2007 High Lights Festival

[Lesley C]

The festival food is different because the visiting chefs work side by side (in the best cases) with their hosts, so the collaboration is often what makes the meal special. They also bust their ass to do their best, so you're seeing them at their peak (or so I like to think).

Anyway, I think it's time TO and Montreal worked together and food is a great venue for that. I have a bit of a hard time with their fusion style, but hey, let's see what happens.

BTW, Susur Lee will be the honorary president of next year's fest, so we're off to a good start.

Susur at Toque! maybe...I know he and Normand are friends.

Edited March 1, 2007 by Lesley C (log)

[gruyere]

Did anybody attend the Gray Kunz dinner at Nuance last night?

[wattacetti]

Leslie did Kunz. I took an opportunity to participate at Urena's last night cooking at Raza and found it to be a very interesting minimal approach to Spanish cooking.

Trio of amuse-bouches: salt-cured atun (not shown), chorizo croquette and celeri-rave shooter.

Poached shrimp with manchego risotto and chorizo foam.

One of the two best dishes of the evening; I'll be remembering manchego as an alternative to parmesan the next time I make a risotto. The chorizo foam was a nice "meaty" counterpoint to the shrimp.

Slow-cooked cod with portobello confit and horseradish sauce.

The most adventurous dish; the cod was beautifully cooked and had great texture and flavor as did the portobello. Unfortunately, there was a bit too much horseradish in the sauce on my portion.

Lamb loin with apricot purée and black olive sauce.

The second of the two best dishes of the evening. Beautifully cooked lamb with a great sauce pairing. Nice meat counterpoint to the previous fish dishes.

Dill and yogurt sorbet with lemon curd

Interesting. I really liked the cold dill taste but I wasn't loving the yogurt-y tang.

Chocolate beignets with mint ice cream.

Straight-out chocolaty goodness. Not being a dessert nut, it was too sweet for me but a big hit with the others.

I'll be curious to see who they bring in for next year's TO pairing.