Good value.

Sage Restaurant, Toronto

Went with a group of people to try Sage near Bay and Bloor as we needed a place to eat close to a friend's house. Now that I've been there I realize that we probably should have chosen something for the food and not for the location.

The first impression was nice enough with the restaurant's nice, if a little boring, decor, a pleasant hostess and good seating location. As soon as the first course came out the first impressions vanished. The leek and potato soup was thin and pretty much flavourless. I couldn't tell where the leeks came into the equation. And the potatoes were nearly non-existant. The soup was also excessively peppered making the soup taste like peppery water. As someone at the table had commented, the soup tasted like something from a can. I'll go one further and say that canned Campbell's soup usually tastes better than the soup that was served to me that evening.

The next course was penne primavera. The dinner menu overall didn't look inspired so I went with what should have been the safest bet. The penne didn't leave any kind of impression at all. I wish I could say that it tasted homemade or as unique but it was about as bland and boring and average as primavera could get.

I don't think my dinner companions fared any better either with "tempura" salmon that looked more like fish and chips, and a stuffed chicken course that was barely stuffed with anything at all.

Dessert was also a large dissapointment. The supposed creme bruleé was barely charred at all on top and I failed to taste anything resembling espresso. Like the other courses we had, the taste was bland yet again.

To be fair this was a winterlicious dinner and it is possible that the restaurant could do better given different circumstances. However, I thought part of the point of winterlicious was to allow people to come and try food at restaurants they typically wouldn't go to and build a larger customer base. In this case I believe Sage lost 5 potential customers.

Sage or not?

Excitement bubbled through me, once again I was going to a fine dining establishment to enjoy a winterlicious dinner; Delicious food in winter. This time we were going to Sage restaurant. I had never heard of the place until a few days before when I was told we had reservations to eat there. So being curious and all (not nosy, curious!) I went online and did some research. The pictures looked nice and the menu, even if not exotic and different, still looked quite appetizing. So my smile was firmly in place and my stomach expectant. When we first arrived, the outside looked nice and inviting, maybe the soft falling snow helped but I found myself eager to go in and once again please my taste buds. So we did what we had to do and walked in...Once we did, I had a nagging suspicion in the back of my mind that maybe we should have kept on walking and kept the illusion intact. The fine dining environment I was expecting quickly disappeared to give place to something else entirely; a place that tried too hard to impress. Sage by definition is having wisdom that comes with age and experience, the place I walked into should have been called Pre-pubescent. With the newspaper article glued on their walls and windows, flyers of their “exploits” available at every corner, I felt like I was in the room of a 13 year old that thought had done and learned everything there was to already. But I am no snob and I was there for the food, not the ambience. Although ambience is a nice thing once in a while, but some of the best food I have eaten was in a hole in a wall environment so I wasn’t going to let that influence whether or not I was going to enjoy the meal.

I started with Mixed Greens in a Roasted Shallot Vinaigrette. The taste was that of an ordinary salad, I guess when ordering a salad it is to be expected, but still I was hoping for something better then what I find at my work’s cafeteria, and even then I am not even sure they did it as well, but it wasn’t bad if a little mushy. I wasn’t enthralled but it was eatable.

However once I excused myself from the table to visit the ladies' room, I was less then impressed, first I had to actually walk outside the confine of the restaurant and second, it wasn’t clean! I mean I can deal with abstentious decors or lack of great ambience but any self respecting restaurant above a McDonald should make sure that their washrooms is above the freezing temperature and does not require waddling through dirty paper towels. (Well, maybe there were only a couple of used paper towels on the floor but 1 is already too many so I feel justified by complaining about it.)

Once I got back, shivering, the main course had been brought to the table. Seared Chicken Breast stuffed with Feta, Spinach & Tomatoes, accompanied with Vegetable & Potato. In theory it sounds good, and it was but it also was boring and uninspired. The potatoes were good; the chicken was just that chicken, it tasted bland and was a bit dry, and if it was stuffed with anything, I couldn't taste it (Even I can make tastier chicken then that).

All in all I was very disappointed with the meal. I won’t say I regret going, first because despite the food I had a great time (it’s not what you eat, it’s whom you eat it with, well at least in some instance) and second because my philosophy is that I will try anything at least once (food wise that is). So I tried Sage, and now that I did, the experience is done and over with, I can happily move on to a much better one (one would hope so anyway). My parting words are, Sage wasn’t bad but it wasn’t good either, your money would be better spent somewhere else.

Ever Miss an Episode on FoodTV?

Something I thought would be useful for all you foodies who sometimes regret missing shows on FoodTV. The helpful folks at Digital Distractions have an archive of some of the shows from the network including Iron Chef, Iron Chef America, and Cook Like a Chef. You'll need to set up bittorrent but it's totally worth it.

Bouquets Gala Evening at Chateau des Charmes

Thought I'd mention that in two weeks time at Chateau des Charmes they're having their awesome-sounding Bouquets gala event. If you don't know, Chateau des Charmes is located in the Niagara-on-the-lake region. Below are the detail that I saw:

February 19, 2005
Chateau des Charmes Winery
905-468-1950
Annual Gala event at Chateau des Charmes Winery features varietally themed tasting stations with Niagara-on-the-Lake wine and culinary offerings, surrounded by beautiful displays of locally grown roses. 7:30 pm, with rose auction at 9 pm. Tickets $75

Maybe if they're not booked up already I'll see if I can get some tickets. Sounds like a wonderful Valentine's day alternative (albeit a little late) to spending big bucks on overpriced roses or eating overpriced food in the city.

Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook

I've been watching Tony for a while on FoodTV and I gotta say that he's probably got one of the best foodie jobs in the world. He travels, eats, travels some more, eats some more... I mean can it really be that rough? Sure, in his "A Cook's Tour" book he complains sometimes but the moral of the story is, eating food for a living isn't that bad.

All that rambling leads me to the Les Halles Cookbook which I picked up recently. Having only cooked the soupe au vin thus far, I can't comment on the majority of the recipes but the soup was fantastic.

Other recipes that have been piquing my interest are the moules a la basquaise, the blanquette de homard, and quenelles de brochet. For the most part, these and the other recipes are fairly easy to prepare as long as you're comfortable making some stocks and demi-glace and getting your meeeeez in place (mise-en-place). And as usual each chapter and each recipe feature Tony's visceral, unedited, and rather amusing writing. I highly recommend this one, even if you're just a rookie chef like myself.

...and I eat

I eat; I eat often. I eat good things, I eat bad things, and I eat things just for the sake of eating. Sometimes, however, comes along a chance to eat something out of the ordinary, something that will haunt your taste buds for days if not weeks to come. One of these experiences was at Bymark, where I recently went for Winterlicious. I must tell you, I am not used to fancy, classy places, so along with the excitement at the promise of good food, I was also nervous as to how people there would look at me, whether they would look down their noses at ordinary “little” me for not being up to par for their fabulous restaurant or just plain ignore me. My fears were quickly alleviated.

When we stepped out the taxi, (my rolls driver had the night off) a valet opened the door for us and allowed us entry. My first impression was that of friendliness. The hostess, a big smile on her face, promptly delivered us to our table. I think we lucked out on that aspect as we were seated in a corner booth, very plush very comfortable, so comfortable in fact that I instantly had the urge to cuddle up to the handsome man sitting beside me. But I repressed the urge and tried to look as if I belonged there, which of course I did (belong there that is). From where I was, I had view on most of the restaurant, the atmosphere and the lighting were hush yet very inviting. I think even the sound of the world crashing around us would have sounded muffled.(In a good way of course, after all who wants to know the world is coming to an end.)

Now let’s finally get to the best part (literally); the food. I started the orgy of the senses with Seared Yellow Fin tuna with spiced mango, pickled leek hearts, scallions and Yuzu dressing. Why did I choose this fabulous appetizer? Well, the obvious question after reading the description is why not, but more then that is Yuzu dressing. I was clueless as to what it was and well I love trying unknown and new things, makes me feel like a bit of an adventuress. (Without the danger part). The taste of the sauce was something that was vaguely familiar to me but at the time I couldn’t put my finger on it. Actually at the time I didn’t try putting my finger on anything but the food in my plate. (No worries, I used my knife and fork like a civilized person…) As it turns out, I found out (after I googled it) that Yuzu is a tangerine-size variety of citron, a species of citrus fruit with a thick, bumpy rind. Trust me it doesn’t sound half as good as it tasted. The slightly bitter taste was perfect accent for the melt in your mouth tuna. It was all I could do not to moan in perfect ecstasy.

That was followed by Grilled striped sea bass with crisp skin, oven cured tomatoes,fingerling potatoes, herb tapenade and crisp capers. Wonderful, flavorful, light…well it was all that and more. The cured tomatoes, little tomatoes with spices cooked in the oven for a long time (that’s ok I didn’t know either what they were until I saw them on my plate) were so tasty, I even opened my eyes wide in surprise at the delicate taste. (one could have believed I had never even seen a tomato before). The sea bass, well maybe, it’s just because I love fish, maybe it was because it felt as though everything was so well harmonized together that I thought I had a concerto happening on my palate, but whatever it was I felt happy, content to just sit there and let the flavors melt together and grandly entertain all the little buds in my mouth.
A for the desert, I don’t need to say anything but the name. I am a woman, a woman addicted to chocolate favoring cheesecakes above all other cakes, so when I saw warm orange scented cheesecake with candied peel, syrup and warm chocolate ganache on the menu, it wasn’t a choice. It was a must. Although I was already full from the meal, the desert disappeared as if I still was starved. It seemed as if every bite had a different taste…one with chocolate ganache, one with syrup, one with candied peel, one just ganache, one just cheesecake… and finally to finish it all off in a very classy way... I licked my plate clean off all ganache! (Well not really but I surely thought about it).

The people working there were friendly and strangely enough seemed as human as you and me. One waiter even took the time to check out the backside of a particularly attractive girl!
The only drawback of dining at Bymark is the next day, when you are so full of both food and delicious memories that all other food appears bland and unappetizing. But I say it’s worth it!