Posted by Greg Clow in in the papers, news and media on October 6, 2007 at 5:42 pm

In the National Post this week, Gina Mallet is the first past the post (no pun intended) with her review of the barely-opened Lucien, the hotly anticipated new place from Simon Bower and Scot Woods, where chef Woods looks to be attempting to strike a balance between the flashiness of molecular gastronomy and more down-to-earth dishes like beef rib-eye and and lamb. Mallet is impressed by most of the offerings, although she gets the most enjoyment out of the experimental appetisers:

The plate before me is large, square and white. The food is arranged with geometrical precision: A little log of terrine de foie gras is salt-cured, which retrieves the pate's delicate flavour from the luscious fat. Traditionally, sweet foie gras is matched by more sweetness. But here it's side by side with a few crunchy beans, half a small artichoke on its stem (the way the Turks serve artichokes), spikes of tart punterelle chicory with a sherry vinaigrette. And what's this? Shards of crisp shallot tissue, a spume of tiny lemon bubbles. Each flavour is separate, distinct and intense, and savoured alone. I'm blown away.

Also in the Post:

• Michael Vaughan previews next weekend's Vintages Wine Auction & Gala, and also tastes the $2000-a-bottle Havana Club Maximo Extra Anejo rum.
• Jason Chow eats chestnuts that his mom picked up from the side of the road. He claims they were good, but considering that the chestnuts most common found growing in Toronto are inedible horse chestnuts, I think he might just be saying that to be nice to his mother.
• Leah Rumack gets her java fix at Manic Coffee, Toronto's latest gourmet coffee bar.
• Sarah B. Hood reveals that there's a lovely herb garden tucked beside Campbell House at the corner of Queen and University.
• Bonnie Stern avoids the Thanksgiving weekend cliché and gives some recipes for soup rather than turkey. Well, except that one of them is turkey soup.
• Eric Akis doesn't avoid Thanksgiving at all with is recipe for pumpkin pie made from scratch.

Over in the Globe & Mail, Joanne Kates is still playing catch-up on all the places that opened during her summer break, and she is absolutely ecstatic about high-end Indian eatery Amaya:

Amaya, which opened recently in the (renovated) premises of the former Jov, is heaven-sent. The combination of silken service and excellent ingredients freshly cooked, with sensitive spicing, is seductive in the way that only the food of the subcontinent can be - rich, assertive, complex, exotic. Amaya prawns are very spicy but restrained, their sauce a tamarind-scented green mango curry with green chili and fenugreek, sweet and hot and perfectly balanced on the big barely cooked shrimp. Even samosas, the most common of Indian appetizers, are crisper than usual, nary a hint of grease, and served with a splendour of chutneys - pale green coriander with mint, red sweet/sour plum, and a translucent mango purée zinged with mint.

Also in the Globe:

• Beppi Crosariol goes against the usual "white meat, white wine" theory and suggests mostly big, bold reds to go with your Thanksgiving bird.
• Lucy Waverman has recipes for some tasty Thanksgiving side dishes, and directs readers to the Life section of the Globe website for more turkey tips.
• Sasha Chapman picks up some locally-grown Honeycrisp apples at Fiesta Farms.
• In the Focus section of the paper, and the Life section of the Globe website, John Allemang has a fascinating and frightening look at the dark secrets behind all of your favourite Thanksgiving foods.
• In the Travel section - but not on the website - there's a taste of what life is like at the renowned cooking school Le Cordon Bleu in an excerpt from Kathleen Flinn's new book, The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry.

The Toronto Star is review-less this week, as Amy Pataki fills her space with an assortment of food and restaurant news, the most exciting blurb being the announcement that Masaharu Morimoto will be joining his friend Guy Rubino in the kitchen at Rain for two nights at the end of October. Those with $175 per person to spare can all 416.599.7246 to reserve.

Also in the Star:

• Gord Stimmell looks at a few lesser known grape varieties in this week's picks from the latest Vintages release.
• Megan Oliver digs into the threatening sounding Extreme Fat Smash Diet, and she isn't too impressed by what she finds.
• Susan Sampson cooks with wild rice - which isn't actually rice at all - and gives a slight nod to Thanksgiving with a recipe for wild rice & turkey soup.
• In an AP wire piece, Jenny Barchfield reports on research that has recently decoded the remarkably complex genetic make-up of the pinot noir grape.
• In the Travel section, Richard Ouzounian has six meals in Ottawa, while Jo Matyas has a moving meal (and I don't mean "moving" in an emotional sense) in Japan.