Canoe Wild

A delightful meal ft @societeorignal w/ @ChefWalsh @ChefHorne & pairings by @SommWillPred. @Oliver_Bonacini's Canoe.

Executive Chef Anthony Walsh and Chef de Cuisine John Horne put together a one night tasting event, Canoe Wild, a celebration of Canadian cuisine featuring ingredients from and collaborating with Société-Orignal (http://www.societe-orignal.com/). Société-Orignal is about connecting chefs with farms in a way that celebrates and inspires both the producer and consumer of the product, using both locally cultivated and wild foraged ingredients. This meal put the spotlight on the wild.

Given that this was a one night only affair, I couldn't pass it up! A friend of mine had mentioned that she had not been to Canoe before, and given that her birthday had just come up, what better way to try my favourite restaurant for the first time than jump in with a full tasting menu at a special event?

The meal began like any other meal, bread and water to wet the appetite. However, this time we were treated to De L'aubier Sap Water. This was a unique product on it's own, unlike traditional bottled water, De L'aubier Sap Water is a still water of vegetal origin made from maple sap. The water is recovered from the process of making maple syrup from two sugar shacks; L’érablière Joli Bois in Mirabel and L’érablière Brunelle in Bromont. There is no hint of sugar in the water, what you get is a very soft water with full bodied mouth feel. 

Amuse-bouche:

Colville Bay Oyster Carpetbagger – Raw oyster rolled with Dulse, Mustard, Horseradish and then wrapped with Ontario beef strip loin and seared, dressed with a dulse vinegar. 

Paired with Hinterland Les Etoiles Sparkling. 

This dish encompasses everything an amuse-bouche should be. A single bite, full of flavour and texture. The Colville Bay Oyster is one of my favourite oysters, second only to the Olympia oyster, so right off the bat this dish was hitting all the right notes for me. The sweetness of the oyster and the earthiness of the beef was a match made in heaven, the dulse, mustard and horseradish added a nice mild touch. The wine rounded off the dish with nice crisp flavours. 

Colville Bay Oyster Carpetbangger

Appetizers:

Wild Boar Charcuterie - Alberta Wild Boar house made Prosciutto Cotto, Smoked Jowl, Rillette and Terrine. Garnished with pickled Black Field Mustard seeds, Preserved Immature Juniper Berries, Pretzel Toast & Campfire Quail Egg.

Paired with Lailey Brickyard Pinot Noir.

Charcuterie. I love it. This dish had a lot of familiar, and favourite, flavours. Just a very nice earthy dish with lots of big flavours going on.

Wild Boar Charcuterie

Qualicum Beach Scallop Ceviche - West Coast Scallops- East Coast seaweed refreshed in Apple cider, Clay pepper dust, celeriac Remoulade & Sea Urchin Bottarga, and finished with Apple cider vinegar Foam.

Paired with Tantalus Riesling.

This dish was a beautifully subtle dish. Lots of very light, but distinct flavours, the most unique being the sea urchin bottarga. The bottarga was shaved on the dish table side, it added a nice salty concentrated sea urchin aroma. The apple cider worked beautifully with the scallop, and provided a nice bit of acidity. 

Qualicum Beach Scallop

There's a story behind every dish and every ingredient. We had the chance to chat with Alex Cruz, the person behind research and development at Société-Orignal and he told about how the sea urchin bottarga came about. Traditionally bottarga is the cured roe of grey mullet or tuna, however with the unique flavour that the sea urchins have from the northern coast of Quebéc he wanted to portray them a different way. The bottarga of sea urchin takes 9-month to cure and has taken years to develop.

Sea Urchin Bottarga

Yarmouth Lobster - Sweetbreads poached in milk then breaded with camelina seeds, Cauliflower risotto with raw and seared cauliflower and finished with camelina oil

Paired with Tawse Robyn's Block Chardonnay.

Yarmouth Lobster

Jerusalem Artichoke Soup - creamy Artichoke soup, Maple braised St-Canut Pork Belly, Globe artichokes, Crispy sunchokes and aged sunflower seed oil.

Paired with Neige Cidre de Glace.

Something so simple, yet so delicious. I'm normally not a huge fan of puréed soups, I  like nice chunky soups. But this is one of the few exceptions to the rule. I've had this dish a few times, as it's available on the regular menu and there's a reason I keep coming back for more. The artichoke soup on it's own is good, but with the addition of the aged sunflower oil, the profile of the whole soup changes and creates a beautiful melody of flavours. Chef Horne noted that since sunflowers and sunchokes are in the same family they spark each other. On another note, from now on every bowl of soup needs a) to be served in a tiny Le Creuset pot (they're just so cute!) b) a nice big piece of pork belly! 

Lately I've been having an unusually frequent enjoyment of sweet wines, the Neige Cidre de Glace continues this trend, and I really enjoyed it! I could probably drink this all day.

Jerusalem Artichoke Soup

Québec Hare Tortellini - Wild Quebéc Hare braised 8 hrs and rolled into a tortellini, Matsutake broth, Rye bread croutons from the O&B Artisan Bakery tossed with sweet fern and caramelized onion to finish.

Paired with 13th Street Old Vines Gamay Noir.

Flavours are beginning to get heavier as we build up to the main courses. In recent years (probably in the past 5) hare has become one of my favourite game proteins. There's just so much you can do with it. This dish brings out a lot of classic sweet and earthy flavours. A very well rounded dish.

Québec Hare Tortellini

Intermezzo:

Wintergreen & Cedar Granite.

Wintergreen & Cedar Granite

Mains:

Green Elder Dusted Venison Loin- Roasted with Green Alder, steel cut oats, Mountain Cranberries, seared leeks, tourtière and vanilla jus.

Paired with Lailey Impromptu.

With venison being a very lean game meat, it can easily be dried out. But fear not, this was perfectly cooked. It was melt in your mouth tender. The green alder provided the venison with nice bitter peppery notes.  What says

Québec more than the quintessential tourtière. Just a very nice bold dish.

Green Elder Dusted Venison Loin

Wild Tea Smoked Duck - Quebéc duck breasts smoked with Wild tea flavours, Rye berries, Foie gras, Watercree purée, Northern Woods Mushrooms and whiskey jus.

Paired with Five Rows Pinot Noir.

This dish has my name all over it. It has the nice earthy, smokey, and woody aromas that I just love. The wild tea was a mixture of various leafs, which just tantalizes the sense giving you the impression that you're walking through a forest on a crisp fall day. The foie provided an elegant richness to the dish. My minor only gripe with this dish is that I would have liked to have had a crispy skin.

Wild Tea Smoked Duck

Dessert:
Niagara Apple Mousse Pie- Caramelized Niagara Apple hash with pecans, cheddar ice cream & Balconville cider vinegar.

Paired with Peninsula Ridge Ratafia.

Bringing the classic flavours of an apple pie with a twist. I was pleasantly surprised when I went to scoop the ice-cream, the ball disintegrated into a pool of cheddar cream spreading around the mousse. 

The pairing with this dish was something very different. As Sommelier Predhomme put it "it's the wild card for the night, I'm having fun with this one". This glass made for the perfect finish to the evening, there was a flavour akin to bourbon with notes of citrus and caramel. I'm still thinking about this glass today! 

Niagara Apple Mousse Pie

Lemon Chiffon Cake- Sea buckhorn curd, white chocolate and wild rose mousse with citrus crisp and lychee meringues.

Paired with Malivoire Chardonnay Musqué Spirtz

I had expected a lemon flavoured cake, but it was much more milder than I expected. The sea buckhorn curd and its hint of passion fruit gave the cake a almost peach like flavour to it. 

Lemon Chiffon Cake

This was a marvellous meal to say the least. By the end, the both of us were gushing with glee. Dishes were wonderfully balanced with different textures and flavours. While many of the tastes and aromas were familiar, each dish contained a lovely element which was new and exciting. Chefs Walsh and Horne embraced each ingredient with respect, devotion, and creativity and were able to create dishes that highlighted ingredients from coast to coast taking us on a cross country tour of wild ingredients.

Just as important as the food, is the wine that accompanies it. Sommelier Will Predhomme did a fantastic job pairing the wine with each dish. For this meal I opted to go with local pairings (To this day, I still don't enjoy wine from outside Canada as much as I do local wine. All my favourites are from right here in Ontario). It's been a while since I've had a meal where each dish was perfectly paired, I mean it's been over a week since that meal and I'm still left thinking about not only the food I had but the wine that went along with it. Predhomme knows his wines better than any other sommelier I've met. 

Thanks to Chef's Walsh and Horne, Sommelier Predhomme, the team at Canoe, and the folks at Société-Orignal for a fantastic evening. A meal I won't forget anytime soon!

Here's the full menu for the night. 

Menu

Back to where it all started. Canoe Restaurant and Bar, located on the 54th floor of the Toronto Dominion Centre, holds a special meaning for me. My first time there was June 28th, 2007, it was the first time I had ever had a tasting menu with pairings, it was also the first time I got really excited about food and service. If I had to pick a time I became a "foodie" it was probably that night. I've returned to Canoe many times since that evening and it continues to captivate me every time. It is, and always will be, my favourite restaurant.

Thanks to Chef John Horne for the menu details.