Perigee with pictures

[Captain Hongo]

On September13, 2005, 2 weeks ago, today, we had a amazing meal at Perigee. Enjoy it with us.

The Amuse. 4 different Oysters with Canadian Sturgeon Caviar.

They had a small sliver of cucumber in each that made the flavor slightly sweeter and added a nicely satisfying soft crunch.

Mini Smoked Bison Burgers, with red pepper cheese, on a sourdough bun with Napa cabbage slaw.

Instead of the regular 7 course Tasting Menu, Chef Patrick offered us “a whole bunch of things to try showing what we’ve been doing lately.” The burger had a dusky flavor which fit very nicely with the mustard.

Artisanal Goat Cheese, encrusted, on a marinated gold beet salad with crushed fennel.

There was a nutty/spiced flavor to the cheese from the crust and an earthy aroma that I really enjoyed.

Manila and Littleneck clams in a Fennel potato broth with roast pork butt.

The pork gave a good back beat to the lighter clam flavors and the broth was complex enough to stand on its own.

Roasted Filet of Baramundi on a bed of marinated zucchini salad and chive sour cream.

A densely flavorful fish, sort of like grouper.

Bluefin Tuna with shaved Foie Gras.

I think that it sat on a cushion of humus.

Japanese Diver Scallop on banana pepper slaw and a Tequila glaze.

A Baja California sort of combination that was a definite “Wow”

Reconstructed Greek Salad. Buffalo Mozzarella, encrusted and quickly fried. On a bed of wild Arugula.

This seemed to be a Alinea sort of dish. It’s their take on the Greek salad, with edge and surprise to all areas of the tongue. Same flavors as the Greek salad but with different textures. It worked and tasted/felt perfect.

Dungerness and Maryland Blue Crab Cake on an heirloom tomato and cucumber gazpacho.

Had a nice little bite and some crunch in the gazpacho and a pure crab flavor in the cake.

Butter poached Lobster in a cornbread/summer herb salad with avocado.

Perfect lobster heaven with avo.

BBQ Gulf Shrimp tossed in lime and grapefruit, sitting on top of a braised oxtail stew.

Think about the shrimp and the lime/grapefruit marinade - a kind of ceviche but with half cooked and half marinated shrimp. The stew was strongly flavored and slightly more than medium spicy. The dish, which is a combination of two dishes, from the Philippines, is a favorite of Chef Patrick. I would like them as the original separate foods, but mixing them is a great idea as they don’t seem as though they would go together so well.

Seared Foie Gras sitting on a caramelized onion salad. With a sesame encrusted bluefoot chanterelle mushroom and a roasted mushroom that was quickly fried, on a white fruit vegetable puree, with a Madeira glaze.

What more is there to say? Two different textures of mushroom and foie gras.

Veal sweetbreads sesame encrusted, a salad of frisee, with white asparagus and Madeira soaked sour cherries.

I know I liked it, but I have no notes.

Right: Guinea Hen boudon blanc on an onion and fig compote.

Middle: Mini pork pie of smoked ham hocks braised in apple cider and white wine on a rhubarb jam.

Left: House cured foie gras torchon on a plum compote.

Difficult to detail reactions. Such pure flavors, quickly eaten The pork pie had a smokehouse strength and with the cider and rhubarb, reminded me of my early farm childhood. Nice. Guinea hen and foie gras. Nice pair with offsetting flavors and textures.

Passion fruit gelee, toasted Macadamia nut, and a raspberry sauce.

Cantaloupe with lychee and cashew in a kiwi soup.

Roasted Squab breast with fried honeyed mushrooms in a black truffle sauce. With poached white asparagus wrapped with serrano ham and then backed under a béchamel sauce.

This is another of the Chef’s favorite dishes, based on a dish from Alsace, France. The bite of the ham against the asparagus was nice. But the breast with the sauce was an eye-opener. Rich, full and I chewed forever, just to make it last longer.

Roasted Venison chop with summer mushroom stew with roasted chestnuts, diced prunes, zucchini, and bone marrow.

This was a chop carved off the bone of a venison from New Zealand that runs on huge tracts of land, free but not wild as such. Sort of wild but monitored. The stew, in bites alternated with the meat added a festive sweetness that went just right with the chop.

Goats milk cheese from France. Called a briquette-very soft on outside, chalky on the inside and aged very quickly. Served with some of their house-cured pork belly in a corn soup.

Wash Rind Cheese with pickled fennel salad, crushed fried chickpeas and Arugula.

Dessert 1

Dessert 2

I have pictures of two desserts, but I couldn’t understand the descriptions on my recorder. Number 1 is a sorbet with tomato syrup and fried mint. I think. The chef said it doesn’t taste as it sounds. He was correct, it was delicious.

The second was a nectarine flan with shaved dark chocolate on a grapefruit tarragon emulsion, and more.

Now, Chef Chris presented 2 dishes that really focused me so much that I forgot to take pictures. But, I have good notes, go figure. These were new desserts that we were “testing”, they passed.

The first was Chris’s version of a peach Melba. On a murlock cake pile roasted peaches, fresh raspberries, and cheesecake ice cream. Next to it spoon peach coulee and raspberry sauce.

The second was “pear done three ways”. The first was pear sous vide for a long time and then quickly fried, placed on top of a bitter chocolate sauce with a little bit of anise chantilly and candied orange rinds. The second way was pear “atoms”, which were little balls that had been caramelized and spooned on top of a coconut sauce with crushed pecans. The third was a shot of Granny Smith apple juice with a brilliant pear foam.

Perigee is in the Distillery District not far from Yonge Street. The District, as much as I saw walking around before dinner, is a nicely restored old brick and wood group of buildings. The restaurant is on the second floor of one of these structures. Our table was against the low wall of the open kitchen and the chefs leaned on the wall to chat after presenting the creations. The service from the floor crew was seamless and royal. Brendan, the host and Michael, the wine steward were knowledgeable and charming. They were a real pleasure. Sam, the busser told some interesting stories, during his attentive and efficient service.

Thank you to the Chefs, Patrick, Ryan and Chris.

[sadistick]

Wow, looks amazing...TONS of food...almost too much!?

Curious what that cost and how you were able to sway him to send out so many different dishes instead of the regular 7!

[Jeebus]

Some very nice looking food, but also a few dishes that are really terrible looking, and just generally very sloppy presentations.

[Jake]

Looks and sounds awesome, thanks for posting. I must get down there very soon, however my SO is allergic to shellfish, hopefully with advance notice that won't be a problem. It hasn't been in most places to date. I pity him, I love what one can do with shellfish.

[rgruby]

Some very nice looking food, but also a few dishes that are really terrible looking, and just generally very sloppy presentations.

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I thought they looked pretty good. Pretty much across the board. They mostly sounded appetizing too! (Shouldn't look at egullet on an empty stomach).

What did you think was sloppy/ terrible looking?

Thanks Cap'n for the report.

Cheers,

Geoff Ruby

[Captain Hongo]

I was doing this with a new camera and a new recorder, this caused some bad pictures and notes that I couldn’t hear . Also, several times we started eating before I remembered to take pictures. We tried to rearrange the items correctly, but didn’t do it well enough (bluefin tuna etc.). The plates that the chef presented were beautiful, well composed and irresistible. We messed them up, sorry.

We had a bottle of Tawse Cabernet Franc with dinner. We had had a glass with dinner at Susur, the night before and really liked it. Later, near the end of dinner, we were presented with 2 very nice sweet wines, a Cave Springs Indian Summer Late Harvest Riesling. And a Peller Vidal Ice Wine. Both were very good. We had visited the Peller Vineyards and tasted 4 of their Ice Wines, purchased 2, including the Vidal.

Michael, the wine steward, and I were talking about local beers early in the dinner and later he surprised us with a flight of 4 local beers. Here, though, is one of those lost notes and all I can say is that the first beer on the left is a Pilsner from Toronto’s Steamwood (sp?) Brewery. Next is a Quebec Wheat Beer, next a Quebec Pale Ale. Last, is a Mill Street Brewery Ale from a brewery in the Distillery District just behind Perigee.

We didn’t have anything to say about the dinner we were served. We ordered the standard 7 course dinner and the bottle of Tawse. Chef Patrick came over to talk to us and said that because we had come a long way for dinner (Los Angeles to T.O.), he would give us a whole bunch of things instead of the 7 course so we could see what they were doing then and show off some new things. We, of course, just said “Thank You”.

The check: 2 7 Course Menu $220.00

1 bottle Tawse $55.00

PST $23.10

GST $19.25

Total $317.35

Thanks for your interest and comments.

And a special shoutout to GordonCooks, whose reviews and pictures were so exciting that we made Perigee the focal point of our trip. I believe he also recommended Peller vineyards for a tasting menu dinner, which we did and will probably post a review soon.

[GordonCooks]

Glad to hear it - I was there with friends on the 24th (last week) and enjoyed yet another superb meal. I'll post my menu when I receive it

Note: The picture of the chef is L-R Patrick Riley, Christopher Brown (brother of Wine Director, Michael), and Ryan.

Also Note - These guys pumped out a meal as good as any I've had there (maybe better) working a man down due to the temporary loss of their grill guy due to injury.

[sadistick]

I absolutely love it when restaurants go out of their way to do something nice for you...the beers are a perfect example of something small, but memorable which may make a great meal/evening even better.

Reminds me of a few years back when I was in New york at this place called 'Fresh' that had the most amazing sea food I've had on this side of the ocean...later on I joked with the manager that since their entire menu was mostly fish/seafood, he must have some type of fishy desserts as well...10 minutes later they came out with a really ammusing plate of a chocolate fish piped out on to a plate, with fresh fruits and sorbets decorating it...not even on the menu...

It's definetly the small stuff....

[Jeebus]

Well if you started eating the dishes and had to reconstruct some of them then the presentation issues are understandable. Maybe I am a little anal about it but, the bluefin tuna plate is a complete mess, the foie gras plate looks like it slid all over the place when your server was bringing it to the table, the veal sweetbreads plate has smudges and a big greasy fingerprint on the edge of the plate, the squab breast has splatters all ove the bowl and the rim of the plate, the red "soup" is all up one side of the bowl, the plate with the goats milk cheese looks like it sat 5 minutes too long under a heat lamp, On dessert #1 is that really a paper napkin on the plate?, and #2 is just sloppy looking.

Again maybe I may be a little anal about this but at a restaurant of this caliber the little things are what make a difference to me. I asure you my cooks would be remaking those plates

[jcsaucey]

Well if you started eating the dishes and had to reconstruct some of them then the presentation issues are understandable. Maybe I am a little anal about it but, the bluefin tuna plate is a complete mess, the foie gras plate looks like it slid all over the place when your server was bringing it to the table,  the veal sweetbreads plate has smudges and a big greasy fingerprint on the edge of the plate, the squab breast has splatters all ove the bowl and the rim of the plate, the red "soup" is all up one side of the bowl, the plate with the goats milk cheese looks like it sat 5 minutes too long under a heat lamp, On dessert #1 is that really a paper napkin on the plate?, and #2 is just sloppy looking.

Again maybe I may be a little anal about this but at a restaurant of this caliber the little things are what make a difference to me. I asure you my cooks would be remaking those plates

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your cooks should go and eat at Perigee.

[GordonCooks]

Well if you started eating the dishes and had to reconstruct some of them then the presentation issues are understandable. Maybe I am a little anal about it but, the bluefin tuna plate is a complete mess, the foie gras plate looks like it slid all over the place when your server was bringing it to the table,  the veal sweetbreads plate has smudges and a big greasy fingerprint on the edge of the plate, the squab breast has splatters all ove the bowl and the rim of the plate, the red "soup" is all up one side of the bowl, the plate with the goats milk cheese looks like it sat 5 minutes too long under a heat lamp, On dessert #1 is that really a paper napkin on the plate?, and #2 is just sloppy looking.

Again maybe I may be a little anal about this but at a restaurant of this caliber the little things are what make a difference to me. I asure you my cooks would be remaking those plates

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Where do you cook?

[Jeebus]

Well if you started eating the dishes and had to reconstruct some of them then the presentation issues are understandable. Maybe I am a little anal about it but, the bluefin tuna plate is a complete mess, the foie gras plate looks like it slid all over the place when your server was bringing it to the table,  the veal sweetbreads plate has smudges and a big greasy fingerprint on the edge of the plate, the squab breast has splatters all ove the bowl and the rim of the plate, the red "soup" is all up one side of the bowl, the plate with the goats milk cheese looks like it sat 5 minutes too long under a heat lamp, On dessert #1 is that really a paper napkin on the plate?, and #2 is just sloppy looking.

Again maybe I may be a little anal about this but at a restaurant of this caliber the little things are what make a difference to me. I asure you my cooks would be remaking those plates

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your cooks should go and eat at Perigee.

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I would agree they should eat there. I have not yet, but have never heard anything but great things about the restaurant. I wasn't knocking the food, just a couple of small observations on the presentation.