Berserkers and Foodies,
The Toronto Wine Elitist Cabal ™ celebrated our member Michael Wright’s birthday at Scaramouche restaurant in Toronto. Scaramouche specializes in classic French cuisine and was founded in 1980 by Morden Yolles, whose family owned the building where it’s now located in a residential area near Avenue Road and St. Clair. It’s literally attached to the side of a condo and is pretty much non-descript from the outside. So much so that if you weren’t sure where it was, you’d actually miss it thinking you’d arrived at some random condominium building.
That condominium building it’s housed in happens to be at the top of a hill overlooking the city, so a clever optical illusion of sorts happens when you first enter Scaramouche. You’re taken downstairs from the lobby into the “basement” only to discover you’re on a very large and very wide floor with all natural lighting and a beautiful view of the city of Toronto from literally every single table. Service and cuisine are both impeccable and over its long history, Scaramouche became a favorite of celebrities, politicians, and business tycoons and earned a reputation as one of the city’s first “Go to see and be seen” types of places. Much to their credit, this has not gone to their heads and they treat everyone with the same grace and care.
We began the evening with some cocktails. Jay and Michael had a pair of classic Martinis while I had a Paper Plane:
LAHERTE FRERES “LES 7” SOLERA 2005 - 2018 EXTRA BRUT – Jay brought this grower’s Champagne, produced by Aurélien Laherte from grapes grown on his family’s 10.5 hectare vineyard. As the name implies, this Champagne contains all 7 permissible grapes allowed. It’s a blend of 18% Pinot Meunier, 18% Chardonnay; 17% Pinot Blanc, 15% Petit Meslier, 14% Pinot Noir, 10% Fromenteau and 8% Arbanne. Further, 40% of the entire blend is from a continuous solera that was started in 2005.
This is perfectly balanced. Light straw gold in the glass, crisp in texture, high acidity, lots of green apple and unripe pineapple flavor with light toast. Racy and refreshing. A great start.
**DUDET NAUDIN 2016 SAVIGNY-LES-BEAUNE 1ER CRU EN REDRESCUL ** – Jay found this off the wine list and was curious to try it so we went for it. 100% Burgundy Chardonnay, of course. This was a really interesting white Burgundy that acted very differently from any I’ve had before. It had the prerequisite crisp green apple flavors and high acidity but they were both extremely light and were underscored by a very strong cream note and a fascinating Bourbon note on the finish. Now I did have a Bourbon based cocktail to start off with, but that was long finished so it wasn’t my mind playing tricks on me. The others agreed with my note of it as well. Our friend Deb who was also joining us remarked that it was a very different wine. That we’re all agreed with. Is it a good wine, though? The consensus at the table pretty much amounted to it was OK but not great.
At this point, we delved into our food. We started off by getting a plate of oysters each. The freshly shucked oysters were from New Brunswick were served with the classic accompaniments of fresh lemon wedges, shaved horseradish, and red wine mignonette.
We ordered a couple of additional starters. I had the Romaine Hearts which was both really just an upscale version of a classic Caesar salad… and 1000% the single absolute best Caesar salad I have ever had. Period. Seriously. It’s actually made me afraid to order any other Caesar salad at a restaurant in the future for fear of it not being able to live up to this one.
Michael ordered the Smoked Salmon Mousse Parfait.
For our mains, Deb ordered the Pan Seared Sea Scallops. They were accompanied by fingerling potatoes, leek soubise, seasonal wild mushrooms, parsley emulsion, black truffle beurre fondue and gaufrette potato crisps.
I ordered the Duck Confit. Roasted breast and shredded confit leg were served with Italian farro, swede, mustard greens, triple crunch mustard, pearl onion, toasted hazelnuts, foie gras jus and charred blood orange relish.
Jay ordered the European Sea Bass. Pan seared and brushed with harissa paste and served with organic white beans, oven dried cherry tomatoes, preserved lemon, piquillo peppers, Swiss chard, black olives white wine tomato broth and smoked paprika oil.
Michael had the Peppercorn Fettucine which I had considered myself and will definitely get next time. Beef tenderloin, oyster mushrooms, Madeira cream, pine nuts and topped with a gruyère bread crumb crust.
With our main courses, we had the last table wine of the evening which Michael chose off the list.
JEAN-BAPTISTE JESSIAUME MORGEOT CHASSAGNE-MONTRACHET 1ER CRU – A much more classic white Burgundy. Flint and apple aromas on the nose, rich green apple falvor, high acidity and a touch of phenolic bitterness on the finish. Definitely made the Savigny more interesting to appreciate given the stark contrast. This said, I favor the classic taste of this Chassagne-Montrachet. To be fair, Chassagne-Montrachet in general is one of my favorite white Burgundy styles along with Meursault and Chablis so I’m pretty biased.
For our desserts, Deb and I ordered a pair of slices of the Coconut Cream Pie. Coconut custard in a pastry crust, chantilly cream, white chocolate shavings and dark chocolate sauce.
Jay ordered the Orange Semifreddo. Frozen orange custard was topped with fresh blood orange, Italian meringue, candied zest and blood orange caramel.
JULES GAUTRET PINEAU DES CHARENTES EXTRA VIEUX 12 ANS – I brought our dessert wine and it was a pretty spectacular one. A blend of 50% Ugni Blanc, 25% Colombard, 15% Jurançon Blanc and 10% Sémillon grape juice is fortified with Cognac spirit and then aged in oak casks for 12 years. Rich gold color in the glass. High heat and black pepper spice on the nose. Full-bodied and full of black pepper, white stone fruit, peach syrup, and lime flavors are accented by a lingering Cognac heat and incredibly rich but fresh tasting Rancio flavors. Michael took one sip of this, looked at me, and happily declared it the WOTN. I can happily concur with that one. Very unique and tasty. Glad I have another bottle but it’s readily available at the SAQ so I can grab some more when I visit my family in Montreal.
This was a great meal at a great location. Our sommelier and waiter were perfect and we appreciate their service. This was my first time ever at this celebrated Toronto landmark restaurant. I look forward very much to returning.
