Diva at the Met

[Ling]

Just some brief notes about the food and our evening:

Drank:

-the Cedar Creek Select pinot noir

-a Poplar Grove merlot

-dessert wines from Sumac Ridge and Peter Lehmann

1st course:

Fraser Valley Duck Terrine pickled vegetable salad black pepper gastrique

Excellent flavour, nice punch from the black pepper gastrique. The vegetables tasted like they were slightly pickled, and provided a nice foil to the rich terrine.

Spiced Butternut Squash Velouté confit pork belly, golden raisins & toasted almonds

Another excellent starter with Middle Eastern flavours. I enjoyed both appetizers immensely!

Mains:

Aromatic Braised and Glazed Veal Cheek warm, creamy onion tart thyme-scented jus

The veal cheeks were incomparably tender. I am one of those people who can't resist that unctuous jelly-like consistency that coats braised cheek and shoulder cuts. The sauce had quite a bit of cinnamon. Rich onion filling on a buttery puff-pastry crust. And yes, I did eat all the slow-cooked garlic.

Moroccan Spiced, Seared Rare, Ahi Tuna creamy orzo provencal, olive tapenade carrot emulsion

My friend's main course--the fish was of excellent quality, and the orzo was delicious. Neither of us liked the olive tapenade very much with the fish (though I do love olives in many preparations and on their own.) I found the tapenade too overwhelming with the tuna. I think the Meditteranean influences in the dish sound like they go together better in my mind than they actually taste...

We also had the seared scallops (+ $10) with pineapple coconut foam and basmati rice. Quite good...juicy, scallops cooked to medium.

Warm Upside Down Chocolate Soufflé chantilly cream

I enjoyed a few bites of my friend's souffle, though it was rather dense for a souffle. It was more a soft chocolate cake, but it was delicious. Deep chocolate flavour. (The chocolate garnish broke, so it looked better when it arrived than it does in the picture.)

Stilton cheesecake, port wine glaze

A smaller version of the stilton cheesecake you get at Sen5es, but it comes with the same bruleed top and the same rhubarb compote. I love this dessert. They used a shortcrust, though it used to come with an almond sable crust at the bakery.

Sweet Spiced Beignets hot milk chocolate, vanilla foam

This was my second dessert at dinner (and my...11th? 12th? dessert of the day...though I DID share some of my earlier desserts from Thomas Haas! ) The beignets were a disappointment--they contained a few cranberries, but were very heavy and bready, though fresh from the deep-fryer. The gelato was quite good, and full of vanilla seeds. I can taste the Valrhona used in the hot chocolate, and it did make the beignets more palatable. But overall, I would definitely pass on this dessert and go for either the stilton cheesecake or the souffle.

Diva impressed us both, and we will be back for the regular menu. I thought I had made the best choices for my tastes, which is always nice. My friend enjoyed his soup a little more than my terrine, and the souffle more than the cheesecake, but we both agreed that the veal cheeks were a winner. (He could not stop talking about how wonderful the soup was! )

Edited January 21, 2006 by Ling (log)

[snacky_cat]

One day I'm going to put some treats from Patisserie Ganache under a box held up by a stick near your house. I will wait in the bushes, and when you make your move for the treats, I will trap you in the box. I will then take you to the nearest medical imaging facility and put you in the scanner. As a curious scientist, I NEED to see this second stomach or hollow leg or wherever it is that you fit all this food.

I hope more people take butternut squash soup photos. It's on so many menus that we could put together a lovely comparative photo essay on the subject.

[pissaladiere]

Ling,

Thanks for the beautiful pictures and description. We are going to Diva next week. I love being able to think about and visualize the meal before I go. (ok, like the rest of you food obsessed, my daydreams are often about rich sauces, juicy meats and perfect souffles)I'm already salivating thinking about the veal cheeks. I'm torn between the stilton cheese cake and the upside down chocolate souffle. Anyway, I'll report back after my meal next week.

[LordBalthazar]

My wife and I both had the butternut squash veloute with the pork belly confit. It was excellent, the sweetness of the squash balancing the savory pork. We both had the same entree as well, the tender, melt-in-your-mouth veal cheeks Ling was kind enough to photograph. They were delicious but a just a tad too salted for my taste. We both finished with the same dessert, the warm upside down chocolate souffle with chantilly creme that we both loved. As much as it was my wife's favorite of the night, she found it incredibly rich and was unable to finish it. I, of course, had no problem finishing my dessert - and her leftover portion.

By the way, Ling, I have to ask. You seem to dine out as much as I do, share a similar passion for decadent desserts - so what's your secret? I have to put in an hour of cardio 5 days a week and an hour of free weights 3 days a week in order to keep eating so well.

[Ling]

I have do four hours of cardio a week. I should start lifting weights too (says she, who is currently shovelling a huge spoon of cajeta quemada in her mouth.)

That is some soup! I wish I had the recipe!

[fud]

As a curious scientist, I NEED to see this second stomach or hollow leg or wherever it is that you fit all this food. 

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It's the hollow leg. It HAS to be Must be a special one for desserts

That Terrine looks very similar to the one at Parkside. Mmmm Terrine.

[Mooshmouse]

We both had the same entree as well, the tender, melt-in-your-mouth veal cheeks Ling was kind enough to photograph.  They were delicious but a just a tad too salted for my taste.

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Aha. We're not alone in our assessment of the veal cheeks.

*Deborah* and I have just returned home from our DOV dinner at Diva. Girls' night out necessitated cocktails to start: a "Fruity Cowboy" for *Deborah* (something-Vaquero which I can't remember for the life of me) and a Lychee for me (vodka, lychee liqueur, chambord and white cranberry). We had ringside seats overlooking the pass, and the kitchen was seamless in its execution all night long.

Following our stomachs' lead, we both ordered the Fraser Valley Duck Terrine as our appetizer. The terrine was certainly well flavoured, but I found the black pepper gastrique to be a bit on the sweet side and used it very sparingly as an accompaniment. I enjoyed the light, refreshing tartness of the pickled vegetable salad; the inclusion of shaved fennel added an interesting flavour note. If forced to choose, though, I'd take Mistral's Pâté en Crépine any day. I know, I know, apples to oranges... chalk it up to personal taste.

We, too, couldn't resist the Seared Scallops add-on. They were perfectly cooked but, sadly, were undersalted. The entire dish was, to me, a bit on the bland side with the pineapple-coconut foam adding little in the way of flavour.

However, as noted by Lord Balthazar, what was missing from the scallops in the way of salt certainly was added to the Veal Cheeks in spades. The meat itself was melt-in-your-mouth tender, but the jus suffered from what we guessed to be oversalted stock. *Deborah* and I were grateful for our 1/2 litre of 2003 Yalumba "Y" Series Shiraz to refresh our palates.

After a leisurely interlude to sip our wine, we both finished our meals with the Warm Upside-down Chocolate Soufflé. Wonderful. Smooth, rich, dark-chocolate goodness. 100% Valrhona we were told, though I'm not sure what percentage of chocolate was used (my guess would be either Manjari or Guanaja).

As we were finishing off our wine, our server was kind enough to bring us a little treat from the kitchen: two warm-from-the-oven Sparkle Cookies garnished with two raspberries. A lovely gesture on his part.

Service this evening was nothing short of stellar. Friendly, sincere, knowledgeable, attentive without being obsequious. We chatted with our server (I believe his name was Hamid) who mentioned that they were expecting to do roughly 2 turns tthis evening (180 seats). He also noted that they were beginning to experience a second-week slowdown, fully expected as diners began to tire of the DOV hamster wheel after their second or third meal out.

Overall, I give full marks to Diva for service and ambience. Foodwise, dessert was lovely, but I'd say that the other three courses were good, just not great. Surprisingly, I'd give the nod to my first DOV dinner at Brix for both starter and main.

Having dined at Diva on a number of other occasions, I'd have to say that tonight's dinner directly correlates with my other non-DOV dining experiences. Not to say that I won't be back, but there are certainly other restaurants in my regular dining rotation that I'd choose first.

Edited January 30, 2006 by Mooshmouse (log)

[Ling]

^I'd take Mistral's pate en crepine too.

I didn't find the veal cheeks too salty, but maybe that's because my palate has been corrupted with too many salted caramels...heh heh. Actually, I'm sure the veal cheeks differ a bit from day to day, depending on how much the stock has reduced.

Habib was my waiter too! I think he did a good job of upselling. When he was pouring my friend's Coke, he said: "This is our finest vintage." I thought that was hilarious.

Manjari and Guanaja are so similar in terms of cocoa percentages that it would be hard to tell what was used in the cake. I only had a bite, but I'm going to guess Guanaja because it didn't taste all that fruity to me.

[*Deborah*]

The beverage in question was a Vaquero Afrutando, which had me in such hysterics (a Brokeback Mountain-inspired drink, as I surmised before it was confirmed by our server) that I can scarcely remember its contents: tequila, white cranberry, and...something to make it red It was very good.

I have to say that I was not as wowed by my meal as I was last year, although everything was fine (with the notable exception of that over-salted jus, alas), and the "braised and glazed" veal cheeks really were beautifully tender...wonderful texture. Dessert was good, piping hot (I got another glass of the Sumac Ridge Pipe that I love ), and I was happy to try the famous "Sparkle Cookie," hot out of the oven.

As Moosh said, though, service was extra-good, and when I asked if we could linger for a while over our wine (and gossip ) before he brought dessert out, there was no problem at all. The maître d' was also very charming.

When Moosh and I went in, we had intended to have a glass of wine apiece, for budgetary reasons, but the cocktails sounded so good, and then why not get a half-litre of wine? (the VQA pairing just didn't inspire us, is how we ended up with the Yalumba), and then of course I had to get my little glass of Pipe...ah, well, it's only money.

A very pleasant evening.