I had a nice vacation in Canada, basically a week and a half binge. I liked Toronto – it had a lot of energy and distinct neighborhoods that made me think of Chicago. Montreal reminded me why I love the city, and Quebec has a lot of personality. The Chemin du Roy between QC and Montreal is an amazingly beautiful stretch of reoad.
Thanks for the Toronto recommendations!
Tutti Matti – downtown Italian, relaxed but energetic atmosphere. Great starter of roasted suckling pig and tuna sauce atop toasted bread. Mains of a brined, grilled pork loin (touch overcooked) with fiddleheads and a special pasta with shrimp and scallops (somewhat bland) were pretty good but nothing special.
2010 Malivoire Pinot Noir M2 Small Lot - Canada, Ontario, Niagara Peninsula, Beamsville Bench VQA (5/24/2014)
My first Niagra wine and I’m pleasantly surprised. It’s a light and pure expression of pinot with bright red fruit, vibrant acids, soft tannins, and good minerality. 60 CAD off the list at Tutti Matti in Toronto. (91 pts.)
Hopgood’s Foodliner – seafood joint on Roncesvalles. All the seafood was fresh and tasty and handled with a light touch. Oysters and albacore tuna tartar and a preserved / dried tomato sauce were great starters. Lobster and Cape Breton snow crab were steamed and left more or less as is – delicious.
2006 Pierre Frick Pinot Noir Blanc de Noir - France, Alsace, Alsace AOC (5/25/2014)
Good nose, pretty orange tint, relatively full bodied with a rich roundness to the palate and slight sense of sweetness. Excellent with the seafood at Hopgood’s Foodliner in Toronto - 70 CAD off their list. (92 pts.)
Your’s Truly – nice spot on Ossington Street. We managed to catch them on both half-off wine night on Monday and one of their final days doing prix fixe (5 courses for 55 CAD), both a great value! Every course had great flavor, creativity, and interesting technique. Best course was a perfectly pan seared scallop topped with a thin disk of red bell pepper jelly, followed by a vegetable plate featuring pickled fiddleheads.
2011 Cave Spring Pinot Noir Dolomite - Canada, Ontario, Niagara Peninsula, Niagara Escarpment VQA (5/26/2014)
Light, elegant, body, cherries with a bit of spice. Good long finish leaves the mouth watering. 28 CAD at Yours Truly in Toronto with their half-off Monday discount. (90 pts.)
Dim sum at Lai Wah Heen rivaled anything I remember having at fancy hotels in Hong Kong. Their lobster and shrimp dumpling is a perfect two bites of food.
Chez Boulay in Quebec City. Tasty bistro style food with generous portions in the heart of the old city. Beet salad and goat cheese was classic, duck and goose confit was awesome, if a bit salty. Maple cream éclair was sweet and maplely, a fitting Quebec dessert.
2011 Tawse Gamay Noir - Canada, Ontario, Niagara Peninsula, Niagara Peninsula VQA (5/27/2014)
A simple but nice expression of gamay. Has all the juiciness and joy of good bojo just lacking a little of its body and complexity. 50 CAD off the list at Chez Boulay in Quebec City. (89 pts.)
Laurie Raphael was our most expensive dinner and the only poor meal we had. Slow, scatter-brained service, stale bread, some dishes doomed by their poor conception, some by poor execution. The only saving grace was a nice find on their pretty pricey wine list.
2006 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Franc de Pied - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon (5/28/2014)
Elegance defined on the body but this bottle is not for the anti-brett crowd. A very vegetal, tobacco, and barnyard nose with peppery red fruit, grippy tannins, and an intense mouth feel. Finishes long. 86 CAD off the list at Laurie Raphael in Quebec City. (92 pts.)
Le Clocher Penche, in a cool part of the city outside the old walls, was a great old board recommendation. Crab salad, a mason jar of morels and sea bean, a cheesy pasta with fresh peas and small sweet shrimp, and salmon tartar with thin slices of beets were a fine meal. Quebec cheese and Quebec ice cider finished the meal well.
2009 Yvon Métras Moulin-à-Vent - France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Moulin-à-Vent (5/29/2014)
Yea, this is good. Crazy complex nose, a melange of red fruit and earthy, savory smells that beggar my descriptive abilities. The mouthfeel is so silky but has a tannic undercurrent that is the proverbial velveted iron fist. The body is weightless but has a forceful presence. The finish persists. 87 CAD off the list at Le Clocher Penche in Quebec City. (95 pts.)
With Montreal’s roads shut down for some bike race, and bumper-to-bumper traffic on Sherbrooke going nowhere for miles, we parked our rental car and walked around looking for a restaurant, lucking into Les 400 Coups. Fun place with a very thoughtful wine list and approach to food. Marinated nova scotia trout with foamed yogurt to start and black sturgeon with veal jus were very tasty, very pretty, and all around excellent. My wife’s guinea fowl with sunchokes and chard also was spot on. Dessert was a special raspberry sorbet, chocolate, wild berry, and basil dessert, mixing sweetness, acidity, and a little savoriness to excellent effect.
NV Frank Cornelissen Contadino 10 - Italy, Sicily, Sicilia IGT (5/30/2014)
The nose is floral but reminds me of Metras. There was a slight prickle that blew off. The palate is rich with ripe fruit, amost jammy, and dense minerals. Powerful but with heftiness. 72 CAD off the list of Les 400 Coups in Montreal. Better as it chilled in the ice bucket. (92 pts.)
Liverpool House was a good plan B to a full house at Joe Beef. Both menus seemed similar from what I could see. This place is over the top food, full of fat and flavor. It is not subtle. Quebec tomato salad with cheddar cheese came by mistake instead of a different salad and would have been good if the tomatoes were in season. The lobster pasta featured an awesome, huge half of a lobster but the sauce of lobster bisque was a bit rich and heavy for a whole plate of pasta. My pasta of roast pork ribs simmered in tomato sauce was more to our taste. We also slurped some tasty oysters and passed on the horse tartar and horse steak. Pound cake with pineapples and pineapple ice cream was a simple and fine end.
2011 Pedralonga Rías Baixas DoUmia - Spain, Galicia, Rías Baixas (5/31/2014)
Simple, red-fruity, and light wiith good balance and acidity. 50 CAD off the list at Liverpool House in Montreal. (90 pts.)
Our favorite meal was at an old standby, Laloux, which still has graceful service and graceful food. Started with spoons of pure Quebec honey, moved on to a lobster salad with sea beans and fiddleheads while my wife had seared beef tartar with smoked cream fraiche and a lightly cooked egg yolk. Main courses of beef flank steak with a black garlic sauce and my wife’s special fish with seam beans, oyster and king mushrooms in an exquisite mushroom dashi were perfect. Lemon tart with rosemary marshmallows and grapefruit and pink peppercorn sorbet also nicely mixed sweet and savory.
1999 Château Les Mangons - France, Bordeaux, Entre-Deux-Mers, Sainte Foy Bordeaux (6/1/2014)
Nicely maturing wine, verdant and leafy with tobacco. Elegantly built though the finish is slightly short. 69 CAD off the list at Laloux in Montreal. (89 pts.)
Upon the rec of our waiter at Les 400 Coups, we booked a table at Hotel Herman, a newish small-plates restaurant in Mile End, for our final dinner. Oysters on the half shell and small sweet shrimp with kohlrabi were good starters. A pureed sweet onion with a touch of cream was a delightful soup. Walleye with thin disks of radish and miso sauce and rabbit boudin blanc covered in an asparagus vinaigrette were interesting and highly flavorful main plates. Dessert of some sort of white chocoloate cremeux was so-so.
2011 Domaine Arlaud Bourgogne Passetoutgrains - France, Burgundy, Bourgogne Passetoutgrains (6/2/2014)
Refreshing and light: a decent food / table wine but strikes me as a bit underripe. 58 CAD off the list at Hotel Herman in Montreal. (88 pts.)